Engagement & Strategic Programs Leader - Manulife, Montreal

The Opportunity

At Manulife, our focus is on empowering people to make decisions easier and live better, starting with creating meaningful experiences for our employees and leadership. As the Engagement & Strategic Programs Leader, you will play a pivotal role in shaping leadership connection, employee engagement, and capability-building across Retirement Operations. Reporting to the Director, Learning & Change, this position involves leading high-impact programs, leadership events, learning initiatives, and strategic communications that bring business priorities to life. This is a unique opportunity to influence how Manulife connects, communicates, and develops future-ready capabilities across the organization.

Key Duties

• Lead the planning and delivery of high-impact employee engagement, leadership connection, and development initiatives, including Town Halls, Employee Briefs, People Leader AMAs, and key announcements.
• Own the strategy, planning, and execution of Director-level engagement and development programs, including Director+ communications, quarterly calls, and virtual/in-person conferences.
• Design innovative employee and leadership experiences that strengthen alignment, culture, and connection across the organization.
• Oversee future-skilling and capability-building programs, including Power Up, AI adoption initiatives, and integration with broader Learning & Development programs.
• Partner with senior leaders to shape strategic messaging, executive presentations, communications, and engagement content across priority forums and channels.
• Lead end-to-end program management for complex leadership and employee programs, including governance, timelines, dependencies, risks, decision points, and delivery oversight.
• Define outcomes, success measures, and practical measurement approaches to assess program effectiveness, participant experience, adoption, and business impact.
• Lead, coach, and develop the team responsible for content development, coordination, and program execution while driving quality, consistency, continuous improvement, and AI-enabled efficiency.

Skills and Experience

To excel in this Engagement & Strategic Programs Leader role at Manulife, candidates should possess a strong blend of proven experience and strategic capabilities in communications, program management, and leadership development.

Required Qualifications:

• Proven experience building, leading, and executing on communications strategies and complex employee programs involving multiple stakeholders, competing priorities, dependencies, risks, and executive-level deliverables.
• Strong project and program management capabilities, including planning, governance, milestone tracking, risk and issue management, and delivery oversight.
• Demonstrated ability to define program benefits, outcomes, and success measures, and to use results and insights to evaluate effectiveness and guide continuous improvement.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with demonstrated success partnering with senior leaders.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including executive-level presentation and content development.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled tools and emerging technologies that support communications, learning, or employee experience.
• Experience designing and delivering leadership programs, conferences, and enterprise engagement initiatives for Director-level or executive audiences.
• Exposure to organizational change, transformation, or capability-building programs.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in one or more relevant areas, such as leadership development, learning and development, employee engagement, internal communications, organizational effectiveness, or transformation.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to connect programs, communications, and employee experiences to broader business priorities and outcomes.
• Strong relationship builder who can earn trust, influence effectively, and build credibility with senior leaders, stakeholders, and cross-functional partners.
• Confident communicator and storyteller with the ability to translate complex priorities into clear, engaging, and actionable messaging.
• Highly organized and execution-focused, with the ability to manage multiple priorities, move work forward, and deliver high-quality outcomes in a fast-paced environment.
• Curious, innovative, and hands-on, with a continuous improvement mindset and a willingness to modernize ways of working through new tools, approaches, and technology.

Compensation and Perks

Manulife offers a competitive compensation package for this Engagement & Strategic Programs Leader role in Montreal, Quebec, reflecting the importance of this leadership position within the organization.

• Expected salary range between $71,475.00 CAD - $119,125.00 CAD.
• Opportunity to participate in incentive programs, with compensation tied to business and individual performance.
• A wide array of customizable benefits, including health, dental, mental health, vision, short- and long-term disability, life and AD&D insurance coverage.
• Adoption/surrogacy and wellness benefits, plus employee/family assistance plans.
• Various retirement savings plans, including pension and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions.
• Financial education and counseling resources.
• Generous paid time off program in Canada, including holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, along with the full range of statutory leaves of absence.