Head of L&D

MCS Group | Your Specialist Recruitment Consultancy; Antrim; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Flexible hours

Competitive salary

Enhanced benefits

Job summary

MCS Group is partnering with a Northern Ireland-based organisation to appoint a Head of Learning & Development in Antrim. The role integrates Learning & Development, Early Careers, Management Development and Performance Management into a cohesive talent strategy for a fast-paced workforce.

The candidate will design capability frameworks, career pathways, succession plans and progression criteria, while leading leadership development from first-line supervisors to senior leadership and building a

Qualifications

• Experience assessing organisational capability and implementing measurable solutions.
• Ownership or significant improvement of a performance management framework.
• Strong track record in leadership and management development.
• Credibility when influencing senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Develop a three-to-five-year talent and capability strategy.
• Create career pathways, succession plans and progression criteria.
• Design leadership development from first-line to senior leadership.
• Improve quality of performance conversations and coaching; enhance development planning.
• Oversee the performance management framework and governance.
• Lead L&D strategy, budget, supplier base and governance.
• Measure learning impact beyond attendance figures.
• Develop Early Careers strategy including apprenticeships and internships.
• Oversee apprenticeship providers, funding and progression.
• Build pipelines into technical and leadership roles.
• Establish talent reviews and succession planning.
• Lead a specialist team and scalable operating model for growth.

Skills

Leadership development

Performance management

Talent strategy

Stakeholder engagement

Coaching & facilitation

Job description

Head of Learning & Development - Antrim - Exciting company growth phase.

MCS Group is delighted to be exclusively partnering with one of Northern Ireland's most ambitious organisations in the appointment of a Head of L&D.

The role:

The Head of L&D will bring together Learning & Development, Early Careers, Management Development and Performance Management into one cohesive talent strategy.

This is not a role focused on simply delivering a training calendar. The successful candidate will assess the capabilities the organisation needs now and in the future, identify genuine gaps and implement practical, measurable solutions across a fast-paced operational workforce.

The main responsibilities:

• Developing an evidence-based talent and capability strategy aligned with the organisation's three-to-five-year growth plan.
• Creating capability frameworks, career pathways, succession plans and clear progression criteria.
• Designing and implementing leadership and management development from first-line supervisor through to senior leadership.
• Improving the quality and consistency of performance conversations, objective setting, feedback, coaching and development planning.
• Owning and continuously improving the organisation's performance management framework.
• Leading the Learning & Development strategy, budget, supplier base and learning governance.
• Measuring learning through behaviour change and business impact rather than attendance figures alone.
• Developing the Early Careers strategy across apprenticeships, graduates, placements, internships and school engagement.
• Overseeing apprenticeship providers, funding, compliance, mentoring, progression and completion.
• Building sustainable pipelines into technical, engineering and leadership careers.
• Establishing talent reviews and succession planning for critical and hard-to-fill roles.
• Leading and developing a specialist team.
• Creating a scalable talent operating model capable of supporting future international growth.

The successful candidate:

• Experience assessing organisational capability and implementing solutions that measurably closed identified gaps.
• Ownership or significant improvement of a performance management framework.
• A strong track record in leadership and management development.
• Experience improving manager behaviour and the quality of performance conversations.
• Involvement in apprenticeship, graduate or wider Early Careers programmes.
• Experience leading and developing a specialist team.
• Strong commercial awareness and the ability to connect talent activity with business performance.
• Credibility when influencing senior leaders and executive stakeholders.
• Excellent facilitation, coaching and programme-design capability.

What's on offer:

• Highly competitive salary (based on salary).
• Bonus.
• Flexible hours.
• Enhanced wider benefits.

MCS Group is committed to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion for all, being the first recruitment agency in NI to achieve Bronze Diversity Mark accreditation, if you have a disability which means you require a reasonable adjustment to be considered at any stage of the recruitment process, please contact us and we will endeavour to facilitate the request.