Learning and Development Manager

At Warburtons, family is at the heart of our business. Five generations' worth of expertise that goes into making our bakery products allows us to continue a tradition of baking inherited over the past 141 years. Warburtons is the largest bakery brand in the UK, but that doesn’t allow us to rest on our laurels. We are pioneers of the industry and ambitious market leaders, always seeking to challenge ourselves and convention. It is part of our philosophy to provide honest good sense on issues of health and well-being, helping the whole family to enjoy our products as part of a healthy, balanced diet, through a range of products to suit all meal occasions, lifestyles and tastes.

Are you an L&D Manager looking for your next challenge? At Warburtons, we believe that learning never stops especially for those who champion it. That’s why we invest heavily in the growth and development of our Learning & Development team. We ensure our L&D professionals are continuously supported to thrive, innovate, and lead by example. Join us and be part of a team that’s as committed to your development as you are to others.

The Recipe: At Warburtons, we don’t just bake bread—we build careers. As a Learning and Delivery manager, you’ll be at the heart of our people development strategy, helping our teams rise to their full potential. Whether it’s delivering Safety Culture training, supporting leadership progression, or embedding our Values & Behaviours, you’ll make learning meaningful, inclusive, and impactful. It is an exciting time to be joining our Learning team, our business is transforming.

In order to support our ambitious 5 year business plan, we need to equip our people with the right knowledge, skills & behaviours. As an L&D team, we put Performance Consulting at the heart of everything we do to ensure results & demonstrate value to our customers. We have started to modernise our approach to learning at Warburtons, bringing the latest in Virtual Reality, AI and design tools to engage our people through modern learning experiences.

You would be joining a high-performing, fun, national L&D team that is committed to not only the development of their colleagues but also their own development and the achievement of both personal and business goals.

The Role: It is an exciting time to be joining our Learning team, our business is transforming. As a Learning and Development Manager, you will lead the local L&D Agenda and work in collaboration with the Management and HR teams to identify local and national development needs, delivering engaging solutions, using blended approaches, to meet the learners' needs. Technology plays a key role in our future and we are excited about how we can evolve as a team to embrace the opportunities this brings.

With a focus on both developing the people management fundamentals of our line managers and ensuring we develop the core skills and competencies across all our operational teams to deliver brilliant basics every day. You will work in collaboration, to assess and develop plans to address learning needs, ensuring they are aligned to the National L&D strategy and through implementing the annual L&D plan. Utilising the Learning Management System (LMS) to ensure that processes are managed, and accurate training records are maintained.

You’ll also contribute to the design and development of learning solutions, working in partnership with the Learning Content Designer and business teams to ensure effective learning methodologies are applied and consistent design standards are met. You will be able to coach and develop the capability of all Operations skills trainers, to ensure high standards and consistency of delivery are met. Has a responsibility to develop junior operational talent, including next generation talent (apprentices), contributing to the development of an internal pipeline for operations.

The role has responsibility for several bakeries and depots, where regular travel to these is required. The key to successfully managing the learning agenda at multiple sites is to build close relationships with stakeholders to understand their priorities and deliver against these.

Essential Ingredients:

• An expert in Learning and Development
• Ability to use coaching and mentoring approaches in learning
• Strong influencing and stakeholder management skills, with confidence to promote the value of a learning culture
• Excellent knowledge of the learning cycle and experience in its implementation
• Excellent understanding of accelerated learning techniques and adult learning theories and confident in using this to design and deliver engaging development solutions
• Experience of working with Learning Technologies and embraces a range of blended learning solutions
• Knowledge of management development theory, models and best practice
• Flexibility to work across multiple locations to ensure a consistent service is provided across both Manufacturing and Distribution teams. A driving licence will be required.

Extra Dough:

• Competitive Salary
• A slice of the annual profits (discretionary profit share)
• 5 weeks holiday and bank holidays with the opportunity to buy an additional 5 days each year
• Award winning pension scheme
• Products you will love along with deals and discounts for you and the family through our Extra Dough website
• Support for your health and wellbeing, access to free physiotherapy, 24/7 access to a confidential helpline for practical advice and a comprehensive occupational health service

We respect and value difference. We look to create an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. Companies that are diverse in age, gender identity, race, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, ethnicity, or any other aspect which makes them unique, are proven to be better companies. More importantly, creating an environment where everyone, from any background, can do their best work, is the right thing to do.