US Insurance Lead Product Owner Underwriting

Lead Product Owner

We are seeking a strategic and innovative Lead Product Owner to support our Underwriting team in transforming the life insurance purchase journey from application through to policy issuance. This role serves as the voice of both the business and the customer, championing the development and delivery of advanced underwriting capabilities. The preferred candidate should excel in risk assessment for underwriting, handling medical and non-medical details with a tech emphasis. Outstanding leadership and collaboration skills are crucial to lead agile, cross-functional teams consisting of underwriters, actuaries, operations specialists, data scientists, and developers.

This role requires a strategic and innovative perspective, supported by a strong background in research and development, project delivery, and creative problem-solving. The ideal candidate will be instrumental in driving impactful results aligned with key business priorities, while offering deep subject matter expertise and thought leadership across underwriting initiatives.

Position Responsibilities :

• Drives the planning and delivery of key capabilities for the underwriting journey
• Brings a senior-level strategic view and tactical delivery of products or product components, aligned to segment priorities
• Acts as a thought partner to business team members on multi-million-dollar business priorities & initiatives
• Work with subject matter experts across the business unit to lead the development of new insurance underwriting capabilities that range from instant and non-invasive to high-touch, fully underwritten
• Prioritize work, focusing on initiatives generating the most value for the business and driving key outcomes and capturing work in US segment Jira and other tools with all applicable details
• Estimate financial and business benefits and track progress towards key results and financial values
• Collaborate with teams to develop innovative, data-driven underwriting solutions and capabilities that ensure a seamless experience for a broad customer base
• Lead in ensuring value creation for the business, customers, and end-users by owning the squad backlog and ensuring that the highest value work is always being executed
• Ensures the roadmap and backlog is visible, clear and understood by stakeholders and team members
• Shared accountability with the Delivery Lead for alignment on release strategy and release content with pertinent stakeholders
• Keep abreast of competitor actions and industry trends and new vendors that may add value
• Keep abreast of external factors that may affect underwriting (e.g. medical and technical advancements, industry rules, compliance and regulations)
• Manage relationships with external vendors, partners and technologies that support the delivery and implementation of business capabilities
• Ensure risk and governance requirements are met, including post-implementation monitoring plans
• Responsible for leading discussions to communicate recommendations, results and progress to senior leadership

Required Qualifications :

Preferred Qualifications :

When You Join Our Team :

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better.

Manulife is an Equal Opportunity Employer. At Manulife / John Hancock, we embrace our diversity. We strive to attract, develop and retain a workforce that is as diverse as the customers we serve and to foster an inclusive work environment that embraces the strength of cultures and individuals. We are committed to fair recruitment, retention, advancement and compensation, and we administer all of our practices and programs without discrimination on the basis of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, religion or religious beliefs, creed, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions), sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, veteran status, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, family status, disability, or any other ground protected by applicable law.

It is our priority to remove barriers to provide equal access to employment. A Human Resources representative will work with applicants who request a reasonable accommodation during the application process. All information shared during the accommodation request process will be stored and used in a manner that is consistent with applicable laws and Manulife / John Hancock policies.