Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is one of the world's leading international law firms, established in 1884 with approximately 2,000 lawyers across offices in New York, Beijing, Boston, Brussels, Dallas, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, Luxembourg, Palo Alto, San Francisco, São Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo, and Washington, D.C.
The Learning and Development team designs, delivers, and continuously enhances high-impact learning solutions for the Firm’s Professional Staff across functions and offices. We provide learning experiences, resources, and development opportunities that foster continuous learning, strengthen capabilities, and support professional growth.
We are seeking a Manager of Learning and Development to lead the end-to-end design and delivery of learning experiences spanning technical, professional, and leadership development. In this role, you will ensure programs are aligned with Firm strategy, performance expectations, and the evolving needs of a global Professional Staff population. You will deliver a blend of facilitated (virtual and in-person), self-paced, and technology-enabled learning solutions, with a strong focus on quality, scalability, and measurable impact. Partnering closely with the Director of Learning & Development and key stakeholders across Human Resources and the business, you will help execute the Firm’s L&D strategy with an emphasis on onboarding, core capability building, manager and leadership effectiveness, employee engagement, and coaching.
This role is U.S. based with a global mindset, supporting Firm priorities across offices while collaborating with regional and functional partners as needed.
Essential Job Duties & Responsibilities
Learning Program Design & Delivery
- Design, develop, and deliver high‑quality technical, professional, and leadership development programs, tools, and resources that support the full employee lifecycle, including onboarding, role readiness, and career progression.
- Facilitate engaging learning experiences for Professional Staff across levels, including individual contributors, new people leaders, and leaders of leaders, using both virtual and in‑person delivery formats.
- Curate and customize learning content to create targeted, audience‑specific learning journeys aligned to functional and role‑based needs.
Program & Project Management
- Project manage end‑to‑end learning initiatives from needs analysis and instructional design through delivery, evaluation, and continuous improvement.
- Manage all execution details for learning programs, including scheduling, registration, logistics, communications, vendor coordination, and reporting.
- Ensure programs are delivered on time, within scope, and to a high standard of quality and learner experience.
Stakeholder Partnership & Needs Analysis
- Partner with senior leaders, HR Business Partners, and functional stakeholders to assess learning needs and translate business priorities into effective learning solutions.
- Contribute to Firm‑wide and functions-specific learning strategies that support performance expectations, manager effectiveness, and leadership capability.
Measurement & Continuous Improvement
- Define and track learning metrics to evaluate program effectiveness, learner engagement, and business impact.
- Use data and feedback to continuously refine content, delivery methods, and learning experiences.
Technology & Innovation
- Identify and implement opportunities to leverage learning technologies, blended learning approaches, and digital tools to improve reach, efficiency, and impact.
- Maintain working knowledge of learning management systems and learning design tools; partner with vendors to support program delivery as needed.
Firm & HR Initiatives
- Contribute to broader HR and Firm‑wide initiatives where learning and change enablement are required.
Skills And Experience
- Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in learning and development, preferably within a professional services, legal, or similarly complex environment.
- Demonstrated expertise in adult learning theory and instructional design, with experience applying these principles to both technical and leadership development.
- Strong domain knowledge of learning management systems, digital learning platforms, and e‑learning authoring tools.
- Proven ability to facilitate learning effectively in both virtual and in‑person settings, with audiences ranging from small groups to large cohorts.
- Excellent project management, organizational, and problem‑solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously.
- Strong stakeholder management and partnership skills, with the ability to influence and collaborate across functions and levels.
- Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to translate complex concepts into clear, engaging learning experiences.
- Strategic, creative thinker with a continuous‑improvement mindset and strong attention to detail.
- High level of professionalism, discretion, and ability to work both independently and collaboratively.
- Coach certification preferred.
- Proficiency with suite of Microsoft programs.
Education
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Development, Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Training and Development, Human Resources, or a related discipline; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Salary Information
NY Only: The estimated base salary range for this position is $150,000 to $175,000 at the time of posting.
The actual salary offered will depend on a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job. This role is exempt meaning it is not overtime pay eligible.
Simpson Thacher will not sponsor applicants for work visas for this position.
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Simpson Thacher & Bartlett is committed to a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with respect and dignity. The Firm prohibits discrimination or harassment based upon race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, veteran’s status or any other legally protected status. This Policy pertains to every aspect of an individual’s relationship with the Firm, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training and development, promotion, transfer, discipline, termination, and all other privileges, terms and conditions of employment.
