At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead talent development strategies and create impactful learning experiences for our people.
- Company: Join Ridge, a growing company focused on leadership and organisational capability.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, career progression opportunities, and a supportive work culture.
- Other info: Dynamic environment with a focus on inclusion and belonging.
- Why this job: Shape the future of talent development and make a real difference in people's careers.
- Qualifications: Experience in talent development and strong leadership skills required.
As Ridge continues to grow and deliver our business strategy, we are seeking a strategic and forward-thinking Head of Talent Development to shape the leadership, talent and organisational capability that will drive our future success. Reporting to our Chief People Officer and sitting within our People Leadership team, you'll lead our approach to leadership development, talent development, career pathways, learning, early careers, and inclusion and belonging.
Working closely with our senior business leaders and People Partners, you'll translate our current and future capability needs into practical, scalable solutions that strengthen business performance and create meaningful career opportunities for our people. Leading our Talent Development team, you'll combine strategic vision with practical delivery, ensuring our investment in talent and development has a measurable impact on our people, our culture, and the long-term success of Ridge.
What you need to do to be effective in this role:
- Shape and deliver our Talent Development strategy, ensuring it enables the growth planned within our business strategy, our wider People strategy and the future capability needs of Ridge.
- Lead the ongoing evolution of our manager, leadership and high-potential development strategy, including our approach to coaching, mentoring and psychometric-based development, equipping our leaders to build inclusive, high performing teams.
- Establish a consistent and high-quality learning culture across Ridge, empowering leaders and subject matter experts to deliver effective development experiences while making thoughtful and innovative use of digital learning, technology and AI.
- Develop our career development framework, including career pathways, skills mapping and capability frameworks, creating greater visibility of the skills Ridge needs today, and in the future, defining clear routes for development and progression.
- Define our business wide learning approach, ensuring our leadership, professional, technical and core development offering are impactful, scalable and focused on improving performance.
- Shape the development aspects of the employee lifecycle, including onboarding, professional qualifications and chartership, ensuring our people have clear and supported pathways from joining Ridge through to career progression.
- Oversee our strategic approach to inclusion and belonging, embedding inclusive practices across leadership, learning, careers, talent and succession and using employee insight and networks to strengthen opportunity and connection.
- Act as a trusted adviser to the Chief People Officer, People Leadership team and senior business leaders – providing insight and challenge on leadership capability, talent development, career pathways, learning, early careers, and inclusion and belonging.
- Partner with People Advisory on our approach to talent identification and succession planning, strengthening pipelines for critical and leadership roles, and translating talent reviews into meaningful development outcomes.
- Partner with People Advisory to continuously enhance our ‘Career Conversations' approach and annual performance cycle, ensuring development and career needs identified through the process translate into meaningful development opportunities and connect effectively with talent, succession and reward.
- Work closely with the Head of Talent Acquisition to shape an integrated future talent approach, ensuring our early careers programmes build the capability and leadership pipelines required for future growth.
- Use data, feedback and business insights to identify capability priorities, measure the impact of talent initiatives and continuously improve our approach.
- Lead, coach and develop the Talent Development team, creating a high performing environment, setting clear priorities and ensuring resources, budgets and external partnerships are focused on delivering maximum business value.
- Shape our people awards and external recognition strategy, identifying opportunities to showcase our culture, people practices and achievements, and enhance our employer brand.
- Maintain a strong external perspective on emerging talent and development practice, bringing fresh thinking, insight and challenge to help Ridge build a modern, scalable and future focused People function.
The skills and experience you need to have for this role:
- Significant experience leading talent, learning, organisational development or capability activity within a complex and growing business.
- Proven success developing and delivering business wide talent and development strategies aligned to business priorities.
- Strong expertise across leadership development, talent development, career development, organisational learning and capability building.
- Experience developing career pathways, capability or skills frameworks and translating current and future workforce capability needs into practical, scalable development solutions.
- Experience of early careers development, including graduates, apprentices, professional qualifications or charterships.
- Strong understanding of modern learning approaches, including digital, blended and workplace-based development.
- Experience leading and developing a specialist team and managing significant programmes, budgets and external partners.
- Strong commercial acumen, with the ability to prioritise activity according to organisational need, impact and value.
- Credibility and confidence to advise, influence and constructively challenge senior leaders.
- Strong analytical skills, using data and insight to identify priorities, assess capability risks and evaluate impact.
- Experience shaping inclusive talent and development practices, and embedding inclusion and belonging across leadership, learning, careers and progression.
- Excellent communication, facilitation and relationship-building skills, with the ability to simplify complexity and turn strategic thinking into practical action.
- A relevant professional qualification or equivalent depth of experience in talent, learning, organisational development or a related discipline.
- Hogan certification or experience using Hogan assessments would be desirable.
- Resilience, sound judgement, pragmatism and a collaborative leadership style.
Head of Talent Development in Shirley employer: Ridge & Partners LLP
At Ridge, we pride ourselves on being an excellent employer, offering a dynamic and collaborative work culture in our Winchester office. Our Mechanical Design Engineers benefit from diverse project exposure across various sectors, along with ample opportunities for professional growth and development within a supportive team environment. With a focus on sustainability and innovation, we empower our employees to make a meaningful impact while enjoying a fulfilling career.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Head of Talent Development in Shirley
✨Dive into the Talent Acquisition Community
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✨Show Off Your Expertise at Recruitment Events
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We think you need these skills to ace Head of Talent Development in Shirley
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your Passion for Talent Acquisition:In your cover letter, let your passion for recruiting shine through! Talk about what drew you to talent acquisition. Share experiences where you helped others find their dream jobs or any times you've been involved in hiring processes – it’ll show us at Ridge & Partners LLP that you're genuinely invested in the field.
Highlight Relevant Skills and Certifications:Make sure your CV includes any relevant skills or certifications related to recruiting. Mentioning your knowledge of applicant tracking systems, personality assessments, or even any HR-related qualifications can set you apart. This way, we can see straight away that you're not just any candidate but one with the necessary tools for talent acquisition.
Tailor Your CV for the Job:When applying for Head of Talent Development at Ridge & Partners LLP, tailor your CV to reflect the job description. Highlight previous experiences in recruitment, candidate sourcing, or employee engagement that align with what we’re after. Personalisation shows we’re not just another checkbox on your job applications!
Bring Your Unique Perspective:In your cover letter, don't hesitate to share your unique perspective on what makes a good recruiter. Whether it's building strong candidate relationships or your approach to diversity in hiring, your insights can resonate well with our team. We love a fresh take, so let it shine!
How to prepare for a job interview at Ridge & Partners LLP
✨Know Your Sourcing Strategies
In the talent acquisition world, it’s all about knowing the best sourcing strategies. Be prepared to discuss specific techniques you’ve used to find and attract top talent, whether that’s through social media, networking events, or innovative outreach methods. Bring examples that showcase your capability!
✨Value of Employer Branding
Employer branding is a huge part of recruitment, so be ready to chat about how you’ve contributed to building an attractive company image. Think about how you’d pitch Ridge & Partners LLP to potential candidates and maintain a consistent brand image across platforms.
✨Demonstrate Your Interviewing Skills
Since this is a full-time gig, hiring managers will want to see your interviewing prowess. Prepare for mock interview scenarios where you might need to assess candidates' cultural fit and skill set. Practise asking competency-based questions to demonstrate your systematic approach.
✨Engage with Data and Metrics
Being data-driven is key in talent acquisition! Expect to discuss how you’ve used recruiting metrics to refine your strategies. Familiarise yourself with common KPIs, like time-to-fill and candidate satisfaction scores, and be ready to back up your insights with data!
