Director of Engineering – Retirement Digital Platforms

Director, Software Engineering - US Retirement Platform & Payments Technology

Toronto, ON / Waterloo, ON / Boston, MA - Hybrid

At Manulife, we're helping millions of customers make decisions easier and lives better. As we continue to modernize our retirement and payments technology platforms, we're seeking an experienced Director of Software Engineering to lead the evolution of our US Retirement (USR) platform and SWIFT-enabled payment capabilities.

This is a highly visible leadership role that combines strategic thinking with technical depth. You'll be responsible for driving platform modernization, leading AI-enabled innovation, overseeing mission-critical payment technologies, and mentoring engineering teams across multiple squads. We are looking for a leader who is not afraid to roll up their sleeves, solve complex technical challenges, and partner closely with engineers to deliver scalable solutions.

• Own the technology strategy, roadmap, and delivery for the US Retirement platform and associated SWIFT payment capabilities.
• Lead the modernization of critical applications, services, and integrations to improve scalability, resilience, and customer experience.
• Drive the adoption of cloud-native, API-first, and AI-powered engineering solutions.
• Partner with Product, Architecture, Operations, and Business leaders to align technology investments with business priorities.

• Lead multiple engineering squads responsible for platform development, enhancements, integrations, and production support.
• Ensure the delivery of secure, high-quality, and scalable software solutions.
• Drive engineering best practices including Agile delivery, Dev Ops, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and operational excellence.
• Champion platform stability, reliability, and performance while supporting ongoing enhancement initiatives.

• Provide technical leadership for SWIFT-related applications, messaging workflows, and payment integrations.
• Drive the modernization and resiliency of payment processing platforms.
• Partner with business and technology stakeholders to support evolving payment and regulatory requirements.
• Ensure appropriate governance, controls, and operational readiness for business-critical financial transactions.

• Identify opportunities to leverage AI and automation to improve platform capabilities, engineering productivity, and operational efficiency.
• Lead the adoption of AI-enabled development tools and practices across engineering teams.
• Champion innovation and continuous improvement initiatives that create measurable business value.

• Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams across multiple squads.
• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Coach engineers and technical leads in architecture, engineering practices, problem-solving approaches, and career development.
• Promote collaboration and psychological safety while driving high performance.

• Remain actively engaged in architectural decisions, technical design reviews, and complex problem resolution.
• Work alongside engineering teams when required to troubleshoot critical issues, review solutions, and accelerate delivery.
• Demonstrate strong coding and technical troubleshooting abilities, with the capability to dive into code, analyze system behavior, and help teams solve challenging engineering problems.
• Lead by example through technical expertise and practical problem-solving.

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including leadership of large-scale…