Development Pathway Leader - Career Development

mydentist (UK); Manchester; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive salary

30 days holiday + bank holidays

Annual bonus scheme

Private medical insurance

Health & wellbeing benefits with GP &

Discounts at cinemas, retailers, cafes

Recognition schemes

Job summary

mydentist is seeking a Career Development Pathway Leader to drive learning strategy and lead a high-performing L&D team in Manchester. You’ll own the curriculum, define pathways, manage budgets, and engage senior stakeholders to align development with the 5-year plan.

Join a network focused on professional growth, internal promotion, and continuous learning, with a strong emphasis on collaboration across Operations and the Academy.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience setting learning strategy and leading learning teams across the full learning cycle in complex organisations.
• Track record of defining best practice content strategies, design and delivery mechanisms for large and small units of subject matter.
• CIPD Level 5 L&D qualification or equivalent experience (Level 7 desirable).
• Experience owning high-risk or high-cost portfolios and budgets with multiple senior stakeholders.
• Proven people leadership, including coaching and developing team members and managing performance.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management at senior and executive level, with excellent facilitation and communication skills.
• Commercial acumen, able to build business cases and turn data into strategic recommendations.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the career development curriculum for all colleagues up to head of department.
• Define career pathways with key stakeholders, growing internal promotion versus external hire year on year.
• Own the further study policy and budget, upskilling colleagues against business need.
• Network in dentistry and beyond, bringing external thinking in to keep the offering current.
• Set the annual pathway plan and priorities, deciding which programmes the team designs, activates, refreshes or retires.
• Set design and delivery standards for the pathway, and approve programmes before launch.
• Decide where to invest in new methods and technologies, using pilot insight from the team to scale what works.
• Connect every project into the overarching Career Development Pathway so the framework and journey are clear to all.
• Lead, coach and develop the Senior LAS and LAS, setting objectives and building capability and succession in the team.
• Shape the stakeholder strategy for the pathway, influencing senior leaders so learning is built into business planning.
• Present plans and recommendations to the People Leadership Team, and resolve escalated development challenges.
• Sponsor a culture where managers and coaches champion continuous learning, peer-to-peer coaching and career conversations.
• Own the learning scoping process for Career Development, approving project scopes before design work begins.
• Deliver the pathway plan on time, to budget and to agreed outcomes, with clear governance and sign off for cyclical events.
• Build business cases for investment in technology, and own procurement decisions and supplier contracts for the pathway.
• Approve launch and communication plans for major programmes, working with internal comms on branding and timing.
• Set the success measures for the pathway, so every programme is evaluated against agreed results.
• Use evaluation and engagement insight from the team to decide where to invest, redesign or retire programmes.
• Own the ROI case for the pathway, and evidence how it informs business decisions.
• Report L&D data clearly to senior stakeholders so they can react with agility.

Skills

Learning strategy

Team leadership

Full learning cycle

Budget management

Portfolio management

People leadership

Stakeholder management

Facilitation

Communication

Commercial acumen

Business cases

Data-driven decisions

Education

CIPD Level 5 L&D qualification

CIPD Level 7 (desirable)

Job description

Your future, as a Career Development Pathway Leader at mydentist

You’ll be joining our Learning and Development Team within our Academy based in Central Manchester.

• The role is permanent and full time
• Working across the business working closely with Operations and in a supportive, high performing team.
• Close to public transport links

Your future, with us

Working at mydentist means you’ll be part of the UK’s leading dental network. Here, you’ll be trusted to do your best work, balancing your career around your life. We’re ambitious, focusing on the big picture and transforming how we deliver dentistry. Supported by a talented and driven team everyone is free to be themselves, where respect is a given and we’re always there for one another.

Your future, your benefits

• Competitive salary
• Holidays rising to 30 days per year with service (plus bank holidays)
• Annual Support Centre bonus scheme
• Private medical insurance
• Health and wellbeing benefits; including a virtual GP service and Employee Assistance Programme helpline which includes free counselling sessions
• Access to fantastic discounts at cinemas, major retail brands, restaurants and coffee chains - simple and easy to access making it possible to save hundreds of pounds a year
• Recognition schemes including Support Centre Heroes and service awards

Your future, your role

As a Career Development Pathway Leader, you’ll be:

• Career development strategy and pathways
  • Own and evolve the career development curriculum for all employed colleagues up to head of department, aligned to the 5 year plan, L&D Strategy and People Plan.
  • Define career pathways with key stakeholders, growing internal promotion versus external hire year on year.
  • Own the further study policy and budget, upskilling colleagues against business need and widening access to opportunity.
  • Network in dentistry and beyond, bringing external thinking in to keep the offering current.
• Portfolio direction and quality
  • Set the annual pathway plan and priorities, deciding which programmes the team designs, activates, refreshes or retires.
  • Set design and delivery standards for the pathway, and approve programmes before launch.
  • Decide where to invest in new methods and technologies, using pilot insight from the team to scale what works.
  • Connect every project into the overarching Career Development Pathway so the framework and journey are clear to all.
• Leadership and stakeholders
  • Lead, coach and develop the Senior LAS and LAS, setting objectives and building capability and succession in the team.
  • Shape the stakeholder strategy for the pathway, influencing senior leaders so learning is built into business planning.
  • Present plans and recommendations to the People Leadership Team, and resolve escalated development challenges.
  • Sponsor a culture where managers and coaches champion continuous learning, peer-to-peer coaching and career conversations.
  • Own the learning scoping process for Career Development, approving project scopes before design work begins.
• Governance and commercials
  • Deliver the pathway plan on time, to budget and to agreed outcomes, with clear governance and sign off for cyclical events.
  • Build business cases for investment in technology, and own procurement decisions and supplier contracts for the pathway.
  • Approve launch and communication plans for major programmes, working with internal comms on branding and timing.
• Measurement and improvement
  • Set the success measures for the pathway, so every programme is evaluated against agreed results.
  • Use evaluation and engagement insight from the team to decide where to invest, redesign or retire programmes.
  • Own the ROI case for the pathway, and evidence how it informs business decisions.
  • Report L&D data clearly to senior stakeholders so they can react with agility.
• Key relationships
  • Head of Learning and Development and the wider Academy
  • Line manager of the Senior Learning Activation Specialist and Learning Activation Specialists
  • HR Business Partners and the Senior HR Leadership Team
  • External learning suppliers, coaches and industry networks

Skills and Experience

• Extensive experience setting learning strategy and leading learning teams across the full learning cycle in complex organisations.
• Track record of defining best practice content strategies, design and delivery mechanisms for large and small units of subject matter.
• CIPD Level 5 L&D qualification or equivalent experience (Level 7 desirable).
• Experience owning high-risk or high-cost portfolios and budgets with multiple senior stakeholders.
• Proven people leadership, including coaching and developing team members and managing performance.
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management at senior and executive level, with excellent facilitation and communication skills.
• Commercial acumen, able to build business cases and turn data into strategic recommendations.

Enjoy being part of a team that’s passionate about supporting our practices and ultimately heling the nation smile.

Your future starts here

Build a fulfilling career with us, where you’ll find the opportunity to develop your skills and shape your work life with the support of a caring and inclusive team who support one another.