Principal (Leadership Development)

Tonka Learning; Melbourne; On-site; AUD 140,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Tonka Learning is seeking a Principal to hold client relationships, facilitate, design and lead the consistency and quality of leadership programs. The role is hands-on, building material and delivering as well as leading a team.

You will work closely with the founder and clients who demand excellence, with a typical week including facilitation, client meetings, coaching, preparation, and team leadership. The Melbourne-based role involves leading a Learning Experience Designer and two

Qualifications

• Senior client relationships held independently
• Understanding how complex organisations work
• Designed and delivered modern leadership programs at scale
• Led and mentored people with high standards
• Thorough preparation and meticulous attention to detail
• Ability to work at pace and still go deep
• Active use of AI to improve quality and speed of work
• Depth in one or two sectors preferred

Responsibilities

• Facilitate group sessions and client engagements
• Design and deliver learning materials and programs
• Lead and mentor Learning Experience Designer and Coordinators
• Oversee consultants in Australia and overseas
• Manage regular client meetings and strategic planning
• Travel as required for client work and programs

Skills

Senior client relationships

Strategic leadership

Facilitation excellence

Team leadership

Attention to detail

Working at pace

Use of AI in work

Sector depth

Job description

Tonka Learning is a learning and organisational development consultancy. Since 2020 we have developed leaders at every level and the cultures they work in, across higher education, professional services, not-for-profit, retail, FMCG and elite sport.

Today we run around 160 leadership programs a year, reaching participants in 65 countries. Our team includes consultants we have partnered with for years and everyone who delivers our work is an experienced practitioner. Nobody is learning on the job.

Our group programs are blended and rarely a single workshop. They are often supported by one-to-one and group coaching, peer learning circles, a digital platform and continued contact with participants after a program ends.

Our OD and strategy work is typically intensive and time-bound, done in partnership with senior stakeholders over a defined period. Our coaching runs over months with senior leaders, long enough to change how someone leads.

Every client we started with in 2020 is still with us today.

The Role

This is a new role, created because we have more work than senior people to lead it.

The Principal holds client relationships, facilitates, designs and leads the consistency and quality of what we deliver. It is hands-on: you would be building material as well as shaping it and delivering as well as leading.

You would work closely with our founder and our team, and with clients who are demanding in the best way. We learn as much from them as they do from us.

A typical week looks like one to two days facilitating group programs, three or four client meetings across the accounts you hold, a coaching engagement, around half a day of protected preparation and around a day leading quality, the team and our strategy. That is indicative and the role can be shaped around the right person.

Tailoring is central to how we work: understanding the client and their strategy, understanding the audience, meeting participants beforehand and building case studies and material that belong to that organisation.

You would lead a Learning Experience Designer and two Learning Coordinators and have oversight of our consultants in Australia and overseas. That team will grow and you would shape who joins it.

OD engagements arrive periodically rather than weekly and are typically short and intensive. When you take on OD work, something comes off your schedule for that period. It is not added on top of an existing load.

What We Are Looking For

Facilitation is where our bar is highest. Our clients are discerning and our consultants are highly experienced practitioners, so a Principal must be exceptional in front of a room.

Alongside that:

• You have held senior client relationships independently
• You understand how complex organisations actually work, usually because you have worked inside one recently enough for it to still hold true
• You have designed and delivered modern leadership programs at scale, from early career through to senior leadership
• You have led and mentored people, holding a high standard and a high regard for the people meeting it
• You prepare thoroughly and pay attention to detail
• You work at pace and still go deep
• You use AI actively to improve the quality and speed of your work

Experience across all of our sectors is not expected. Depth in one or two is sufficient.

We know this describes a broad role. We would settle it together over the first months, agree what matters most, and protect the time that good work takes.

The Part That Matters Most

The right person takes as much pleasure in someone else delivering a session well as in doing it themselves. The role keeps you in front of clients most weeks, so it suits someone who still wants to be delivering and who measures a good week by the team’s work as much as their own.

We do not sit still and we would rather be challenged than agreed with. We are also the same people with a client, in front of an audience and with each other. None of it is a performance and we would want the same of you.

Practical Details

Melbourne based, with our office in Richmond. Light and mostly domestic travel. Commencing February 2027. Reporting to our founder. This is a senior appointment and remuneration reflects that.