The Lead Data AI Architect is responsible for translating business strategy into secure, scalable data and AI architectures. This role assesses business requirements, defines and approves technical specifications and architecture decisions, and guides delivery teams in building modern data platforms, analytics solutions, and AI/ML/GenAI products. The Lead Data AI Architect is a senior domain expert who sets standards, patterns, and governance for data and AI across the organization.
Position Responsibilities:
Lead end-to-end architecture for modern data and AI solutions (enterprise data lake, data warehouse, streaming, analytics, ML, and GenAI) that support multiple business functions.
Define and evangelize reference architectures and reusable patterns for data, ML, and GenAI (including MLOps/LLMOps/AIOps), and guide delivery teams on implementation.
Stay current with emerging technologies and practices across data engineering, machine learning, and Generative AI (e.g., RAG, vector search, model fine-tuning, and orchestration).
Evaluate and integrate Azure-native and partner technologies that enhance data processing, storage, analytics, and AI model lifecycle management (CI/CD, testing, monitoring, and cost controls).
Ensure interoperability, data consistency, and responsible AI through strong API/data standards, metadata management, security-by-design, privacy, and model governance.
Conduct discovery to understand current-state data and AI landscapes, including platforms, pipelines, models, and key use cases.
Ensure solution architectures align with business strategy, enterprise technology standards, and data/responsible AI governance requirements.
Document and formalize an approved inventory of data and AI capabilities, tools, and controls, ensuring alignment with strategic objectives.
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Expand and govern a catalogue of reusable patterns for data, ML, and GenAI to promote consistency, efficiency, and adherence to best practices.
Create and continuously refine target data and AI reference architectures utilizing Azure services to achieve optimal performance, scalability, security, and cost efficiency.
Identify and recommend opportunities to improve platform reliability, observability, data quality, model performance, and cost optimization.
Partner with engineering, product, data science, security, and risk teams to enable adoption of data/AI patterns, and provide architecture guidance through delivery.
Define and maintain architecture documentation standards, ensuring accessibility, version control, and compliance.
Maintain a centralized repository for data and AI architecture artifacts, including standards, reusable patterns, and governance decisions.
Required Qualifications:
10+ years of experience in data/analytics architecture, with 3+ years designing AI/ML solutions in production (GenAI experience strongly preferred).
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, Data/AI, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
Proven experience architecting on Azure across data and AI services (e.g., Data Lake/Databricks/Synapse/Fabric as applicable; Azure AI services), ideally within financial services and/or insurance.
Strong understanding of data governance, data modeling, integration, metadata management, and privacy/security controls; able to extend these practices to AI/GenAI governance.
Strong architecture leadership skills: drive decisions, manage trade-offs, and influence across teams while maintaining delivery focus.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex data/AI concepts for technical and non-technical audiences.
Experience with modern engineering practices (IaC, CI/CD), and with MLOps/LLMOps concepts such as model/prompt versioning, evaluation, monitoring, and deployment patterns.
Relevant certifications in Azure (Architecture/Data/AI) are a plus.
Preferred Qualifications:
Experience with Generative AI solution patterns (e.g., RAG, vector databases/search, prompt orchestration) and practical evaluation/guardrails.
Strong understanding of relational and dimensional modeling, plus experience with lakehouse patterns and data product/domain-oriented design.
Knowledge of data warehousing, streaming, and governance tooling (catalog/lineage), and familiarity with model risk management or responsible AI practices.
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.
LI-Hybrid
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 hr@manulife.com.
Referenced Salary Location Toronto, Ontario
Working Arrangement
Hybrid
Salary range is expected to be between $113,260.00 CAD - $210,340.00 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 hr@manulife.com 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 hr@manulife.com 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
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