Program Director, Acquisition Integration

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services group offering insurance and wealth management solutions in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia.

We are working hard to not only change ourselves, but to reshape our industry. Our Mission is to make decisions easier and our customers' lives better. To achieve our Mission, we set out our five key areas of focus, narrowing our priorities to those that will strongly position us to transform Manulife into a digital, customer-centric market leader, creating significant value for our customers, employees, and shareholders. 

One of our five key areas of focus is to accelerate growth in our highest potential businesses.  In alignment with this focus, we are exploring acquisition opportunities within markets aligned to our global vision. In support of this focus, we are establishing a new Integration Enablement Team, supporting the global Manulife organization.  This team will serve as integration experts across the enterprise, functioning as a right-hand of support to the relevant General Manager and/or Delivery Leader and partnering closely with functional leaders to manage the holistic actions of the plan necessary to enable results.

We are seeking a leader with strong business knowledge and delivery experience in implementing complex, multi-year integration programs within the financial services industry.  The Integration Enablement Program Director is critical to the execution of our strategic growth objectives. 

This is a unique opportunity to lead a highly visible strategic initiative with significant revenue potential.

Reporting directly to the Head of Integration Enablement, the Program Director is critical to the execution of acquisition strategic goals aligned to the strategy of Manulife. This resource is assigned to complex acquisitions to which significant delivery expertise is required. At assignment, this resource will function as a member of the relevant business unit, serving as a core contributor to business unit success and holding an accountability to the business unit General Manager and/or Delivery Leader. 

This roll-up your sleeves resource is:

• Responsible for partnering across business lines, functions and value streams to ensure the acquisition strategic objectives achieve intended outcomes.

• Responsible for the success of acquisition integration through the oversight, leadership and delivery of multi-year strategic initiatives aligned with integration goals, acting as a single point of contact for the General Manager and/or Delivery Leader.

• This resource must partner with senior leaders across the organization to achieve results.

• This resource must align with established practices of business unit as it relates to governance, prioritization, budgets, financial reporting etc.

Position Responsibilities:

Program Execution

• Drive acquisition integration programs fundamental to the success of the Manulife strategy in partnership with the Head of Integration Enablement, the relevant business unit Delivery Leader and cross-functional business leaders; ensure business benefits are realized within set parameters of time, budget, etc.

• Partner with leaders across Manulife/John Hancock to ensure acquisition program goals are translated to measurable action plans; communicate and drive action plans balancing resource and funding capacity constraints.

• Serve as a thought partner to senior leadership and business partners; drive a client experience focus throughout all programs and challenge teams to innovate beyond current business norms.

• Develop and manage an integrated plan and roadmap of activities, ensuring key program metrics and success criteria are developed and achieved.

• Oversee all elements of the integration program, ensure a complete solution is delivered which considers the integration and evolution of roles, process, technology and data; partner with change management resources to drive business readiness across the go-forward organization.

• Serve as a primary point of escalation and solutioning for delivery teams, value streams etc.; liaison with business teams, leadership etc. to quickly resolve issues

• As necessary deep dive into specific initiatives/outcomes to remove roadblocks and solve emerging issues; this may include facilitation of workshops, analysis of outside partnerships, resource planning, financial management etc.

• Ensure financial objectives are met through the active forecasting of requirements; preparing of annual budgets; scheduling expenditures; analyzing variances and initiating corrective actions.

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