The Sr. Business Development Manager is accountable for driving sustainable growth and capability development across the assigned Region Head/s or Branch Head/s by leading end-to-end performance management of Advisors and Agency Leaders.
The role will work closely with Agency Development Managers and Expansion Development Managers to ensure agency teams consistently meet and exceed minimum performance standards, strengthen leader pipelines, and improve productivity, quality, and retention.
This role aligns Region execution to the company’s strategic priorities, reinforces a culture of professionalism, ethical conduct, and continuous improvement, and provides data-driven insights and recommendations to shape the overall Region strategy.
The incumbent is expected to lead cross-functional execution, enable leaders through coaching and governance, and deliver measurable outcomes across recruitment, onboarding, activation, training, and production.
Position Responsibilities:
Agency Strategy
Lead Regional business planning by translating company priorities into clear agency strategies, operating standards, and measurable scorecards.
Provide strategic recommendations to the Regional Sales Director based on funnel health, productivity trends, leader capability, and field insights.
Identify performance gaps and opportunities through data analysis, and drive corrective actions to strengthen growth, retention, and leadership pipeline quality.
Align Regional direction with company priorities while reinforcing professionalism, governance, and continuous improvement across the agency force.
Performance Management
Lead end-to-end performance management of Advisors and Agency Leaders to ensure achievement of headcount, production, rank retention, activation, and segmentation targets.
Establish and enforce governance standards for leader validation, performance reviews, and remediation actions across Regions and Branches.
Hold regular performance reviews and planning sessions with Agency Leaders to drive sales, recruitment, and productivity outcomes.
Develop and manage interventions that help leaders meet validation requirements, improve field discipline, and sustain minimum performance standards.
Coach and enable Agency Development and Expansion teams to improve execution quality, retention, and leadership effectiveness in the field.
Program Execution
Oversee execution of regional programs covering recruitment, onboarding, activation, training, and productivity uplift in line with approved focus areas and standards.
Cascade and reinforce company initiatives, communications, and campaigns through structured agency engagements and leadership forums.
Ensure compliance, accurate documentation, reporting, and audit readiness for all Region-level programs, validations, and related approvals.
Evaluate cases and requests beyond approval authority and provide sound recommendations for endorsement, escalation, or decision-making.
Required Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in business, Management, Economics, or a related field.
At least 6 years of experience in sales, business development, or agency management, preferably in insurance or financial services.
Preferred Qualifications:
Proven experience in agency leadership, performance management, and capability building.
Strong skills in planning, leadership, communication, and using data to drive results.
High professionalism, sound judgment, and ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders.
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 [email protected].
Working Arrangement
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Management, Economics, or related field
- At least 6 years of experience in sales, business development, or agency management
- Experience in insurance or financial services (preferred)
- Proven experience in agency leadership, performance management, and capability building
- Strong planning, leadership, communication, and data-driven decision-making skills
- High professionalism, sound judgment, and ability to manage multiple priorities and stakeholders
Manulife Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Manulife and has not been reviewed or approved by Manulife.
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Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is portrayed as comprehensive, spanning medical, dental, prescription drugs, vision, critical illness, and short- and long-term disability. Mental-health support is emphasized via EAP-style services and high annual coverage limits in some regions, alongside wellness programs and navigation tools.
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Retirement Support — Retirement offerings are positioned as a meaningful part of total rewards, including group RRSP/defined contribution pension options and employer matching in some cases. Ownership-related programs such as share purchase/stock options are also described as available for eligible employees.
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Flexible Benefits — Benefits are described as robust and flexible, with customizable packages and spending-account style options in some plans. Digital tools (mobile app/claims) and reward-linked wellness programs are framed as making benefits easier to use and more engaging.
Manulife Insights
What We Do
Manulife is a leading international financial services group that helps people make their decisions easier and lives better. With our global headquarters in Toronto, we operate as Manulife across our offices in Canada, Asia, and Europe, and primarily as John Hancock in the United States. We have more than 40,000 employees, over 116,000 agents serving ~34 million customers worldwide, and over $1.3 trillion in assets under management and administration. Visit www.Manulife.com to find out more. For Manulife terms of use, please visit http://bit.ly/SM_Terms
