Lead Data Scientist – Underwriting AI
At a glance
Senior AI Research role at Manulife and John Hancock. Hong Kong · full-time.
Pay not stated AI Research salary
aimlroles summary, based on the employer's posting.
What you'll do
- Lead a data science team building underwriting AI for risk decisions, document review, workflow automation and rule optimization
- Turn underwriting challenges into deployable AI and GenAI tools, then integrate them into workflows with governance and compliance
- Guide LLM, prompt, retrieval and evaluation approaches for text-heavy underwriting information
- Set model monitoring, lifecycle and value-tracking practices, and maintain a repository of models, performance and risks
- Advise business leaders on priorities and investment, while coordinating standards and solutions with regional and global teams
What you bring
- At least ten years in AI, machine learning or advanced analytics, preferably in financial services
- Strong hands-on skills in statistical and machine-learning models, plus underwriting or claims analytics
- Practical GenAI experience spanning LLMs, retrieval methods, evaluation, bias controls and explainability
- Advanced Python and SQL skills, along with experience putting models into production and monitoring them
- Experience leading data science teams and complex analytics work in regulated settings
Who this fits
This senior role suits a hands-on technical leader who can grow a team and advise underwriting leaders across Asia. The position is hybrid.
From the employer
The Lead Data Scientist – Underwriting is a senior leadership role responsible for driving regional and BU-level AI, ML, and Generative AI solutions to transform underwriting decision-making across Asia. This role combines deep technical expertise, people leadership, and strong business partnership to deliver scalable, compliant, and value-generating underwriting capabilities.
You will lead and grow a team of data scientists focused on underwriting AI, while also acting as a hands-on technical leader shaping advanced predictive, prescriptive, and generative solutions. The role partners closely with underwriting, risk, technology, and regional stakeholders, and supports the Chief AI Officer in delivering the Asia AI Value agenda and building world-class, revenue-generating analytics.
Position Responsibilities:
Technical & Business Leadership
Lead the design, development, and deployment of AI, ML, and Generative AI solutions supporting underwriting use cases, including:
Underwriting summarization and document intelligence
Risk assessment and decision support
Straight-through processing (STP) and workflow automation
Data-driven underwriting rules optimization
Translate complex underwriting and business problems into scalable analytical and GenAI solutions with measurable business outcomes.
Drive adoption of AI solutions by embedding them into end-to-end underwriting workflows, ensuring usability, governance, and regulatory compliance.
Partner with reinsurers, vendors, and external technology providers to co-develop or integrate advanced underwriting solutions.
Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of data scientists focused on underwriting AI and analytics.
Generative AI & Advanced Analytics
Lead the application of AI and especially GenAI in underwriting, including:
Large Language Models (LLMs) for text-heavy underwriting data (e.g., medical reports, financial statements, applications)
Prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and evaluation frameworks
Model orchestration, guardrails, and human-in-the-loop designs
Ensure AI solutions are responsible, explainable, auditable, and compliant with internal AI governance and regulatory expectations.
Establish standards for model lifecycle management, performance monitoring, and value tracking for AI and GenAI solutions.
Strategy, Governance & Stakeholder Management
Contribute to AI and data strategy, focusing on data optimization, monetization, and external data enrichment.
Collaborate with global and regional teams to define common modeling standards, governance, and reusable AI assets, aligned with AI CoE guidelines.
Maintain a regional/global model repository to track models in use, performance, and risks.
Act as a trusted advisor to underwriting and business leaders, influencing prioritization and investment decisions.
Proactively identify risks, data challenges, and stakeholder conflicts, and drive alignment and mitigation plans.
Required Qualifications:
10+ years of experience in AI, machine learning, or advanced analytics, preferably within financial services.
Strong underwriting, insurance, or reinsurance domain knowledge (highly preferred).
Proven experience leading complex analytics initiatives in highly regulated environments.
Technical & GenAI Skills
Strong hands-on expertise in ML/statistical modeling, segmentation, and underwriting or claims analytics.
Advanced proficiency in Python, SQL, and common data science toolchains (R, SAS a plus).
Practical experience with Generative AI, including:
Large Language Models (LLMs)
Prompt engineering and RAG architectures
Model evaluation, bias mitigation, and explainability
AI governance and responsible AI practices
Experience with cloud and big data platforms (e.g., Azure, Spark, Databricks, Hadoop).
Strong understanding of deploying models into production, including monitoring and lifecycle management.
Leadership & Communication
Demonstrated ability to lead and scale teams, mentor data scientists, and manage ambiguity.
Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence senior leaders across regions.
Excellent communication and presentation skills, translating technical concepts into business language.
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 hr@manulife.com.
Working Arrangement
Hybrid