Manulife is a leading international financial services provider, helping people make decisions easier and lives better. Help shape the future you want to see — and discover that better can take you anywhere you want to go.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Role Summary:
At Manulife Japan, we are driving transformation under our Purpose: "Decision made easier, Lives made better," with a strong focus on customers and distributors. This role serves as a strategic partner to the Chief Distribution Officer and channel heads, leading the integration of distribution strategies across channels (Independent Agency, Financial Institutions and Captive Agency channels) and reports to the Head of Distribution Strategy Headquarter.
You will drive the business through a dual focus on mid- to long-term strategic direction and annual sales execution, orchestrating cross-channel alignment and focusing on key growth opportunities to deliver sustainable commercial impact.
This is a strategy-to-execution leadership role, accountable for translating direction into disciplined execution and tangible business outcomes across the Distribution organization.
Job Descriptions:
Distribution Strategy & Execution: Partner with the CDO and channel heads to define and continuously refine channel and overall distribution strategies, translating them into clear annual sales plans, targets, and actionable initiatives. Drive both mid- to long-term strategic priorities and short-term execution in parallel, focusing the organization on the most critical growth drivers such as productivity uplift, activation, recruitment, and cross-sell.
Performance Management: Establish and evolve KPI frameworks to monitor sales effectiveness and channel performance, enabling data-driven decision-making. Lead business reviews with senior Distribution leadership, identify performance gaps, and proactively drive targeted interventions and action plans to accelerate growth and strengthen execution discipline across channels.
Distribution Transformation & Capability Building: Lead strategic initiatives to enhance sales effectiveness, including segmentation, coverage models, incentive design, and sales processes. Support the development of next-generation distribution models and capabilities, incorporating digital and AI-enabled approaches, while ensuring these are embedded, adopted, and scaled in the field to deliver measurable impact.
Cross-functional and Cross-channel Leadership & Alignment: Act as a central integrator across channels, driving alignment beyond organizational silos and leading cross-channel initiatives that unlock synergies and scale best practices. Serve as a strategic bridge between Distribution and key functions such as Product, Marketing, Transformation and Technology, facilitating executive-level alignment and ensuring integrated execution of commercial priorities.
Market Intelligence & Commercial Growth Initiatives: Lead the collection and analysis of market, competitor, and customer intelligence to identify emerging opportunities and risks. Translate insights into high-impact strategic initiatives that drive commercial growth, including implications for product strategy and go-to-market approaches, and partner with Product and Marketing to shape compelling value propositions aligned with evolving market needs.
Required Skills & Experience:
Experience at a strategy consulting firm (e.g., McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Big4, Accenture) or in a comparable corporate strategy, business planning, or sales strategy role within leading organizations
Experience driving initiatives from concept through strategy building and execution, in close collaboration with the field and business functions
Domain knowledge in insurance or retail financial services is a plus
Business-level proficiency in both Japanese and English (mandatory)
Minimum 10 years of relevant experience; MBA and consulting experience preferred
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and facilitation skills, with the leadership to develop…