Director, Production Support & IT Service Management (ITSM)new

Role Summary

The Director, Production Support & IT Service Management (ITSM) is a senior leadership role responsible for ensuring the stability, reliability, availability, and continuous improvement of Manulife Japan's business-critical applications and technology services.

The role will lead Production Support (PS), IT Service Management (ITSM), Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Release Management, and Operational Excellence functions while driving service maturity through ITIL best practices.

The successful candidate will possess deep insurance industry experience, extensive knowledge of ITIL and ITSM frameworks, strong operational leadership capabilities, and proven experience managing production environments in Japan. This individual must thrive in high-pressure situations, demonstrate exceptional crisis and chaos management skills, and effectively communicate with business executives, technology leaders, regulators, and external partners in both Japanese and English.

The Director will serve as the primary escalation point for major incidents, operational risks, service quality issues, and strategic service improvement initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Production Support Leadership

Lead end-to-end Production Support operations across business-critical insurance applications and platforms.

Ensure operational stability, availability, resilience, and performance of production systems.

Establish and maintain robust operational governance, support models, and service management frameworks.

Drive operational excellence through proactive monitoring, automation, and continuous service improvement initiatives.

Ensure 24x7 support readiness and major incident response capabilities.

Develop operational roadmaps aligned with business and technology strategies.

Production Support and ITSM services are expected to include Incident Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Release Management, RCA management, service reporting, and continuous improvement practices.

ITIL & IT Service Management Leadership

Own and continuously improve ITIL-based service management processes.

Drive maturity across:

Incident Management

Problem Management

Change Management

Release Management

Knowledge Management

Service Request Management

Service Level Management

Continual Service Improvement (CSI)

Lead ServiceNow and ITSM platform optimization initiatives.

Establish KPIs, SLAs, OLAs, governance forums, and operational controls.

Promote a service-oriented culture across delivery teams and business stakeholders.

ITIL-aligned service delivery, governance, incident management, problem management, change management, release management, and CSI practices are identified as core operational requirements in multiple Manulife Japan ITSM and production support documents.

Major Incident & Chaos Management

Act as the executive leader during Major Incident Management (MIM) situations.

Lead crisis response, service restoration, stakeholder communications, and escalation management during business-critical outages.

Coordinate cross-functional teams across Business, IS, Infrastructure, Vendors, Security, and External Partners.

Drive post-incident reviews, lessons learned, and permanent corrective actions.

Build organizational resilience through simulation exercises, disaster recovery readiness, and operational risk management.

Establish and maintain operational playbooks, runbooks, and escalation frameworks.

The role requires leadership of high-impact incident response, incident communication, RCA governance, escalation management, and preventive controls to reduce recurring service disruptions.

Stakeholder and Business Engagement

Serve as the primary operational contact for senior business leaders, executives, and technology leadership.

Communicate business impact, remediation plans, incident status, and operational risks with clarity and confidence.

Facilitate executive-level incident bridges and service review meetings.

Build trusted relationships with Business Units, CIO leadership, PMO, Risk, Compliance, and Partner Organizations.

Drive consensus across departments to resolve complex operational and organizational challenges.

Business communication management, operational review forums, stakeholder coordination, and executive communications are core expectations within the Manulife Japan ITSM operating model.

Root Cause Analysis & Continuous Improvement

Drive a data-driven problem management culture focused on eliminating recurring incidents.

Lead Root Cause Analysis (RCA) investigations and ensure effective corrective and preventive actions.

Analyze operational trends, incident patterns, and service quality metrics to identify opportunities for improvement.

Partner with Engineering, Architecture, Security, and Delivery Teams to improve system robustness and reliability.

Establish continuous improvement programs focused on automation, service quality, operational efficiency, and customer satisfaction.

Problem Management, RCA governance, trend analysis, known error management, and service improvement initiatives are key ITSM responsibilities.

Operational Reporting & Leadership Communication

Own executive operational reporting across Production Support and ITSM functions.

Develop and present:

Service Health Reports

Incident Trend Analysis

SLA/KPI Dashboards

Executive Scorecards

Operational Risk Reports

Service Improvement Roadmaps

Present operational status, risks, and improvement initiatives to leadership forums, steering committees, and executive stakeholders.

Utilize data analytics to drive informed operational decisions and service improvements.

Advanced reporting, operational dashboards, performance analytics, and executive visibility are recognized service management requirements.

Process Assessment & Organizational Alignment

Assess operational processes and identify inefficiencies, risks, and service delivery gaps.

Lead cross-functional improvement initiatives to optimize service management processes.

Build consensus across departments and vendors to implement sustainable operational improvements.

Develop governance mechanisms that align technology operations with business objectives.

Drive operational transformation initiatives and service modernization programs.

Team Leadership

Lead, mentor, and develop high-performing Production Support and ITSM teams.

Build strong leadership succession and talent development programs.

Manage operational managers, incident managers, service managers, and support leads.

Promote accountability, collaboration, customer focus, and operational excellence.

Foster a culture of continuous learning, ownership, and innovation.

Required Qualifications

Education

Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Engineering, Business, or a related field.

Master's degree is preferred.

Experience

15+ years of IT Operations, Production Support, ITSM, or Technology Service Management experience.

8+ years of leadership experience managing large operational support organizations.

Proven experience managing Production Support operations within Japan.

Extensive experience supporting Life Insurance or Financial Services organizations.

Demonstrated success implementing and operating ITIL-based service management frameworks.

Strong experience with ServiceNow or equivalent enterprise ITSM platforms.

Experience managing multi-vendor and outsourced support organizations.

Proven experience managing mission-critical incidents and crisis situations.

Insurance Industry Knowledge

Good to have understanding of:

Life Insurance Operations

Policy Administration Systems

Claims Processing

Agency and Distribution Systems

Digital Customer Platforms

Insurance Regulatory Environment

Operational Risk Management

Customer Service Operations

Language Requirements

Mandatory

Near-Native Japanese Business Communication Skills

Business English Communication Skills

Candidate must be capable of:

Leading executive meetings in Japanese and English.

Conducting Major Incident communications in both languages.

Presenting operational reports to Executive Leadership teams.

Facilitating discussions with business stakeholders, vendors, and senior management.

Core Competencies

Leadership

Strategic Leadership

Executive Presence

Decision Making Under Pressure

Cross-functional Influence

Organizational Change Leadership

Technical & Operational

ITIL Expert Knowledge

ITSM Frameworks

ServiceNow

Incident & Problem Management

Operational Governance

Service Improvement

Business

Insurance Domain Expertise

Risk Management

Vendor Management

Financial & Operational Reporting

Process Optimization

Personal Attributes

Exceptional Chaos Management Skills

Strong Analytical Thinking

Highly Resilient Under Pressure

Consensus Builder

Results-Oriented

Customer Focused

Strong Communication & Negotiation Skills

Success Measures

Improvement in Service Stability and Availability

Reduction in Major Incident Frequency and Impact

Faster MTTR (Mean Time to Restore Service)

Improved Business Satisfaction Scores

Strong SLA and KPI Achievement

Successful ITIL & ITSM Maturity Advancement

Reduction of Recurring Incidents through Effective RCA

Improved Cross-Functional Collaboration and Operational Efficiency

Internal Guidelines about Work from Home:

Hybrid Model, following Manulife’s Working Better guidelines.

Over time:

0-40 hours/month.

Salary:

Based on our Work Rules, we will consider your experience, skills and knowledge when we decide the salary.

Commutation allowance and Variable Incentive Bonus are paid based on our Work Rules.

Working Hours:

Standard Working Hours: 9:00am - 5:00pm  (Include 1 hour break. Flex-time system available)

Benefits:

Social Insurance (Health Insurance, Employees' Pension, Unemployment Insurance, Worker's Accident Insurance), Benefit One, Training system (include Japanese lesson / English lesson), Childcare Leave/Family care Leave, Baby-sitter support program, wiwiw System (Support program for those who take Childcare Leave), Retirement Pension (only for Regular employee).

Holidays/Vacations:

Saturdays and Sundays

National Holidays

Year-end and new year holidays (December 30, December 31, January 2 and January 3)

Annual Paid Holiday

For Regular employee, other special holidays are available (e.g. Anniversary Leave, etc.)

Location:

Hatsudai Head Office, Tokyo Opera City, 3-20-2 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo Japan

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.

Hybrid