Learning and Development Manager

Culinary Collective; Greater London; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

The Culinary Collective is seeking an experienced Learning & Development Manager to lead the learning strategy across our multi-brand hospitality group in London, from induction to senior leadership development, with regular travel to sites.

You will partner with the Head of People, Culture & Development and venue leaders to design practical training, create scalable frameworks and support new openings, improving service and guest experience.

Qualifications

• Experience in an L&D, training or people-development role within hospitality, leisure, retail or another fast-paced multi-site business.
• Strong understanding of restaurant, bar or venue operations.
• Experience designing and delivering management and leadership-development programmes.
• Confidence facilitating engaging learning for different roles and experience levels.
• Strong coaching, influencing and stakeholder-management skills.
• Experience supporting growth, new openings or organisational change.
• Ability to manage learning systems, records and reporting effectively.
• Commercial understanding of how learning influences retention, productivity, guest experience, revenue and profitability.

Responsibilities

• Learning strategy and development: Develop a group-wide learning plan aligned with growth and priorities.
• Management and leadership development: Create structured programmes for supervisors, managers and leaders.
• Operational learning and induction: Build induction framework and develop resources reflecting hospitality realities.
• Openings and business change: Lead learning workstream for new openings and brand launches.
• Learning operations: Manage learning calendar, records, and reports across digital platform.

Skills

L&D

Hospitality

Training design

Coaching

Tools

Monotree

Job description

Location: London Bridge Support Centre with regular travel across our sites around London
Salary: £50,000
Reporting to: Head of People, Culture & Development

The opportunity

Culinary Collective is a growing, multi‑brand hospitality group bringing together distinctive restaurants at both high‑end and high‑street brand level, and bar venues across London. Our collection includes Flat Iron Square, Heard, Omeara, Pyro, Spring Street Pizza, Rae’s, and Oudh 1722. Each business has its own identity, but they share a commitment to brilliant hospitality, memorable guest experiences and creating places where people genuinely want to work. As the business enters its next stage of growth and change, learning and development will be one of our most important levers. We are looking for an experienced and energetic Learning & Development Manager to build the capability, confidence and consistency of our teams.

This is a hands‑on role. You will work closely with our operational teams, understand what is happening in our venues and create practical learning that improves performance where it matters most.

The role

Working closely with the Head of People, Culture & Development and our operational leaders, you will take ownership of the learning and development agenda across Culinary Collective. You will create a clear and scalable approach to learning that supports employees from their first day through to management and leadership roles. This will include induction, service and bar development, management capability, compliance, career pathways, succession planning and support for new site openings. You will balance strategic thinking with hands‑on delivery. One day you might be facilitating a leadership workshop, the next coaching a General Manager, creating a digital learning resource or working alongside a site team to improve its service standards.

What you’ll be responsible for

Learning strategy and development

• Develop and deliver a group‑wide learning plan aligned with our growth and operational priorities.
• Create practical learning frameworks, competency standards and development pathways that can be adapted for each brand.
• Build and maintain an annual learning calendar covering leadership, service, bar, operations and compliance.
• Measure participation, learning transfer and business impact.

Management and leadership development

• Create structured development programmes for supervisors, managers, General Managers, Head Chefs and other operational leaders.
• Develop a clear entry‑to‑management pathway for future leaders.
• Coach managers to lead confidently, manage performance and develop their teams.
• Support succession planning and identify capability gaps across the group.

Operational learning and induction

• Work with site leaders and subject‑matter experts to strengthen service, bar, food, product and guest‑experience knowledge.
• Create engaging workshops, guides and on‑the‑job resources that reflect the realities of hospitality.
• Develop a consistent group‑wide induction framework covering company, brand, site and role‑level onboarding.
• Create clearer career pathways and development opportunities across the business.
• Coordinate learning delivered by internal specialists, suppliers and external partners.

Openings and business change

• Lead the learning and training workstream for new site openings, brand launches and operational change.
• Ensure teams are trained, confident and ready before launch.
• Help managers embed new systems, processes and ways of working.

Learning operations

• Manage the learning calendar, training records, attendance, evaluation and reporting.
• Maintain accurate and accessible learning materials across our digital platform, Monotree.
• Manage external providers and supplier‑led training where appropriate.
• Monitor essential and compliance‑related learning.
• Report on learning activity, capability risks and programme outcomes.

About you

You understand that the best hospitality learning is practical, relevant and immediately useful. You will be comfortable moving between the Support Centre and our venues and building credibility with everyone from new starters to senior leaders.

You will ideally bring:

• Experience in an L&D, training or people‑development role within hospitality, leisure, retail or another fast‑paced multi‑site business.
• A strong understanding of restaurant, bar or venue operations.
• Experience designing and delivering management and leadership‑development programmes.
• Confidence facilitating engaging learning for different roles and experience levels.
• Strong coaching, influencing and stakeholder‑management skills.
• Experience supporting growth, new openings or organisational change.
• The ability to manage learning systems, records and reporting effectively.
• A commercial understanding of how learning influences retention, productivity, guest experience, revenue and profitability.
• Creativity, energy and the confidence to challenge traditional approaches to hospitality training.

You do not need to arrive with all of the answers. What matters is that you can listen, understand what the business needs, and build something that works.