Associate Manager, Rehabilitation

Manulife’s National Rehabilitation Centre of Excellence is seeking an Associate Manager with strong people leadership, relationship-building expertise, and demonstrated rehabilitation and disability management experience. As a remote team, we welcome qualified candidates from across Canada.

Reporting to the Manager, National Rehabilitation, the Associate Manager will lead a team of Functional Rehabilitation Specialists and Vocational Rehabilitation Specialists who develop and deliver individualized, goal-oriented rehabilitation and return-to-work strategies. The successful candidate will combine effective people leadership with strong rehabilitation knowledge to coach clinical and vocational decision-making, support complex case consultation, and promote consistent, evidence-informed practices and outcomes.

Responsibilities

Leadership and People Development

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a high-performing remote team of rehabilitation specialists with functional and vocational expertise.
• Build specialist capability through regular case consultation, quality-focused feedback, knowledge sharing, and targeted development planning.
• Support sound professional judgment, clear documentation, effective communication, and timely decision-making in complex or sensitive situations.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative, and engaged team culture aligned with Manulife’s values.
• Identify, develop, and retain talent, and recognize performance and contributions.

Rehabilitation Practice Leadership and Quality

• Provide practice leadership and consultation on complex rehabilitation and disability cases, including functional, workplace, and vocational barriers to recovery and return to work.
• Coach specialists in developing, monitoring, and adjusting individualized, goal-oriented rehabilitation plans that are aligned with functional abilities, job demands, medical information, and sustainable return-to-work or job-resolution goals.
• Guide functional rehabilitation approaches, including assessment of treatment needs, coordination with providers, evaluation of progress, and development of creative return-to-work solutions.
• Guide vocational rehabilitation approaches, including vocational assessment, transferable skills analysis, occupational research, career planning, retraining, job development, and job-search strategies.
• Promote appropriate interpretation and application of rehabilitation industry standards, disability insurance principles, medical terminology, job demands, and regional labour-market information.
• Review rehabilitation strategies and files for quality, clarity, appropriate rationale, measurable goals, cost-effectiveness, and alignment with best practices.
• Support specialists in communicating difficult or complex information with professionalism, compassion, and appropriate boundaries.

Operational Excellence

• Oversee workflow, caseload distribution, productivity, and service delivery to meet service standards and client expectations.
• Use data and quality insights to identify trends, manage risk, prioritize work, and improve rehabilitation and return-to-work outcomes.
• Support effective vendor and budget management by coaching specialists to select appropriate, timely, and cost-effective services and programs.
• Promote consistent documentation, timely follow-up, and effective collaboration across functional and vocational rehabilitation services.
• Address escalated case, service, or operational issues and support appropriate resolution.

Client and Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain strong relationships with plan members, plan sponsors, treatment and service providers, internal disability partners, and external clients.
• Partner with case managers, disability specialists, mental health specialists, and other stakeholders to support coordinated rehabilitation and return-to-work solutions.
• Participate in client meetings, presentations, and service discussions, translating rehabilitation concepts, strategies, and outcomes into clear business and client-focused language.
• Ensure consistent, professional, and responsive client experience across team interactions.

Strategy and Continuous Improvement

• Contribute rehabilitation expertise to national priorities, service design, and the evolution of functional and vocational rehabilitation practices.
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, tools, referral pathways, quality standards, and specialist capability.
• Support the implementation and adoption of evidence-informed rehabilitation and disability management practices.
• Promote innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning across the National Rehabilitation Centre of Excellence.