John Hancock seeks an experienced Director of Platform - Salesforce to lead and manage John Hancock’s Salesforce platforms end to end. Responsibilities include working with the IT business partners to develop the strategy and the Salesforce capability build and deployment roadmap, managing Salesforce Engineering & Platform team members, aligning with business objectives and key results, and overseeing stakeholder and vendor relationships. The role ensures that the platform is sustained, including the evaluation and deployment of new products, driving innovation, and prioritizing technical delivery to support business objectives. Strong leadership and people management skills are essential.

Key Responsibilities:

Strategic Leadership of the Salesforce Platform:

• Develop, prioritize and implement the long-term strategic plan for Salesforce, aligning it with the company’s business and technology goals.

• Co-own and drive progress towards the target state partnering with the platform architect.

• Assess new Salesforce features and products for business growth and efficiency potential.

• Drive initiatives to improve and optimize the Salesforce platform, ensuring scalability and adherence to best practices.

Team Leadership and People Management:

• Supervise various Salesforce teams, including Engineers & Platform administrators.

• Guide, mentor, and support team members to create a cooperative, high-performance team.

• Manage team capacity, resource allocation, and performance to ensure timely and quality project delivery while improving overall efficiency and effectiveness of the squads.

• Create and implement career development plans for team members.

Stakeholder and Vendor Relationship Management:

• Act as the main contact between Salesforce platform teams and stakeholders (e.g., Sales, Marketing, Operations, and Customer Service), ensuring projects meet business needs and are delivered on time.

• Foster strong relationships with Salesforce, collaborating to assess new tools and services.

• Communicate with internal leaders and architecture to discuss platform performance, prioritize tasks, and highlight Salesforce's value.

Platform Delivery and Project Execution:

• Direct the planning, execution, and completion of Salesforce projects meeting timelines, scope, budget, and business objectives.

• Manage platform performance and enhancements to keep the Salesforce system secure, stable, and scalable.

• Set prioritization to balance immediate project needs with long-term platform development.

• Apply Agile methodologies for efficient, iterative project delivery and ongoing improvement.

• Review and align delivery cycles, pipelines, business continuity plans.

Governance, Compliance, and Best Practices:

• Develop and enforce governance frameworks for Salesforce to ensure alignment with internal policies, security, and regulations.

• Establish and track KPIs for platform health, project completion, and business outcomes.

• Maintain robust data governance with secure, private, and well-managed data protocols.

• Work with the platform architect to drive design authority for the deliverables. This includes designing and delivering against lean principles, delivery and quality automation, and integrating Salesforce best practices to improve platform efficiency end-to-end.

Collaboration and Cross-Functional Leadership:

• Collaborate with IT business partners and other technology teams to ensure smooth Salesforce integration with the broader IT infrastructure, including enterprise applications and data sources.

• Work closely with business to encourage adoption and optimize value from Salesforce.

• Oversee training, user adoption, and change management initiatives to enhance platform usage throughout the organization.

• Communicate platform maturity and progress towards the target state via dashboards, scorecards, etc.

• Communicate delivery efficiency such as velocity, burn-down metrics, code quality, etc., to IT stakeholders.

• Strong vendor and partner management skills, including Salesforce and solution delivery partners. Lead quarterly business reviews with the US CIO and her leadership team focused on results and performance.

Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor’s in Engineering, Information Technology, Business Administration, or a similar field. MBA or Salesforce certifications (e.g., Salesforce Certified Technical Architect, Platform Developer) preferred.

• Experience: Over 10 years in technology management with an emphasis on CRM and Service platforms, particularly Salesforce.

• Business process expertise in Sales and Distribution, Operations, Claims Management, and Customer Service preferred.

• More than 5 years managing people, leading various cross-functional teams.

• Proven experience in enterprise-level Salesforce management, including implementations and enhancements.

• Certifications and recent training in Salesforce platform are strongly preferred.

• Extensive experience handling vendor relationships, especially with Salesforce, and assessing new products or features.

Skills and Competencies:

• Leadership: Proven skills in leading and developing high-performing teams, promoting teamwork, accountability, and growth.

• Stakeholder Management: Excellent interpersonal and communication abilities for engaging with senior leaders, executives, and vendors.

• Vendor Management: Experience managing the partnership with Salesforce to maximize benefits and evaluate products.

• Project Management: Skilled in overseeing projects from start to finish, ensuring alignment with business goals, timelines, and budgets.

• Strategic Thinking: Strong strategic mindset balancing long-term platform growth with short-term needs.

• Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of Salesforce architecture, including Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and integrations.

Additional Information:

This role requires strong collaboration across teams, an innovative mindset, and the ability to drive both strategic and operational excellence for the Salesforce platform at John Hancock. Some travel may be required to engage with key stakeholders and vendor partners.

About Manulife and John Hancock

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better. To learn more about us, visit https://www.manulife.com/en/about/our-story.html .

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. To request a reasonable accommodation in the application process, contact recruitment@manulife.com .

Primary Location

Boston, Massachusetts

Working Arrangement

Hybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$120,610.00 USD - $223,990.00 USD

If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact recruitment@manulife.com for the salary range for your location. The actual salary will vary depending on local market conditions, geography and relevant job-related factors such as knowledge, skills, qualifications, experience, and education/training. Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance.

Manulife/John Hancock offers eligible employees 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, and employee/family assistance plans. We also offer eligible employees various retirement savings plans (including pension/401(k) savings plans and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in the U.S. includes up to 11 paid holidays, 3 personal days, 150 hours of vacation, and 40 hours of sick time (or more where required by law) each year, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence.

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Company: John Hancock Life Insurance Company (U.S.A.)