Head of Data & Context Engineering

The Opportunity
Data and AI are coming together at Manulife Japan, and we are rebuilding our data foundations from scratch to help the company win beyond its scale. Our goal is one trusted context, a shared understanding of our customers, distributors and business, captured as the work happens and used by every employee and AI agent.
This is a mandate to build the team, the platform and the engineering culture from scratch, on a modern cloud and AI stack. The Head of Data & Context Engineering builds an in-house data and context engineering capability, runs our data platform as a product, and builds data governance into the platform itself. The role is hands-on. It partners with senior leadership, our Technology department and Regional and Global Data & AI Teams on data strategy and execution.
What success looks like in 24 months:
· A strong data and context engineering culture is in place, with an internal team that owns what it builds.
· Product teams deliver faster because data is ready, reliable and easy to use.
· Data governance is robust and lean, enforced by the platform rather than by manual reviews.
· Hundreds of Data & AI champions build their own solutions on a self-service platform.
· Customers and distributors get better outcomes, delivered through a network of AI agents that both feed and use this shared intelligence.
Position Responsibilities:
· Build and lead an in-house data and context engineering team and culture: hire, grow and set the engineering standards.
· Own the data platform as a product: self-service data, a catalog, and access that takes minutes once users are trained.
· Own data governance and build it into the platform: access, lineage, quality and policy enforced automatically. Partner with data stewards on day-to-day stewardship.
· Run DataOps: CI/CD, test automation and infrastructure as code, to release small changes often and safely.
· With the AI team, build the context layer that AI agents rely on: a semantic layer, core metrics defined once, and metadata captured as the work happens. Use AI to automate data engineering and governance.
· Engage senior leadership on data strategy and steer data governance with business data owners. Work closely with Technology and Regional and Global teams on architecture, standards and platform direction.
Required Qualifications:
· 10+ years in data engineering or data platforms, including 5+ years leading engineering teams.
· Proven track record of building an in-house data engineering team and culture.
· Experience running an enterprise cloud data platform as a product (Azure, Databricks or equivalent).
· Strong CI/CD, test automation and infrastructure-as-code practice applied to data.
· Experience building governance into a platform (access, lineage, data quality, policy as code).
· Cutting-edge data architecture skills, including data for AI (semantic, metadata and ontology layers, context for AI agents).
· Ability to influence senior business and technology leaders.
· Business-level English.
Preferred Qualifications:
· Business-level Japanese.
· Experience with agile operating models (squads, chapters, product ownership).
· Hands-on experience with GenAI and AI agent tooling.
· Experience building self-service platforms for citizen developers.
· Experience driving data transformation in a complex or legacy environment.
· Experience in insurance, financial services or another regulated industry.
What motivates you?
· You obsess about customers, listen, engage and act for their benefit
· You think big, with curiosity to discover ways to use your agile mindset and enable business outcomes
· You thrive in teams, and enjoy getting things done together
· You take ownership and build solutions, focusing on what matters
· You do what is right, work with integrity and speak up
· You share your humanity, helping us build a diverse and inclusive work environment for everyone
Our commitment to you
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.
Learn more about opportunities with us at jobs.manulife.com
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 hr@manulife.com.
Working Arrangement
Hybrid