Proposition Design & Development Lead

Proposition Design & Development Lead is responsible to lead the design and development of differentiated life and wealth propositions that address priority customer needs, strengthen portfolio competitiveness, and deliver sustainable commercial value. The role owns proposition direction from insight and concept through business-case approval and a clearly defined design handover, with particular emphasis on investment-linked products (ILP), wealth accumulation, high-net-worth (HNW), legacy-planning, and multi-currency opportunities.

The Lead converts customer, distributor, market, competitor, regulatory, and financial insight into clear proposition choices. Working across Product, Pricing, Actuarial, Investments, Distribution, Marketing, Risk, Legal, Compliance, Operations, and Technology, the role establishes the customer value proposition, design guardrails, commercial rationale, and decision-ready proposition package while preserving clear accountability for technical pricing, detailed specifications, implementation, and commercialization within the relevant partner teams.

Position Responsibilities:

1. Proposition Strategy and Roadmap

• Support the Head of Life & Wealth Proposition in translating enterprise strategy, portfolio priorities, customer needs, and distribution opportunities into an integrated 12–18-month life and wealth proposition roadmap.
• Maintain clear portfolio positioning across customer segments, needs, currencies, channels, and product categories to minimize duplication and strengthen differentiation.

2. Customer-Centric Proposition Design

• Define the target customer, unmet need, intended customer outcome, proposition promise, product role, differentiating features, and reasons to believe.
• Lead customer-value and market-fit validation using research, distributor feedback, focus groups, competitor benchmarking, portfolio experience, and relevant external practices.
• Develop the proposition one-pager, design principles, benefit architecture, customer journey, fund or investment narrative where relevant, and clear design guardrails.
• Lead proposition requirements for ILP fund architecture, investment themes, currency choices, fund differentiation, customer suitability, and the customer-facing investment narrative, in partnership with Investments, Pricing, Risk, Compliance, and relevant asset-management stakeholders. Technical fund governance and investment decisions remain with designated investment owners.
• Ensure propositions are understandable, suitable for the intended segment, and designed to support fair customer outcomes.

3. Business Case and Design Governance

• Own the proposition component of the overall business case, including the strategic rationale, target customer, customer need, proposition concept, differentiation, design assumptions, portfolio role, and intended customer outcomes. Partner with the Proposition Enablement & Commercialization Lead, who owns the commercial case, channel assumptions, commercialization plan, and outcome-realization model.
• Partner with Pricing and Actuarial to test design alternatives against APE, NBV, CSM, capital, risk, customer value, and affordability objectives; challenge trade-offs without assuming technical pricing accountability.
• Engage related stakeholders early to assess regulatory, operational, technology, investment, reinsurance, underwriting, and implementation feasibility.
• Identify proposition-level customer, conduct, regulatory, reputational, affordability, currency, investment, complexity, and suitability risks early; reflect these risks in design choices and escalate them to the accountable Risk, Legal, Compliance, Pricing, and governance owners.
• Present proposition recommendations, alternatives, trade-offs, and decisions required to the Head of Life & Wealth Proposition and relevant governance forums.
• Maintain design integrity through development by providing proposition concurrence on material changes against approved design guardrails and by ensuring agreed customer and commercial outcomes are preserved. Formal approval remains with the relevant accountable owner or governance forum.

4. Decision Rights, Role Boundaries and Design Handover

• The role owns the target customer, customer need, proposition concept, positioning, benefit architecture, design principles, proposition guardrails, portfolio role, and proposition recommendation.
• Pricing and Actuarial own technical pricing methodology, assumptions, financial modelling, and actuarial sign-off. Product Development owns detailed product specifications, policy and regulatory documentation, and technical design translation.
• Proposition Enablement & Commercialization owns go-to-market (GTM) orchestration, sales enablement, launch readiness, adoption, and commercial outcome realization. Distribution owns channel execution and sales performance. Final approval remains with the relevant governance forum.
• The approved design-handover package includes the proposition one-pager; target customer and need statement; customer and distributor value propositions; benefit architecture and design guardrails; agreed assumptions and trade-offs; customer-journey intent; financial and feasibility assessment; open issues, dependencies, and decision log; and success measures and post-launch learning plan.
• After design handover, the role remains the proposition steward and is consulted on development decisions that fall within approved guardrails. Material departures require proposition concurrence and approval by the relevant accountable owner or governance forum.

5. Cross-Functional Leadership

• Lead cross-functional proposition working teams and create alignment on customer need, design direction, scope, assumptions, priorities, and key decisions.
• Partner with Customer & Channel Proposition to incorporate the voice of customers and Agency, DBS, Danamon, and other relevant distribution partners.
• Remain accountable for proposition coherence across channels, while channel-specific needs, feedback, partner requirements, and commercialization inputs are coordinated through the designated Customer & Channel Proposition or Distribution partner.
• Partner with Proposition Enablement & Commercialization to translate the approved proposition into a compelling sales story, launch approach, training architecture, and reusable support tools.
• Coach proposition team members and strengthen capability in insight synthesis, proposition design, business-case development, structured problem-solving, and executive communication.
• Provide day-to-day direction, work allocation, coaching, and quality assurance to assigned proposition resources; where the role has direct reports, manage performance, development, and succession in line with company people practices.

6. Portfolio Performance and Continuous Improvement

• Define proposition-level success measures and post-launch learning questions before approval.
• Review sales, customer acceptance, channel adoption, persistency, mix, economics, and competitive performance with relevant owners after launch.
• Recommend proposition enhancements, repricing or redesign triggers, fund-shelf changes, replication opportunities, corrective actions, or rationalization based on evidence.
• Build a reusable proposition repository covering research, design decisions, benchmarks, business cases, outcomes, and lessons learned.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science, Finance, Economics, Business, Marketing, or a related discipline; postgraduate qualification is an advantage.
• Typically 8–12 years of relevant experience in life insurance proposition, product strategy, product development, actuarial, wealth management, investments, customer strategy, or distribution.
• Demonstrated experience leading at least one material proposition or product concept from insight through business-case approval, design handover, and post-launch review.
• Demonstrated use of customer or distributor research to influence proposition direction, and experience presenting alternatives and trade-offs to senior governance forums.
• Strong understanding of life insurance and wealth propositions, including investment-linked, savings, participating, protection, legacy-planning, and high-net-worth solutions.
• Working knowledge of product economics, including annual premium equivalent (APE), new business value (NBV), contractual service margin (CSM), profitability, capital, and customer-value trade-offs. Actuarial, investment, wealth-management, customer-strategy, or product-development credentials are advantageous; demonstrated commercial and proposition leadership is more important than any single professional qualification.
• Strong commercial judgment, analytical problem-solving, customer orientation, and ability to synthesize complex input into a clear proposition and recommendation.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and lead cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Experience working across Agency and bancassurance or strategic bank-partner environments is strongly preferred.
• Excellent written, presentation, facilitation, and executive communication skills in English and Bahasa Indonesia.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ability to manage multiple priorities and work cross-functionally.

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 .

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].

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