UK

United Kingdom · Knowledge management · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director of Knowledge & Collaboration

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  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports25-100+ reports
  • Reports toChief Operating Officer
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as Head of Knowledge Management · VP of Organisational Learning · Director of Communities & Insights

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

NCC Education Level 7 Diploma in Business Management NCC Education Limited · Level 7 · covers 1 of 5 standards
CMI Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Management and Leadership Chartered Management Institute · Level 5 · covers 3 of 5 standards
City & Guilds Level 5 Diploma in Principles of Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 5 · covers 1 of 5 standards
City & Guilds Level 5 Certificate in Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 5 · covers 1 of 5 standards
City & Guilds Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 5 · covers 1 of 5 standards
City & Guilds Level 5 Award in Leadership and Management City & Guilds Limited · Level 5 · covers 1 of 5 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Information Systems and Knowledge Management NCC Education Level 7 Diploma in Business Management
Manage knowledge in an organisation CMI Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Management and Leadership
Knowledge and information management City & Guilds Level 5 Diploma in Principles of Leadership and Management

The future skills this job leans on

AI Fluency working with AI as a thinking partner
Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
AI Governance Fluency using AI responsibly
Automation Fluency building AI into how work runs
Systems Fluency seeing the whole picture
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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Director of Knowledge & Collaboration

3 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Information Systems and Knowledge Management NCC Education Limited · covers 1 of 5 standards Level 7
  2. Manage knowledge in an organisation Chartered Management Institute · covers 3 of 5 standards Level 5
  3. Knowledge and information management City & Guilds Limited · covers 1 of 5 standards Level 5
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as a Director of Knowledge & Collaboration?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • AI-Driven Knowledge Personalisation & Delivery
  • Ethical AI in Knowledge Systems & Governance
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Director of Knowledge & Collaboration plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

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3What this role really is

This role shapes how an organisation learns, shares information and uses what it knows. It means building a knowledge ecosystem that helps information work for the business.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

Community Platforms (e.g., Khoros, Salesforce Community Cloud, MS Viva Engage) Strategic

Leading the selection, governance, and integration of enterprise community platforms, ensuring they support strategic objectives and provide measurable insights. You're defining the 'why' and 'what' for the platform, not just managing its day-to-day.

Enterprise Knowledge Bases (e.g., ServiceNow KM, Bloomfire, Confluence Data Centre) Strategic

Owning the enterprise knowledge architecture. This means making build vs. buy decisions, overseeing major migrations, and integrating knowledge bases with other business systems to maximise discoverability and reuse.

Business Intelligence & Data Visualisation (e.g., Tableau Server, Power BI Premium) Strategic

Integrating community and knowledge data with broader business intelligence systems (e.g., Salesforce, Workday) to prove ROI and identify strategic insights. You'll define the key metrics that matter to the C-suite and oversee their visualisation.

Executive Planning & Reporting (e.g., Anaplan, Workday Adaptive Planning, Diligent Boards) Architect

Modelling the financial impact and resource needs of large-scale knowledge initiatives. Preparing and presenting strategic reports to leadership and the Board, using these tools to articulate your vision and results.

Project & Programme Portfolio Management (e.g., Jira Align, Monday.com Enterprise) Strategic

Managing the entire portfolio of knowledge and community programmes across your business unit, allocating resources, tracking against strategic goals, and ensuring alignment with overall business priorities.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Strategic Programme Investment No authority; recommends small tool purchases to manager. Recommends programme changes within existing budget to manager. Proposes new programme investments up to £50K to Director, with detailed business case.
Organisational Design & Hiring No authority; assists with interview scheduling. Participates in interviews; provides feedback on junior candidates. Leads interviews for junior roles; provides strong recommendations for hiring.
Vendor Selection & Contracts No authority; researches potential tools. Evaluates tools against requirements; provides recommendations. Leads vendor evaluations for specific tools; negotiates contracts up to £10K.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Reduction in Operational Costs
Measuring the tangible cost savings achieved through improved knowledge sharing and reuse, such as reduced duplicate work, faster problem resolution, or fewer support tickets.
Target · Achieve a 15% reduction in identified operational costs within 18 months.

Identifying that a new knowledge base article on a common customer issue reduced support call handling time by 30 seconds across 10,000 calls per month, saving £50K annually in staffing costs.

Accelerated Time-to-Market/Productivity
Quantifying how quickly new products or initiatives are launched, or how much faster new hires become fully productive, due to accessible and relevant knowledge.
Target · Reduce average time-to-market for new product features by 10% and new hire productivity ramp-up by 20% within 12 months.

Tracking a new product development cycle that leveraged an internal community of practice to resolve technical challenges 3 weeks faster than previous projects, or seeing new engineers reach full coding capacity 2 months earlier.

Return on Investment (ROI) of KM Programmes
Calculating the financial return generated by our investment in knowledge management technologies, programmes, and people.
Target · Deliver a positive ROI (minimum 1.2:1) on total KM programme investment within 24 months of programme launch.

Presenting a report to the Board showing that a £1M investment in a new enterprise knowledge platform and associated programmes generated £1.5M in cost savings and increased revenue through improved decision-making.

Knowledge Asset Reuse Rate
Tracking how frequently existing knowledge assets (documents, best practices, solutions) are accessed and applied across the organisation, reducing the need to recreate information.
Target · Increase the reuse rate of critical knowledge assets by 25% year-on-year.

Seeing that a specific set of sales enablement documents were accessed over 5,000 times in a quarter, directly leading to a 5% increase in conversion rates for new sales reps compared to those who didn't use the assets.

Strategic Influence & Board Alignment
How effectively you shape the executive agenda around knowledge as a strategic asset, and how well your initiatives align with overall business objectives.
  • Regularly invited to C-suite strategic planning meetings
  • knowledge strategy explicitly referenced in board reports
  • proactive engagement from business unit leaders seeking KM solutions for their challenges
  • positive feedback from board members on KM presentations.
Organisational Learning Culture Shift
The observable change in how people perceive and participate in knowledge sharing, moving towards a more collaborative, learning-oriented environment.
  • Knowledge sharing behaviours integrated into performance reviews
  • high participation rates in cross-functional communities and learning events
  • anecdotal evidence from employee surveys about increased collaboration
  • senior leaders actively championing knowledge initiatives.
Innovation Pipeline Contribution
The extent to which knowledge and collaboration programmes directly contribute to new ideas, product enhancements, or process improvements.
  • Documented examples of new product features or process improvements originating from community discussions
  • a formal mechanism for 'harvesting' innovative ideas from CoPs
  • clear links between knowledge sharing and patent applications or successful R&D projects.
Talent Development & Retention
The impact of knowledge programmes on employee growth, skill development, and overall job satisfaction, leading to better retention.
  • Reduced attrition rates in teams actively engaged in CoPs
  • internal mobility rates increasing due to skill development through knowledge sharing
  • positive feedback in exit interviews citing knowledge access as a reason for staying
  • successful mentorship programmes facilitated by communities.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Driving Large-Scale Organisational Change

You'll spend your days strategising how to shift mindsets, designing programmes that embed new behaviours, and celebrating every small victory in transforming how our company operates. This isn't about incremental tweaks; it's about fundamental shifts.

Successfully launching a new enterprise knowledge platform that genuinely changes how 5,000 employees find information, leading to a measurable increase in efficiency and collaboration.

Shaping Organisational Strategy & Culture

Your input will directly influence our long-term business strategy, especially around innovation, learning, and talent development. You'll be a key voice in C-suite discussions, advocating for knowledge as a core competitive asset.

Presenting a compelling case to the Board that leads to a significant investment in a new 'Knowledge for Innovation' programme, which then becomes a core pillar of the company's annual objectives.

Building High-Performing Teams & Capabilities

You'll be recruiting, mentoring, and developing a team of talented knowledge and community professionals. Seeing your team grow, take on bigger challenges, and deliver impactful work will be a major source of satisfaction.

Hiring a new Head of Communities who then successfully launches three critical new communities of practice, exceeding engagement targets and demonstrating clear business value.

What frustrates people
  • The 'tool-first' mandate without a clear strategy for adoption or change management.
  • Constantly having to prove the ROI of knowledge sharing beyond 'creating good vibes.'
  • Dealing with deeply entrenched silos and 'information hoarding' mentalities.
  • Budget constraints despite clear evidence of knowledge's strategic value.
  • The slow pace of change in a large, established organisation.
  • Political battles over ownership of knowledge or community initiatives.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, heads-down role focused solely on individual contribution.
  • Immediate, tangible results from every single initiative you launch.
  • A clear, linear path without significant organisational hurdles.
  • The luxury of avoiding difficult conversations or political navigation.

8Who you work with

This role directly impacts our operational efficiency, innovation pipeline, talent development, and overall market responsiveness. You're essentially building the 'nervous system' of the organisation, making sure the right information gets to the right people at the right time. A strong knowledge culture means better decisions, faster execution, and a more resilient business unit. Your work will influence P&L for a significant business unit, typically in the £2M-£10M+ range, by reducing redundant work, accelerating new product development, and improving customer satisfaction.

Inside the business
  • C-Suite (CEO, COO, CTO, CPO)
  • Business Unit Leaders (Sales, Product, Engineering)
  • HR & Learning & Development Leadership
  • IT & Digital Transformation Teams
  • Legal & Compliance
Outside the business
  • Strategic Technology Partners
  • Industry Bodies & Associations
  • Key Clients (for co-creation initiatives)
  • Consultancy Firms

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • Proven track record of leading large-scale Knowledge Management or Community of Practice programmes for 5+ years, preferably within a complex, multi-national organisation.
  • Extensive experience (10+ years) in a senior leadership role, managing teams of 10+ people (including managers), and overseeing significant budgets (£500K+).
  • Demonstrable experience in driving organisational change and cultural transformation related to knowledge sharing and collaboration.
  • Strong analytical skills, with the ability to define, track, and report on business-level ROI for knowledge initiatives.
  • Exceptional executive presence and communication skills, with a history of presenting to and influencing C-suite and Board-level stakeholders.
  • Deep understanding of enterprise technology landscapes and experience in selecting, implementing, and integrating complex KM platforms (or equivalent experience).

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Knowledge Graph Architectures & Semantic Search

Traditional keyword search often falls short. Knowledge graphs, which map relationships between entities, offer a more intelligent way to organise and discover knowledge, enabling truly semantic search and powerful inferencing. This is the next frontier for findability.

Nodes and Edges · Ontologies & Taxonomies · Graph Databases (e.g., Neo4j, Amazon Neptune) · Natural Language Processing (NLP) for Graph Population

  • This quarter: Read up on knowledge graph fundamentals and their application in enterprise KM.
  • Next quarter: Engage with our IT architecture team to explore potential use cases for knowledge graphs within our business unit.
  • Month 6: Sponsor a pilot project to build a small knowledge graph for a specific domain (e.g., product features or customer issues).
  • Month 9: Develop a long-term strategy for integrating knowledge graph technology into our overall enterprise knowledge architecture.

Quick win: Start by mapping a small, critical set of relationships between existing knowledge assets (e.g., linking a policy to relevant procedures, or a product to its known issues) using a simple diagramming tool. It's a visual way to start thinking in graphs.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly attending industry conferences and thought leadership events on Knowledge Management, Organisational Learning, and AI in the enterprise.
  • Active participation in professional networks and peer groups for Directors/VPs of KM or Learning, sharing insights and learning from others' challenges.
  • Pursuing executive education programmes focused on strategic leadership, digital transformation, or organisational psychology.
  • Mentoring junior leaders within the organisation, which helps solidify your own understanding and leadership capabilities.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

AI-Driven Knowledge Personalisation & Delivery

The sheer volume of information means generic search results are no longer enough. AI is rapidly enabling highly personalised knowledge delivery, anticipating user needs and proactively pushing relevant content and connections. Competitors are already experimenting with this to boost productivity.

  • Recommender Systems
  • Contextual Search & Retrieval
  • Proactive Knowledge Nudging
  • User Journey Mapping for Knowledge

Ethical AI in Knowledge Systems & Governance

As AI becomes more embedded in how we manage and share knowledge, ethical considerations around bias, data privacy, intellectual property, and responsible use become paramount. Boards are increasingly scrutinising this, and getting it wrong can lead to significant reputational and legal risks.

  • AI Bias Detection & Mitigation
  • Data Privacy & Security in AI
  • Intellectual Property & AI-Generated Content
  • Transparency & Explainability (XAI)

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Enterprise Knowledge Architecture Design
  • Knowledge Management Frameworks & Models (Strategic Application)
  • Organisational Change Management (KM Focus)
  • Community Strategy & Ecosystem Development
  • Information Governance & Data Ethics

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Manager, Knowledge & Community Programs (L5)

    3-5 years at L5

    Skills to master

    • At L5, you'd have mastered managing a team of KM professionals, owning a significant budget (£500K-£2M), and demonstrating success in driving programme-level outcomes. You'd have built a strong reputation for execution and leadership.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently exceeding programme-level KPIs and demonstrating clear ROI.
    • Successfully built and developed a high-performing team, including mentoring managers.
    • Proactively identified and solved complex functional problems, often involving cross-departmental collaboration.
    • Regularly sought out by senior leaders for advice on knowledge-related challenges.
  2. 2

    Director of Learning & Development / Organisational Development

    5-8 years in a similar Director role

    Skills to master

    • Coming from L&D or OD, you'd bring strong expertise in adult learning, change management, and cultural transformation. You'd need to quickly get up to speed on the specific technical and strategic aspects of Knowledge Management, but your leadership and people skills would be a huge asset.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Proven ability to lead large-scale organisational change initiatives.
    • Deep understanding of how to foster a learning culture and develop talent.
    • Strong track record of influencing senior stakeholders and managing significant budgets.
    • A demonstrated interest in the intersection of technology and learning/knowledge.
  3. 3

    Head of Product (with KM focus)

    5-7 years in a Head of Product role

    Skills to master

    • If you've led product for a KM-focused software company or a large internal knowledge platform, you'd bring invaluable experience in technology strategy, product roadmap development, and user-centric design. You'd need to broaden your focus to include the 'people and process' aspects of KM and organisational change.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully launched and scaled complex KM-related software products.
    • Deep understanding of KM technology landscape and user needs.
    • Experience managing cross-functional product teams and influencing engineering roadmaps.
    • A clear passion for how knowledge drives business outcomes, beyond just software features.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to roles such as Chief Knowledge Officer or Chief Operating Officer, or into independent consultancy on knowledge strategy and organisational change.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Director of Knowledge & Collaboration is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

Also named as a next step, with no page in the catalogue yet:

  • VP/SVP of Organisational Development or Chief Learning Officer

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Information Systems and Knowledge Management, worked against Director of Knowledge & Collaboration.

Information Systems and Knowledge Management Level 7

Applied to your work in Director of Knowledge & Collaboration

This unit aims to enable learners to examine the strategic role of information and knowledge management in achieving organisational goals and objectives. Learners will critically assess how information and knowledge management strategies can be aligned with business strategy to create competitive advantage. Furthermore, learners will evaluate the tools and techniques available to organisations to support the development of information management systems (IMS) and knowledge management systems (KMS) strategies and plans.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

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Director of Knowledge & Collaboration
  • Enterprise Knowledge Architecture Design
  • Knowledge Management Frameworks & Models (Strategic Application)
  • Organisational Change Management (KM Focus)
  • Community Strategy & Ecosystem Development
  • Information Governance & Data Ethics
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

16The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Director of Knowledge & Collaboration is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) (L7)

    3-5 years as Director

    From business unit strategy to enterprise-wide strategy; board governance and investor relations.

    • Knowledge as a Balance Sheet Asset Understanding how to quantify and value knowledge for financial reporting.
    • Global Knowledge Ecosystem Design Architecting KM solutions for a truly global, diverse workforce.
    • Regulatory Foresight Anticipating and preparing for future knowledge-related regulations (e.g., AI ethics, data sovereignty).
    • External Thought Leadership (Global) Representing the company on global stages as a KM expert.

  2. VP/SVP of Organisational Development or Chief Learning Officer

    3-5 years as Director

    Broadening scope to encompass all aspects of organisational development, talent, and learning beyond just knowledge.

    • HRIS & Learning Technology Strategy Owning the strategic direction for all HR and learning technologies.
    • Organisational Psychology Applying deeper psychological principles to drive employee engagement and performance.
    • Culture Transformation (Holistic) Leading broader cultural change initiatives beyond just knowledge.
    • Global HR/L&D Operations Managing large-scale HR/L&D operations across multiple geographies.
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real: as a Director, your time is precious. You should be strategising, influencing, and leading, not getting bogged down in administrative tasks or sifting through mountains of data. AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to supercharge your impact, freeing you up to focus on what truly matters.

Imagine a world where the tedious parts of strategic planning, reporting, and organisational analysis are handled by smart tools. That's the world we're building. We're integrating AI into our Knowledge Management processes to give our leaders back their most valuable asset: time. You'll be at the forefront of this, using AI to scale your influence and drive insights across the business unit.

Strategic Insight Synthesis

Use AI to rapidly synthesise vast amounts of internal and external data – from community discussions and knowledge base usage to market trends and competitor analysis. Get executive-ready summaries of complex topics, identifying emerging risks and opportunities that would take weeks to uncover manually.

Policy & Governance Draft Assistant

Draft comprehensive knowledge governance policies, compliance guidelines, and community charters in minutes, not days. AI can help you structure documents, suggest relevant clauses based on best practices, and ensure consistency across all your organisational frameworks, saving significant legal and review time.

Executive Report Generation

Automate the creation of your quarterly board reports and C-suite presentations. Feed AI your raw data and key messages, and it'll generate compelling narratives, visualisations, and executive summaries, allowing you to focus on refining the strategic implications and preparing for tough questions.

Organisational Knowledge Mapping

Leverage AI to map the intricate web of knowledge dependencies, expertise gaps, and information flows across your business unit. Identify critical knowledge bottlenecks, redundant efforts, and areas ripe for new communities of practice or targeted knowledge initiatives, providing a clear roadmap for strategic intervention.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Knowledge & Collaboration?

Common routes in include Manager, Knowledge & Community Programs (3-5 years at L5), Director of Learning & Development / Organisational Development (5-8 years in a similar Director role) and Head of Product (with KM focus) (5-7 years in a Head of Product role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Knowledge & Collaboration progress to?

This role can lead on to Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) (3-5 years as Director) and VP/SVP of Organisational Development or Chief Learning Officer (3-5 years as Director), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Director of Knowledge & Collaboration?

Increasingly, AI-Driven Knowledge Personalisation & Delivery and Ethical AI in Knowledge Systems & Governance. These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

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17Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 7

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

 More jobs in knowledge management

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills built in this role, strategic thinking, change leadership, team building and understanding how information drives business value, transfer well to other sectors. These include consulting, education technology and government, where knowledge is treated as a strategic asset.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my Director of Knowledge & Collaboration plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.