Head of Talent Development

Canonical; Manchester; Remote; USD 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player is seeking a Head of Talent Development to lead their innovative team in a fully remote environment. This role focuses on enhancing leadership practices and developing a comprehensive talent program that aligns with the company's strategic objectives. Candidates should possess exceptional remote management insights and a strong analytical background to drive effective organizational practices. Join a pioneering firm that values diversity and offers a collaborative environment, ensuring your contributions significantly impact the future of talent development.

Benefits

Annual Learning and Development Budget

Recognition Rewards

Employee Assistance Programs

Travel Opportunities

Wellness Programs

Holiday Leave

Parental Leave

Qualifications

• Experience in remote management and high-performing team practices.
• Strong business acumen with a focus on strategy and execution.

Responsibilities

• Define and implement a comprehensive talent development program.
• Build and lead a team of Talent Development specialists.

Skills

Remote Management

Leadership Development

Analytical Skills

Strategic Change Execution

People Management

Education

Exceptional Academic Background

Tools

Data Analysis Tools

Job description

Join to apply for the Head of Talent Development role at Canonical.

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is widely used in breakthrough initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation, and IoT. Our customers include leading public cloud and silicon providers, as well as industry leaders across sectors. We are a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office-based roles. Teams meet 2-4 times yearly in interesting locations worldwide to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder-led, profitable, and growing. We are building a future-focused Talent Development function to define the workplace of tomorrow within a remote-first, globally distributed open source software company.

This role offers an opportunity for an outstanding leader with strong organizational and intellectual skills to build our Talent Development team, enhancing leadership and management practices in our remote environment. We aim to deepen our insights into remote work effectiveness, invest in research, analytics, tools, training, and communication strategies to ensure leadership consistency and effective organizational practices.

This is the fourth senior role in our People function, which includes organizational psychologists, engineers, analytics experts, talent scientists, and employee relations specialists. We recruit globally and value diverse backgrounds and experiences. Our goal is to lead our leaders to a clear understanding of our identity, practices, and evolution over time.

Location: This role is remote, based in the EMEA region.

The role entails:

1. Define and implement an inspiring and comprehensive talent development program
2. Develop, drive, and embed management and leadership development initiatives within our remote organization
3. Design and deliver core training programs, partnering with vendors as needed
4. Create and monitor leadership performance metrics
5. Manage our leadership skills matrix for performance, talent assessment, succession planning, mentorship, virtual learning, and career development
6. Establish a global learning framework for training and career growth
7. Build and lead a team of Talent Development specialists
8. Use data to analyze trends and strategize career development frameworks
9. Manage and optimize the learning budget

**What we are looking for:**

• Exceptional academic background from high school onward
• Insight and experience in what makes remote management successful in a tech company
• Understanding of high-performing team conditions and practices
• Ability to create, lead, and execute strategic change
• Strong business acumen with a focus on strategy and execution
• Analytical skills for data-driven decision-making, especially in measuring development impact
• People management experience and budget accountability
• Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events

What we offer:

• Distributed work environment with biannual in-person team sprints
• Annual learning and development budget of USD 2,000
• Annual compensation reviews
• Recognition rewards, holiday leave, parental leaves
• Employee Assistance & Wellness programs
• Travel opportunities and company event benefits

About Canonical:

Canonical is a pioneer in open source, publishing Ubuntu, a key platform for AI, IoT, and cloud. We set high standards for our global team, which has operated remotely since 2004. Working here challenges you to innovate, learn, and excel.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer: We value diversity and are committed to fair application processes regardless of background or identity.

Seniority level

• Executive

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Human Resources

Industries

• Software Development