Senior AI Platform Engineer

We are building an Agentic AI Platform within Manulife that powers next‑generation intelligence across the enterprise—autonomous task execution, reasoning‑based workflows, tool‑calling, retrieval‑augmented capabilities, multi‑agent ecosystems, and safety‑governed automation.

As a Senior AI Platform Engineer for Manulife Asia, you will help architect and deliver the foundational services that enable AI agents to plan, reason, act, collaborate, and integrate deeply with business systems. You will work across cloud, distributed systems, orchestration frameworks, vector/memory stores, agent workflows, and safety/guardrail layers to ensure the platform is secure, scalable, and enterprise‑ready for Asia markets.

This role is ideal for engineers who blend strong systems engineering skills with curiosity for cutting‑edge AI patterns.

Position Responsibilities:

1. Agentic AI Platform Architecture & Core Services

• Build platform components that power agent planning, reasoning, orchestration, tool‑calling, and multi‑step task execution.

• Implement shared runtimes for multi‑agent coordination, state management, memory persistence, and messaging.

• Design interoperable APIs/SDKs used by data scientists and developers to build agent‑powered applications.

2. Retrieval, Memory & Knowledge Integration

• Develop standardized retrieval frameworks (search, embeddings, knowledge connectors) enabling agents to access enterprise knowledge safely.

• Build and optimize short‑term memory, long‑term memory, and episodic state abstractions for agent workflows.

• Integrate structured/unstructured data sources through unified connectors and retrieval bridges.

3. Tooling, Connectors & Ecosystem Enablement

• Build tool interfaces that allow agents to invoke enterprise systems, APIs, databases, and automations.

• Create reusable patterns for function/tool definitions, schema validation, safe execution, rate limiting, and auditability.

• Work with regional business teams to onboard Asia‑specific systems and workflows into the global agent ecosystem.

4. Agent Safety, Governance & Observability

• Implement enterprise-grade guardrails: content filtering, hallucination mitigation, safe‑action constraints, and policy‑driven approvals.

• Build observability for agent workflows: traces, reasoning logs, action sequences, feedback loops, and performance metrics.

• Provide mechanisms for feedback, oversight, and ongoing evaluation of agent behaviour.

5. Cloud, Infrastructure & Distributed Systems

• Develop and operate scalable backend services supporting high‑traffic agent interactions, retrieval operations, and real‑time execution flows.

• Use cloud‑native technologies (containers, orchestration, IaC, CI/CD) to deliver reliable, cost-efficient services.

• Optimize runtime performance across CPU/GPU/accelerator workloads.

6. Developer Experience & Collaboration

• Build templates, scaffolding, and CLI tools to enable quick development of agent‑powered applications.

• Partner with global engineering, security, and AI governance teams to localize the platform for Asia’s regulatory and data‑residency needs.

• Mentor data science teams on agentic design patterns and platform capabilities.

Required Qualifications:

• Above 5 years' experience in backend/platform/cloud systems engineering.

• Proficiency with Python and Java/Scala/TypeScript or similar languages for building backend services and automation.

• Understanding of LLM systems, retrieval architectures, embeddings, vector stores, and prompt/tool orchestration fundamentals.

• Hands‑on experience with cloud-native development: Kubernetes, containers, CI/CD.

• Strong grasp of API design, asynchronous workflows, concurrency, and system reliability.

• Familiarity with security, governance, and compliance concepts related to AI or data systems.

• Ability to collaborate across global teams and translate business problems into platform capabilities.

• Bonus point if you have experience with one or more of:

  • Agent frameworks or orchestration engines.

  • Multi-agent systems, task decomposition, or reasoning chain design.

  • Knowledge graphs, semantic search, or hybrid retrieval.

  • Guardrail and evaluation frameworks for LLMs.

  • Complex workflow systems (rule engines, workflow orchestrators, automation platforms).

  • Background in enterprise AI or regulated environments.

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].