Senior Technical Product Owner

We are evolving the next generation of customer identity platforms and are seeking a Senior Technical Product Owner to lead strategy, execution, and outcomes for our Customer Identity and Access Management (CIAM) ecosystem. In this role, you will own the product roadmap, backlog, and delivery of customer-facing identity capabilities, ensuring alignment between business priorities, platform strategy, and engineering execution within a secure, enterprise-scale environment.

As a key partner to engineering, architecture, and design teams, you will work across the full product lifecycle, from defining product vision and priorities to enabling high-quality, predictable delivery. This role requires strong technical expertise, strategic thinking, and a passion for delivering secure, scalable, and customer-centric identity experiences.

Position Responsibilities:
Own and manage the CIAM product backlog and prioritization, maintaining a deep understanding of identity flows, authentication patterns, and platform dependencies.
Lead agile teams delivering customer identity capabilities, including registration, login, multi-factor authentication (MFA), single sign-on (SSO), session management, and account recovery solutions.
Develop and execute product strategies and roadmaps that align with security, customer experience, and platform modernization objectives.
Evaluate and prioritize epics and user stories based on customer needs, business value, authentication success rates, risk considerations, and operational impact.
Serve as the voice of the customer by translating user journeys into secure, scalable, and effective identity solutions.
Coordinate and oversee vendor-supported delivery initiatives, ensuring technical alignment, quality, and successful outcomes.
Define, monitor, and report on key CIAM performance indicators, including authentication success rates, platform performance, MFA adoption, and customer experience metrics.
Collaborate with engineering and architecture teams to design solutions using modern identity standards and protocols.
Drive continuous improvement through experimentation, analytics, testing, and data-driven decision-making.
Champion the use of automation and AI-enabled delivery practices to improve efficiency, quality, and scalability across product delivery processes.

Required Qualifications:
7+ years of experience in product ownership, product management, technical delivery, or a related discipline, with a strong focus on identity, security, or platform engineering.
3+ years of hands-on experience working with CIAM or Identity and Access Management (IAM) platforms such as ForgeRock, Ping Identity, Okta, or similar solutions.
Deep understanding of authentication and federation protocols, including OIDC, OAuth 2.0, SAML, JWT, and token lifecycle management.
Strong knowledge of CIAM architecture, identity stores, directory services, token services, and API integrations.
Experience delivering customer identity capabilities at scale, including SSO, MFA, risk-based authentication, and account lifecycle management.
Experience working within highly regulated, security-focused environments with audit and compliance requirements.
Strong technical acumen with the ability to participate in architecture discussions, evaluate trade-offs, and assess solution risks.
Experience managing vendor relationships or hybrid delivery models within complex technology environments.

Preferred Qualifications:
Experience working with ForgeRock and/or Ping Identity technologies, including AM, IDM, DS, IG, and CTS.
Experience leading CIAM platform upgrades, migrations, or modernization initiatives.
Familiarity with performance, scalability, and resilience considerations within identity platforms and services.
Experience implementing automation and AI-enabled workflows to improve product delivery and operational efficiency.
Knowledge of customer data privacy, consent management, and applicable regulatory frameworks.

When you join our team:
We’ll empower you to learn and grow the career you want.
We’ll recognize and support you in a flexible environment where well-being and inclusion are more than just words.
As part of our distributed team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

 

The role being advertised is an existing vacancy.

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].

Referenced Salary Location

Waterloo, OntarioHybrid

Salary range is expected to be between

$113,000.00 CAD - $163,000.00 CAD

Employees also have the opportunity to participate in incentive programs and earn incentive compensation tied to business and individual performance. 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. If you are applying for this role outside of the primary location, please contact [email protected] for the salary range for your location.

Manulife 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 and a global share ownership plan with employer matching contributions) and financial education and counseling resources. Our generous paid time off program in Canada includes holidays, vacation, personal, and sick days, and we offer the full range of statutory leaves of absence. If you are applying for this role in the U.S., please contact [email protected] for more information about U.S.-specific paid time off provisions.

We use data and analytics technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), and automated processing tools, to analyze and process the information you provide to us or third parties in the application process. For more information, please refer to our personal information collection statement.