Head of Learning and Development – Europe & Middle East

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm with more than 3,000 lawyers advising clients across locations in the United States, Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East. We provide the world's preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. With over 50 offices and 7,000 employees worldwide, our culture is the thread that connects us, as well as our values of unity, quality and integrity.

Our strategy and culture are connected – defined by shared ambition, global collaboration and a one-team mindset. We believe pioneering work happens when people are empowered to think beyond boundaries, explore new opportunities and grow through diverse experiences. Alongside the right skills and experience, we look for people who are innovative, commercially minded, and motivated by the impact of the work they do – ready to share in our ambition and help shape what comes next.

The Role

Reporting to the Director of L&D EMEAPAC, the Head of L&D EME will drive the firm’s L&D agenda for the EME region (aligned to EMEAPAC). They will work with the Director of L&D to design and implement the firm’s L&D vision for an AI-enabled world, providing innovative, strategic insights to drive a high-performance culture of learning for this professional environment. The role is high profile, requiring a significant amount of office time in London and some travel. The role has up to 4 senior manager/manager roles reporting into it.

The Team

The Learning and Development team is a Centre of Excellence within the Norton Rose Fulbright People & Culture function. Its remit spans the EMEAPAC geography. Responsible for a wide range of learning and development activities which align to the firm’s strategy, it plays a pivotal role in driving the ‘high performance, high support’ culture of the firm.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Director of L&D and our EMEAPAC L&D leadership team to develop and implement the firm’s L&D strategy in line with the firm’s objectives.
• Offer innovative, implementable insights into the evolving role of L&D in the age of AI and which fit the context of the firm.
• Build strong and sustainable relationships across the firm and be a trusted advisor to partners, senior leaders and clients.
• Be an outstanding communicator, presenter and facilitator and demonstrate high credibility in front of challenging, senior audiences.
• Design and deliver bespoke leadership and professional skills programmes for individuals and teams.
• Possess excellent management skills: understand how to drive high performance through feedback, coaching, training and guidance of team members (including senior professionals).
• Be capable of successfully and sensitively navigating difficult conversations.
• Understand how to navigate a complex, highly matrixed professional services environment.
• Provide strategic advice on L&D matters to key stakeholders in an informed, credible and data-driven way.
• Offer ongoing identification of the skills and knowledge required (current and future) of lawyers and business services staff in a fast-evolving, AI-enabled world.
• Collaborate with other business services teams to ensure the development of a broad range of skills and knowledge across the firm.
• Manage external training providers, coaches and other service providers.
• Review feedback from training feedback, employee surveys and other data to continuously improve the L&D offering and service.

Skills and Experience Required

• 10+ years of learning and development experience at a management level in a professional services, corporate or other similar environment.
• Advanced strategic and technical expertise in the learning and development area.
• Commercially and strategically minded, able to develop strategy and direct team members to deliver strategic and operational goals.
• Ability to inspire others to align to goals and strategic outcomes and able to influence senior management to adopt best practice.
• Superior client service skills with the ability to influence internal and external clients at all levels.
• Proven ability to effectively lead others by setting strategic and operational goals, delegating effectively, providing regular feedback, coaching and guidance.
• Ability to support and influence the career development of direct reports and ensure succession planning.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage team to meet tight deadlines; able to work additional hours when necessary.
• A high standard of professionalism, confidentiality and discretion.
• Extensive experience leading organisational change initiatives in a positive and proactive manner.
• Commitment to innovation and implementing new ways of working to create a competitive advantage.
• Committed to continual self-development and team development in the learning and development discipline.
• Certified in multiple behavioural/psychometric tools; coaching certification ideal, but not essential.
• A deep and broad understanding of managing complex reporting relationships in a matrixed organisation and ability to incorporate multiple cultures.
• Exceptional partnering, consulting, influencing, negotiation and relationship management skills.
• Strong commercial acumen; effectively balancing our business and our people needs.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the personal presence to influence others whether in small groups or presenting to large audiences and can tailor style to all levels.
• A high degree of professional ethics and integrity.
• Strong leadership and team management experience.
• Substantive international experience, a willingness to travel where needed, regularly working across time zones, and the flexibility to deal with a diverse set of clients, advisors and colleagues across the EMEAPAC region.

Professional Attributes

• Comfortable working collaboratively in a fast-paced, complex, global firm.
• Confident in regular interactions with senior business leaders, and in making decisions that require intellectual nimbleness, pragmatism and values-based decision making.
• Able to build effective and sustainable relationships quickly with senior leadership, partners and across all levels in the firm.
• A go-to, trusted advisor who is able to challenge appropriately and confidently.
• A self-motivated, proactive and hardworking team player, with strong influencing skills and whose interests in the team/wider business success exceed their own self-interest.
• Able to deliver functional capabilities that are in keeping with the firm’s culture and values.
• Able to effectively balance strategic, innovative thinking with the ability to get things done in a fast-paced and rapidly changing work environment.
• Able to navigate cultural differences and are open to local nuances across the region; have the ability to engage effectively and connect well virtually with team members and stakeholders.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

To attract the best people, we strive to create a diverse and inclusive environment where everyone can bring their whole selves to work, have a sense of belonging, and realize their full career potential. Our new enabled work model allows our people to have more flexibility in the way they choose to work from both the office and a remote location, while continuing to deliver the highest standards of service. We offer a range of family friendly and inclusive employment policies and provide access to programmes and services aimed at nurturing our people’s health and overall wellbeing. We are proud to be an equal opportunities employer and encourage applications from individuals who can complement our existing teams. We strive to create an inclusive and accessible recruitment process for all candidates. If you require any tailored adjustments or accommodations, please let us know.