Job Description

The Regional Director of Agency is a senior leadership role with region‑wide responsibility for strengthening agency field management and driving sustainable growth of agency across Asia.
As part of a regional center of expertise, you will work closely with country CAOs to uplift how agencies are led and managed day‑to‑day – from recruitment and selection, to coaching and performance management, to productivity and MDRT uplift. You will collaborate with regional peers (Head of Training, Head of Agency Digital, Head of Compensation and BD) by bringing field management insight and execution discipline.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Key Focus:

1. Agency Field Management & Market Support

• Define and promote clear standards for agency field management (e.g. activity management, pipeline discipline, joint fieldwork, coaching cadence, performance reviews).
• Partner with local agency leadership to assess current practices, identify gaps and implement practical field management routines at all levels (from unit manager to senior agency leaders).
• Provide hands‑on support in markets (including short‑term in‑market assignments where needed) to embed these standards and raise frontline leadership effectiveness.

2. Recruitment, Selection & Early Tenure Success

• Work with markets to strengthen the end‑to‑end recruitment and selection process, focus on quality
• Introduce practical tools and processes (profiling, structured interviews, clear selection criteria) that leaders can use in the field
• Help markets improve early‑tenure management through stronger goal‑setting, activity coaching and support in the first 12–24 months to reduce early attrition.

3. Agency Leader Development & Succession

• Define what “good” looks like for agency leaders at different levels (competencies and behaviours), with a strong emphasis on coaching and performance management skills.
• Partner with the Head of Training and markets to design and deliver leader development journeys that are closely tied to field management expectations.

4. Productivity, MDRT & Business Quality

• Help markets design and execute productivity uplift plans, including activity models, sales processes, case size/case rate improvement and product mix.
• Promote MDRT and other productivity benchmarks, working with markets to set aspirations, define practical action steps and share best practices from top agencies.
• Ensure productivity initiatives support quality, persistency and long‑term customer relationships

Supporting focus (with wider team)
5. Regional Guidelines

• Contribute to a practical, user‑friendly set of regional guidelines for field management, recruitment, leader development and productivity (the “how to” for agency leaders). Keep simple and execution‑focused, support markets to adapt locally and facilitate best practices that can be replicated.

6. Data, Insights & Collaboration

• Work with the Head of Agency Compensation and BD, and analytics teams who own data, dashboards and compensation design, provide business requirements from a field perspective (what agency need to see and use) and help interpret insights for markets.

7. Change Leadership & Culture

• Act as a change leader to help markets implement new field management practices, sales systems and leadership behaviours. Support local teams reinforce a culture of professionalism, ethics, compliance and customer‑centricity across agency

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree and/or industry designations (e.g. CLU, CFP or equivalent) preferred.

• At least 15 years’ experience in life insurance / financial services, with 5+ years in senior agency distribution or multi-market leadership.

• Experience in:
  - Mature, sophisticated agency environments;
  - and/or Developing/emerging Asia markets.

• Proven results in:

  
  - Building and managing professional agency forces

  
  - Implementing field management and performance routines

  
  - Driving quality recruitment and improving early tenure retention

  
  - Developing agency leaders and succession pipelines

  
  - Lifting productivity (including MDRT) and business quality in partnership with compensation/strategy.

• Good understanding of financial planning concepts and core life/health/savings products.

• Strong English communication skills; Asian language skills an advantage.

• Strategic but very hands-on with the field; comfortable working directly with agency leaders.

• Strong influencing skills; able to lead change through others without direct reporting lines.

• Practical, implementation-focused and disciplined in follow-through.

• Collaborative, with the ability to work well with Training, Digital, Compensation, Strategy and Analytics colleagues.

• Self-driven, resilient and comfortable operating with high autonomy.

• Willing to travel frequently across Asia and take on short-term in-market assignments when needed.