Senior Leadership Development Programme Manager

Starling; Greater London; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital bank in the United Kingdom is seeking a Senior Leadership Development Programme Manager to join their People Team. This pivotal role involves co-designing and executing leadership development for senior leaders, enhancing performance, and managing external providers. The successful candidate will have substantial experience in leadership development, a hands-on delivery approach, and a deep understanding of the dynamics of senior leadership. The position offers a collaborative environment focused on fostering high-performance culture.

Benefits

25 days holiday plus additional options

Life insurance at 4x salary

Private Medical Insurance

Flexibility in work arrangements

Generous family-friendly policies

Qualifications

• Significant experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating large-scale, high-impact leadership programs.
• Proven influencing skills and ability to partner with senior leaders.
• Experience in a fast-paced organization and familiarity with AI in leadership development.

Responsibilities

• Co-design and implement a senior leadership development programme.
• Enhance the senior leadership development programme to ensure measurable impact.
• Manage external leadership development providers for effective delivery.

Skills

Leadership development

Emotional Intelligence

Organisational Effectiveness

Coaching

Change management

Job description

Hello, we're Starling. Banking was broken – so we decided to fix it. The vision? Fast technology, fair service and honest values. All at the tap of a phone, all the time. We built Britain's first digital bank. One hard‑won banking licence later, we set about giving people a new way to spend, save and manage their money (and take better care of the planet, too). We're changing banking for good.

Since then, we've grown. A lot. Over four million accounts (and four account types!) and a team of thousands. Headquartered in London with offices in Cardiff, Dublin, Manchester and Southampton. Seven years voted Which? Recommended Provider and Britain's Best Banking Brand. Still zero branches. Our culture is open, inclusive and focused on solving real customer problems, with an emphasis on doing the right thing, even when it's not always the easy thing.

From our approach to working together and sustainability to how we build our products, our decisions need to make the world – and Starling – a better place to be. Everyone at Starling is essential to our mission, which is really quite simple: to solve our customer's problems – and build the best bank in the world!

And now we're providing Starling to other banks, via a Software‑as‑a‑Service (SaaS) proposition through our subsidiary Engine, using the proprietary technology platform that it uses to power our own bank.

The Role

At our core, we are dedicated to finding fantastic people and creating an environment where they can truly thrive. To support our continued growth, we are looking for a Senior Leadership Development Programme Manager to join our People Team.

The Senior Leadership Development Programme Manager is a pivotal strategic role responsible for co-designing, executing, and evolving the leadership development approach for Starling's senior leaders. As Starling embarks on a critical leadership transformation, this individual will ensure our leaders possess both the mindset and skillset required to drive high performance in a scaling environment. You will be responsible for balancing the ‘what' of leadership, e.g. objective setting, hiring, performance management, with the ‘how' (e.g. EQ, psychological safety, leading change). The role requires an individual who is comfortable with evolving responsibilities as Starling continues to rapidly scale. You will collaborate closely with the Senior Team Effectiveness Partner and the Leadership and Management Development programme leaders to ensure a "golden thread" of consistency runs from our first-line managers up to the C‑Suite.

Key Responsibilities

• Co‑design and implement a senior leadership development programme that drives Starling's mission and ensures a consistent "golden thread" across all leadership programmes
• Own, design, and enhance the senior leadership development programme to ensure relevance, quality, and measurable impact on business performance. Focus areas include: driving performance and development, clarifying key leadership activities (direction, coaching, feedback, development, managing underperformance), leading during change and scaling, and building Emotional Intelligence
• Research, implement, and scale a simple, effective measure for senior leadership capability based on key behaviours
• Work with the Senior Team Effectiveness Partner, Management and Leadership Development team, and Senior People Partners to ensure alignment and tailor solutions to emerging needs
• Manage external leadership development providers for high‑quality, cost‑effective delivery
• Establish and track clear metrics (e.g., performance, retention, engagement, leadership index) to evaluate the effectiveness of all senior leadership development activities

Requirements

• Significant experience in leadership development with a deep understanding of the unique pressures and preferences of C‑suite and senior leaders
• Ability to balance creating high impact strategic programmes with "hands‑on" delivery at pace
• Experience in designing, delivering, and evaluating large‑scale, high‑impact leadership programs
• Proven influencing and co‑creating skills: skillful in partnering with and leading others regardless of reporting lines
• Proven experience in delivering large change programmes
• Experience in Organisational Effectiveness/Team effectiveness
• Hands on, flexible with a growth mindset
• Qualified Coach (preferred not essential)
• Experience in using AI in Senior Leadership Development programmes (preferred, not essential)
• Experience from scaling and fast‑paced organisations (preferred, not essential)

Benefits

• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you)
• An extra day's holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4x your salary
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family‑friendly policies
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work and Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships

About Us

You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can't accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren't sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway.

We're on a mission to radically reshape banking – and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we're proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank may collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we may process, where we may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.