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About the Role

This senior leadership role is responsible for ensuring the stability, reliability, availability, and continuous improvement of Manulife Japan's business-critical applications and technology services. The role will lead Production Support, IT Service Management (ITSM), Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Release Management, and Operational Excellence functions while driving service maturity through ITIL best practices. The successful candidate will possess deep insurance industry experience, extensive knowledge of ITIL and ITSM frameworks, strong operational leadership capabilities, and proven experience managing production environments in Japan. This individual must thrive in high-pressure situations, demonstrate exceptional crisis and chaos management skills, and effectively communicate with business executives, technology leaders, regulators, and external partners in both Japanese and English. The Director will serve as the primary escalation point for major incidents, operational risks, service quality issues, and strategic service improvement initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end Production Support operations across business-critical insurance applications and platforms.
Ensure operational stability, availability, resilience, and performance of production systems.
Establish and maintain robust operational governance, support models, and service management frameworks.
Drive operational excellence through proactive monitoring, automation, and continuous service improvement initiatives.
Ensure 24x7 support readiness and major incident response capabilities.
Develop operational roadmaps aligned with business and technology strategies.
Own and continuously improve ITIL-based service management processes.
Drive maturity across Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Release Management, Knowledge Management, Service Request Management, Service Level Management, and Continual Service Improvement (CSI).
Lead ServiceNow and ITSM platform optimization initiatives.
Establish KPIs, SLAs, OLAs, governance forums, and operational controls.
Promote a service-oriented culture across delivery teams and business stakeholders.
Act as the executive leader during Major Incident Management (MIM) situations.
Lead crisis response, service restoration, stakeholder communications, and escalation management during business-critical outages.
Coordinate cross-functional teams across Business, IS, Infrastructure, Vendors, Security, and External Partners.
Drive post-incident reviews, lessons learned, and permanent corrective actions.
Build organizational resilience through simulation exercises, disaster recovery readiness, and operational risk management.
Establish and maintain operational playbooks, runbooks, and escalation frameworks.
Serve as the primary operational contact for senior business leaders, executives, and technology leadership.
Communicate business impact, remediation plans, incident status, and operational risks with clarity and confidence.
Facilitate executive-level incident bridges and service review meetings.
Build trusted relationships with Business Units, CIO leadership, PMO, Risk, Compliance, and Partner Organizations.
Drive consensus across departments to resolve complex operational and organizational challenges.
Drive a data-driven problem management culture focused on eliminating recurring incidents.
Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigations and ensure effective corrective and preventive actions.
Analyze operational trends, incident patterns, and service quality metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.
Partner with Engineering, Architecture, Security, and Delivery Teams to improve system robustness and reliability.
Establish continuous improvement programs focused on automation, service quality, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.
Own executive operational reporting across Production Support and ITSM functions.
Develop and present Service Health Reports, Incident Trend Analysis, SLA/KPI Dashboards, Executive Scorecards, Operational Risk Reports, and Service Improvement Roadmaps.
Present operational status, risks, and improvement initiatives to leadership forums, steering committees, and executive stakeholders.
Utilize data analytics to drive informed operational decisions and service improvements.
Assess operational processes and identify inefficiencies, risks, and service delivery gaps.
Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives to optimize service management processes.
Build consensus across departments and vendors to implement sustainable operational improvements.
Develop governance mechanisms that align technology operations with business objectives.
Drive operational transformation initiatives and service modernization programs.
Lead, mentor, and develop high-performing Production Support and ITSM teams.
Build strong leadership succession and talent development programs.
Manage operational managers, incident managers, service managers, and support leads.
Promote accountability, collaboration, customer focus, and operational excellence.
Foster a culture of continuous learning, ownership, and innovation.

Requirements

15+ years of IT Operations, Production Support, ITSM, or Technology Service Management experience.
8+ years of leadership experience managing large operational support organizations.
Proven experience managing Production Support operations within Japan.
Extensive experience supporting Life Insurance or Financial Services organizations.
Demonstrated success implementing and operating ITIL-based service management frameworks.
Strong experience with ServiceNow or equivalent enterprise ITSM platforms.
Experience managing multi-vendor and outsourced support organizations.
Proven experience managing mission-critical incidents and crisis situations.
Good to have understanding of Life Insurance Operations, Policy Administration Systems, Claims Processing, Agency and Distribution Systems, Digital Customer Platforms, Insurance Regulatory Environment, Operational Risk Management, Customer Service Operations.
Near-Native Japanese Business Communication Skills.
Business English Communication Skills.
Capable of leading executive meetings in Japanese and English.
Capable of conducting Major Incident communications in both languages.
Capable of presenting operational reports to Executive Leadership teams.
Capable of facilitating discussions with business stakeholders, vendors, and senior management.
Exceptional Chaos Management Skills.
Strong Analytical Thinking.
Highly Resilient Under Pressure.
Consensus Builder.
Results-Oriented.
Customer Focused.
Strong Communication & Negotiation Skills.

Skills

ITIL Expert Knowledge
ITSM Frameworks
ServiceNow
Incident & Problem Management
Operational Governance
Service Improvement
Insurance Domain Expertise
Risk Management
Vendor Management
Financial & Operational Reporting
Process Optimization
Strategic Leadership
Executive Presence
Decision Making Under Pressure
Cross-functional Influence
Organizational Change Leadership
Japanese Business Communication
Business English Communication

Location

Hatsudai Head Office, Tokyo Opera City, 3-20-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan

Work Type

Hybrid

Experience Level

15+ years of IT Operations, Production Support, ITSM, or Technology Service Management experience
8+ years of leadership experience managing large operational support organizations

Education Level

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field.
Master's degree is preferred.

Salary/Compensations

Based on experience, skills and knowledge
Commutation allowance and Variable Incentive Bonus are paid based on our Work Rules.

Benefits

Social Insurance (Health Insurance, Employees' Pension, Unemployment Insurance, Worker's Accident Insurance)
Benefit One
Training system (include Japanese lesson / English lesson)
Childcare Leave/Family care Leave
Baby-sitter support program
wiwiw System (Support program for those who take Childcare Leave)
Retirement Pension (only for Regular employee)

About the Company

Manulife Financial Corporation is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make their decisions easier and lives better.
Our mission; to be a part of making Decisions Easier and Lives Better
A leadership team dedicated to your growth and success
A bold ambition and set of goals to be a leader in driving transformation in our industry
Our best. Every day.

Equal Opportunity

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 hr@manulife.com.