Role Introduction

Reporting directly to the Chief People Officer, the Director of Learning & Development is responsible for leading our L&D team. You will drive the execution and refinement of our global L&D plan. This includes developing and delivering strategic development programmes to ensure skills and succession readiness for us to be able to execute our annual and long-range strategies, coaching and mentoring, delivering wider talent management initiatives in partnership with our wider People team, and building relationships across the business and with external partners. This is a key leadership role in our People function and wider organisation.

The ideal candidate will have extensive experience leading the L&D agenda in a global corporate context, preferably in a private equity backed technology business.

What You Will Do

Execute on the overall L&D strategic plan and our ambitious roadmap for the whole organisation. Prepare FY26 roadmap to continue building upon our transformation and skills and succession readiness.
Create and drive a true learning culture, embedding organisation wide practices and skills development with learning agility at its core, while also ensuring L&D programmes and tooling are accessible for all.
Manage the tooling, creation, review and maintenance process of our skills and competency frameworks and career paths. Implement skills assessments, gap analysis and strategic skills planning across the organisation.
Create organisational-wide upskilling and reskilling plans for emerging technologies and to build the skills required to execute against the organisation’s strategic objectives.
Partner with the People Partnering and Employee Relations teams to define learning needs and build and deliver organisational and departmental programmes to address these.
Work proactively with the team and wider organisation to deliver truly impactful leadership development, compliance training and management, technical and professional skill development in support of our global talent and their development plans.
Partner with our HRIS specialist to ensure L&D tooling drives the right organisational outcomes and experiences.
Monitor and manage learning and development outcome effectiveness through implementation of learning analytics, and use these to identify impacts, and inform decisions and investments.
Identify, source, and evaluate external learning providers matching our uncompromising quality objectives and learning style.
Partner – with other enablement functions, including revenue enablement and customer training, building a collaborative centre of excellence and ensuring tooling, process and design decisions improve efficiency and accommodate needs across the entire organisation.
Partner closely with People team sub-departments to support needs across the People function and the training and adoption of People team programmes.
Partner with transformation teams across the organisation to help support embedding and adoption of process, policy and tooling changes.
Manage our early careers development programmes, including apprenticeships, bootcamps and internships, to ensure the development needs for participants and managers involved in this process are addressed to ensure the right upskilling and experience.
Implement and embed mentoring and coaching programmes to support skills development across the organisation.
Manage key stakeholders and act as a visible leader in the organisation, role modelling behaviours, communicating status, vision and impacts, mitigating risks, driving adoption, and acting as a change agent.

What You Will Have

A continuous learning mindset and embodiment of curiosity through following trends, doing research and staying up to date on the ins and outs of leadership development, technology and L&D in a broader sense.
Vast and deep experience in designing and delivering L&D initiatives, perhaps from a consulting or in-house L&D leadership role.
Proactive mindset and ability to be deep into the details and thinking strategically at the same time.
Deep understanding of how learning can support and enable business goals and objectives, as well as curiosity and keen understanding of the latest L&D trends.
Excellent communication, presentation and facilitation skills, with ability to adjust style towards a variety of audiences, including employees, managers, and senior executives.
Ability to build and manage relationships with external partners.
Strong project management skills with the ability to manage complex projects, from start to finish. This includes developing project plans, tracking progress, and managing budgets.
Strong leadership skills and the ability to drive significant organisational change efforts.
Preference for engaging, influencing and building relationships with stakeholders at all levels.
Collaborative mind-set and motivation to develop others and help them realise their full potential.
Strong stakeholder management and business acumen, enabling you to effectively translate business needs into relevant and timely learning initiatives.
Ability to deliver high-quality work at pace
Professional coaching qualification as well as psychometric certifications highly desirable.
Experience leading L&D and driving change in a global matrix organisation preferable.

What We Do For You

Wellbeing focused – Our people are our greatest assets, and ensuring everyone feels their best self to come to work is integral

Annual Leave – 25 days of annual leave, plus public holidays and the ability to buy additional days
Employee Assistance Programme – Free advice, support, and confidential counselling available 24/7 through Care First
Endometriosis Friendly Employer - We are proud to confirm our commitment to developing an environment and culture that allows those with endometriosis to thrive in the workplace

Personal Growth - Regardless of where you are at in your career, we’re committed to enabling your growth personally and professionally

Development Programmes – From Future Managers to Leadership Training, our development programmes help you get where you need to go
Performance Bonus – Our Group-wide bonus scheme enables you to reap the rewards of your success

Financial wellbeing - We understand as well as your mental wellbeing, your financial wellbeing is really important

Pension Scheme – Our plan with Scottish Widows offers 5% matched contribution by the company
Income protection insurance – Providing you with support and assistance when you need it most

Recognition – Highlighting and rewarding the great work our people do

Values Awards – Our quarterly employee-driven initiative to highlight and reward the people in the organisation who embody our values the most
Performance & Talent – Our own technology platform that allows you to get real-time feedback, conversations and goals to help you become your best self

Making a Difference – we provide opportunities to help our people make a difference to the causes they care about

MatchIt! – Fundraise for a cause close to your heart and Advanced will match part of the funding
Volunteering Time – Our volunteering leave scheme allows you to use your time to help those who need it
Pennies from Heaven – donate the pennies from your pay check to help make a difference without lifting a finger

Who We Are

Advanced is one UK's largest providers of business software and services serving 20,000+ global customers with an annual turnover of £330M+. We manage 1.5 million 111 calls per month, support over 2 million Further Education learners across the UK, handle over 10 million wills, and so much more. Our mission is to power the world of work and, as you can see, our software underpins some of the UK's most critical sectors.

We invest in our brilliant people. They are at the heart of our success as we strive to be a diverse, inclusive and engaging place to work that not only powers the world of work, but empowers the growth, ambitions and talent of our people.

To learn more about working at Advanced please click here

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Learning & Development Director