Job Title
Program Manager
Department
Project Management Office (PMO)
Role Purpose
The Program Manager is responsible for leading a team of Project Managers and ensuring successful delivery across multiple initiatives. This role provides strong governance, planning oversight, and strategic direction, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget, and aligned with business objectives.
The role acts as a key bridge between IS and Business teams, maintaining clear communication, proactively managing risks, and providing executive‑level visibility on project health, performance, and outcomes.
Key Responsibilities
1) Leadership & Team Management
- Lead, mentor, and guide a team of Project Managers to deliver high-quality outcomes.
- Provide regular feedback, coaching, and support to improve delivery capability and consistency.
- Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement across the PM community.
- Support team members in resolving escalations, risks, and delivery challenges.
2) Project Planning & Execution Oversight
- Review and validate project plans to ensure completeness, realism, and alignment to business goals.
- Ensure clear milestone definition, sequencing, and dependency mapping during planning phases.
- Monitor overall execution progress across projects and ensure adherence to agreed plans.
- Drive corrective actions where delivery deviates from plan.
3) Project Governance & Health Monitoring
- Review project status regularly, ensuring accuracy of reporting across scope, schedule, cost, and risks.
- Establish strong governance practices to maintain project discipline and consistency.
- Provide data-driven insights on portfolio health, including early identification of delivery risks.
4) Financial Governance & Cost Control
- Monitor and govern project budgets, forecasts, and actual costs across projects.
- Ensure financial discipline and identify potential overruns early.
- Work with Project Managers to drive corrective financial actions when required.
5) Stakeholder Communication & Engagement
- Ensure effective communication between IS, business teams, and external stakeholders.
- Keep sponsors regularly informed on project status, progress, risks, and key decisions.
- Present consolidated reports, insights, and updates to senior leadership and governance forums.
- Build trust and alignment with business stakeholders through clear and transparent communication.
6) Reporting & Executive Presentations
- Generate and review consolidated project and portfolio reports.
- Present key insights, risks, and performance metrics to stakeholders, including leadership forums.
- Translate complex project data into clear, actionable executive summaries.
7) Risk & Issue Management
- Ensure proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks across projects.
- Guide Project Managers in risk management practices and escalation protocols.
- Support resolution of high-impact issues and cross-project dependencies.
8) Process Improvement & Continuous Improvement
- Identify gaps in delivery processes, governance, or execution models.
- Recommend and implement improvements to enhance efficiency, quality, and predictability.
- Drive adoption of best practices and standardized ways of working across projects.
- Introduce new approaches to mitigate recurring risks and delivery challenges.
Key Skills & Competencies
Leadership & Delivery
- Strong leadership and team management capability.
- Proven ability to manage multiple projects and stakeholders concurrently.
- Strong decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Communication & Stakeholder Management
- Excellent communication skills with ability to engage and influence CXO-level stakeholders.
- Strong presentation skills with executive audience experience.
- Ability to simplify complex information into clear business messages.
Delivery & Governance
- Strong understanding of project lifecycle, planning, and governance practices.
- Experience in financial tracking, cost management, and performance reporting.
- Ability to identify risks, dependencies, and execution gaps early.
Methodologies
- Hands-on experience in both:
- Agile delivery (Scrum / SAFe environments)
- Waterfall project execution
Language
- Fluent in Japanese and English
Experience & Qualifications
- 10+ years of experience in project/program management.
- Proven experience leading teams of Project Managers or delivery leads.
- Strong experience in large-scale, cross-functional project delivery.
- Experience working with both business and technology stakeholders.
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or related field.
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 [email protected].
Working Arrangement
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