Senior Manager, Customer Relations

We are seeking an experienced and customer-centric Senior Manager, Customer Relations, to lead a sub-team of our Customer Relations team. This role is responsible for managing a portfolio of strategic employer relationships while providing leadership, coaching, and direction to a team of Customer Relations professionals.

The successful candidate will play a critical role in enhancing customer experience, strengthening client retention, driving member engagement initiatives, and ensuring consistent delivery of service excellence. The role requires strong leadership capabilities, stakeholder management skills, and the ability to navigate a dynamic business environment while balancing customer needs, operational efficiency, and regulatory requirements.

If you are passionate about customer excellence, team leadership, and delivering meaningful business outcomes, we invite you to join our team.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Team Management

• Lead and coach a team of Customer Relations professionals to achieve business and service objectives.
• Establish performance goals, monitor productivity, and provide ongoing coaching and feedback.
• Develop talent through structured training, mentoring, and succession planning initiatives.
• Foster a high-performance culture aligned with the company's values and customer-centric mindset.
• Oversee workload allocation, portfolio management, and resource planning across the team.

Relationship Management

• Act as the senior relationship manager for designated VIP and key employer accounts.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with employers, intermediaries, consultants, and key stakeholders.
• Develop and execute client engagement plans to enhance customer satisfaction and retention.
• Conduct regular business reviews, employer meetings, member briefings, and service reviews.
• Support onboarding of new strategic clients and ensure smooth implementation experiences.

Customer Experience & Service Excellence

• Drive initiatives to enhance customer experience and improve service delivery standards.
• Monitor service performance and implement corrective actions where necessary.
• Handle and resolve complex customer complaints and escalated cases.
• Analyze customer feedback and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.
• Establish service monitoring and governance mechanisms to ensure consistent customer outcomes.

Business Growth & Engagement

• Partner with internal stakeholders to drive member engagement, digital adoption, and customer education initiatives.
• Support retention, cross-sell, upsell, and lead generation activities within the employer portfolio.
• Identify emerging customer needs and recommend innovative solutions to enhance value delivered to clients.
• Contribute to strategic initiatives that strengthen customer loyalty and market competitiveness.

Stakeholder & Project Management

• Collaborate closely with Operations, Compliance, Legal, Marketing, Sales, Product, and external service providers.
• Lead customer-related projects, transformation initiatives, and process improvement programs.
• Support business readiness and client communication for regulatory, operational, and platform changes.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and ensure timely resolution of service issues.

Risk & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to all regulatory requirements, company policies, and governance standards.
• Monitor operational risks and implement appropriate controls within the Customer Relations function.
• Ensure all employer and member interactions are conducted professionally and compliantly.
• Support audit, compliance review, and regulatory reporting activities as required.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Finance, Marketing, Communications, or related disciplines.
• IA license, MPF license, LOMA qualification would be an advantage
• Minimum 8–10 years of experience in customer relations, client servicing, account management, or relationship management within financial services, pensions, insurance, asset management, or related industries.
• Minimum 4-5 years of people management experience leading a customer-facing team.
• Strong understanding of MPF, ORSO schemes, or insurance products.
• Proven track record in managing strategic client relationships and service delivery.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications including PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Outlook.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing large corporate clients or institutional accounts.
• Experience in retirement, pension, MPF, employee benefits, or financial services industries.
• Strong knowledge of MPFA regulations and industry practices.
• Proven experience in driving customer engagement, retention, and service transformation initiatives.
• Professional qualifications in financial services, project management, or customer experience management is an advantage.
• Licensed under relevant regulatory requirements where applicable.

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 global team, we’ll support you in shaping the future you want to see.

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.