Senior Consultant - Leadership Development

William Blair; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 140,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

William Blair in Chicago seeks a Senior Consultant, Leadership Development to design and deliver programs for managers from first-time to senior leaders. The role blends content creation, facilitation, and program management across multiple initiatives, building from the ground up rather than inheriting existing programs.

Responsibilities include curriculum development, post-promotion cohorts, pre-management training, and ongoing manager development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• 9–12 years of professional experience in learning and development.
• 5 years designing and delivering end-to-end leadership programs.
• Strong instructional design and facilitation skills.
• Experience building programs in ambiguous, early-stage environments.
• Strong consulting mindset with ability to synthesize strategy, data, and stakeholder input.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills with senior stakeholders.
• LMS experience required; Workday Learning preferred.
• Experience managing external vendors.

Responsibilities

• Build program content: design curriculum, materials, and learning experiences.
• Deliver post-promotion cohorts for senior leaders.
• Run a pre-management pipeline and prepare ICs for management.
• Facilitate ongoing manager development and leadership programs.
• Maintain the leadership self-service toolkit for managers.
• Deliver leadership assessment readouts and development conversations.
• Manage external vendor relationships for leadership content.
• Partner with HR to align programs with business needs.
• Oversee LMS scheduling, reporting, and participant engagement.

Skills

Leadership development

Instructional design

Facilitation

Content creation

Program management

Consulting mindset

Education

Bachelor's degree

Tools

Workday Learning

Hogan Assessment

Job description

Solutions for Today’s Challenges. Vision for Tomorrow’s Opportunities.

Join William Blair, the Premier Global Partnership.

We are looking for a Senior Consultant, Leadership Development who is passionate about helping leaders thrive in their roles and advance their careers. Our team takes a holistic approach to leadership development — combining formal programs, coaching, and performance systems, delivered as one collaborative HR team. This role owns the training and program piece of that effort: you'll lead the design and delivery of leadership programs for first-time managers through senior leaders, building and sustaining a healthy pipeline as you develop the firm's next generation of leaders.

Concretely, that means designing and delivering formal programs for managers stepping into the role for the first time, alongside ongoing, targeted development for experienced managers already leading teams. You'll be equal parts content creator, facilitator, and program manager — running multiple leadership initiatives at once, most of which you'll be building from the ground up rather than inheriting fully formed.

We're looking for someone with significant experience designing and facilitating leadership development content, who's energized by creating something new rather than maintaining something established. We value candidates who take pride in the quality of their work, own their results, and bring strong instincts for what makes learning content actually land. This role reports to the Director, Talent Development & Culture, and has no direct reports.

Responsibilities Include But May Not Be Limited To

• Build program content: Design and develop curriculum, materials, and learning experiences for leadership development programs, working within an established strategic framework.
• Deliver post-promotion cohort programs: Design and facilitate structured programming for newly promoted senior leaders as they move into expanded roles.
• Run a pre-management pipeline program: Design and deliver a skill-building curriculum that prepares high-performing individual contributors for the transition into management.
• Facilitate ongoing manager development: Deliver targeted programming and coursework for experienced managers already leading teams, building their capability over time.
• Maintain the leadership self-service toolkit: Own and continually expand a set of resources managers can use on their own to support everyday leadership tasks.
• Deliver leadership assessment results: Facilitate readback and development conversations for senior audiences using tools such as Hogan.
• Manage external vendor relationships supporting leadership/management content, as needed.
• Partner with HR Business Partners to understand business-unit-specific leadership development needs and inform how programs are delivered.
• Manage programs operationally through the LMS, including scheduling, reporting, and participant engagement tracking.
• Additional responsibilities, as requested.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree.
• 9-12 years of professional experience in learning and development.
• 5 years of demonstrated experience designing and delivering end-to-end management and/or leadership development programs is required; this is not a role for someone who has primarily managed vendors.
• Strong instructional design and facilitation skills; must be confident and experienced both designing content and personally delivering it to manager and senior-leader audiences.
• Experience building programs in ambiguous, early-stage environments (i.e., building from a partial foundation rather than a mature program) strongly preferred.
• Strong consulting mindset with the ability to synthesize strategy, data, and stakeholder input into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Strong communication and relationship-building skills; comfortable partnering with senior stakeholders and other Learning & Development team members on shared programs.
• Strong LMS experience required; Workday Learning experience preferred.
• Working knowledge of adult learning theory and competency-based learning path design.
• Experience managing external vendors.
• Ability to work across multiple time zones.
• Willingness to come into the office a minimum of two days a week; more as learning programs may require.

Preferred Qualifications

• Prior direct people-management experience; candidates should be able to speak credibly to the manager experience even without having formally managed others.
• Financial services or professional services industry background.
• Hogan Assessment Certification; experience leveraging assessment tools to support leadership development, coaching, and talent management strategies is a plus.
• Professional credentials (e.g., CPTM, CPLM, CTDP, SHRM-CP/SCP, or equivalent).

A reasonable estimate of the current base salary range at time of posting is below. Base salary does not include other forms of compensation or benefits. Actual base salary within the specified range is based on several factors, including but not limited to applicant's skills, prior relevant experience, specific degrees and certifications, job responsibilities, market considerations and, if applicable, the location of the position.

This role is eligible for either a discretionary annual bonus (based on company, business unit and individual performance) and/or commission-based incentives.

Our featured benefit offerings include medical, dental and vision coverage, employer paid short & long-term disability and life insurance, 401(k), profit sharing, paid time off, Maven family & fertility benefit, parental leave (including adoption, surrogacy, and foster placement), as well as other voluntary benefits.

Salary Range

$140,000—$160,000 USD

About Our Firm

William Blair strives to attract qualified candidates who specialize in investment banking, investment management, private wealth management, and other strategic resource groups. We are committed to empowering our colleagues to deliver client success and engage in our communities. Our firm has delivered trusted advice for nine decades, continuing to deepen our expertise and relationships across asset classes and markets throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. We provide advisory services, strategies, and solutions to meet clients’ evolving needs amid dynamic market conditions and varying industries. What sets us apart is that we are an independent partnership, with colleagues who have unique experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds. We empower our people to bring their best thinking so we can deliver the tailored, thoughtful work and problem-solving abilities that our clients expect. We invite you to learn more about us by visiting williamblair.com.

William Blair is an equal opportunity employer. It complies with all laws and regulations that prohibit discrimination in employment practice because of race, color, religion, creed, ancestry, marital status, gender, age, national origin, sexual orientation, unfavorable discharge from the military service or on the basis of a physical or mental disability that is unrelated to the employee's ability to perform the duties of the job applied for. EOE m/f/d/v

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