UK

United Kingdom · Learning and development · Director/VP (16-20 years)

Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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  • Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
  • Direct reports25-100+ reports
  • Reports toVP of Talent & Organisational Development
  • UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as Head of Knowledge & Learning Solutions · VP, Learning & Information Strategy · Senior Director, Organisational Knowledge

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

CMI Level 5 NVQ Diploma in Management and Leadership Chartered Management Institute · Level 5 · covers 2 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
iCQ Level 4 NVQ Diploma in Management iCan Qualifications Limited · Level 4 · covers 2 of 5 standards

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

The units you would start with

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
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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement

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

  1. Manage knowledge in an organisation Chartered Management Institute · covers 2 of 5 standards Level 5
  2. 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 Management & Learning Enablement?

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 Ethics & Governance in KM/L&D
  • Adaptive Learning Pathway Design & Orchestration
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 Management & Learning Enablement 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 involves managing how an organisation captures, organises and shares its knowledge, so people can find what they need to do their work.

4What you'd actually use

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

Confluence / Notion / SharePoint Online Strategic

Defining enterprise-wide information architecture, platform selection & governance, managing budget for knowledge platforms, and overseeing integrations.

Cornerstone OnDemand / Docebo / Degreed / Workday Learning Architect

Leading platform migration/integration (e.g., with Workday HCM), owning vendor relationships, and defining the overall learning data strategy.

Articulate 360 (Storyline, Rise) / Adobe Captivate / Camtasia Strategic

Setting content development standards, evaluating new authoring tools, and managing outsourced development teams for large-scale content creation.

WalkMe / Pendo / Whatfix Strategic

Owning the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) strategy to drive software adoption and reduce support tickets across the organisation, building business cases for expansion.

Tableau / Power BI Architect

Managing the enterprise Tableau Server/Power BI Premium workspace, presenting learning impact and knowledge ROI dashboards to executive leadership and the Board.

Slack / MS Teams / Miro Strategic

Defining the communication and collaboration governance strategy for knowledge sharing across the entire enterprise, ensuring these tools support KM objectives.

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 Direction for KM & Learning Enablement No input. Executes tasks defined by others. Proposes minor improvements to existing processes. Designs and recommends workstream-specific strategies.
Budget Allocation (Functional) None. Requests budget for specific tools/training, requires approval. Manages small project budgets (up to £5K) with oversight.
Hiring & Team Structure None. Provides input on candidate fit for team. Interviews candidates, provides hiring recommendations.
Technology & Platform Selection Uses assigned tools. Suggests improvements to existing tool usage. Evaluates and recommends specific features or integrations for existing tools.

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.

Organisational Knowledge ROI
Quantifying the financial return on investment from improved knowledge access and learning enablement.
Target · Achieve a minimum of 15% annual ROI through reduced support costs, faster onboarding, and increased productivity.

By optimising self-service knowledge, you've reduced the average support ticket resolution time by 10 minutes, saving £150K annually in support staff hours.

Time-to-Proficiency Reduction
The average time it takes for new hires in critical roles (e.g., Sales, Engineering) to reach full productivity, directly attributable to KM & Learning Enablement initiatives.
Target · Reduce time-to-proficiency by 20% across key business units within 18 months.

New Sales Executives now hit 80% of their quota within 4 months, down from 5 months, thanks to a redesigned onboarding knowledge pathway and integrated performance support.

Knowledge System Adoption & Engagement
Overall usage and active participation in our core knowledge platforms (e.g., Confluence, LMS, DAP).
Target · Maintain 85% active monthly users across core platforms and increase content contribution from SMEs by 10% year-on-year.

Your latest dashboard shows 92% of employees accessed the knowledge base last month, and 150 new articles were published by business unit SMEs, up from 130.

Content Freshness & Accuracy Score
A weighted score reflecting the proportion of up-to-date, accurate, and relevant content within our knowledge repositories.
Target · Achieve a content freshness score of 90% or higher, with <1% critical error rate in audited policy documents.

After implementing new review cycles, 93% of our top 100 most viewed articles have been reviewed within the last 6 months, and no critical compliance errors were found in the Q2 audit.

Strategic Alignment & Executive Trust
How well the KM & Learning Enablement strategy supports broader organisational goals and the level of trust and reliance placed on your function by the C-Suite and business leaders.
  • You're regularly invited to strategic planning meetings outside of L&D. Business unit leaders proactively seek your input on their challenges, seeing KM as a solution. Your proposals for new initiatives receive executive backing and budget. You're seen as a trusted advisor, not just a service provider.
Organisational Learning Culture
The extent to which the company embraces continuous learning, knowledge sharing, and a 'learning in the flow of work' mindset, driven by your initiatives.
  • Internal surveys show a significant increase in employees feeling empowered to find answers themselves. There's a noticeable shift away from 'knowledge hoarding' towards proactive sharing. Communities of Practice are thriving and self-sustaining. The company genuinely talks about 'learning' as a competitive advantage, not just a compliance checkbox.
Team Leadership & Development
The effectiveness of your leadership in building, mentoring, and retaining a high-performing KM & Learning Enablement team.
  • Your direct reports consistently meet their objectives and show clear career progression. Your team is recognised internally as a centre of excellence. Employee engagement scores within your function are consistently high, and you have a strong pipeline of internal talent.
Innovation & Future-Proofing
Your ability to anticipate future knowledge and learning needs, experiment with new technologies (like AI), and position the organisation for long-term success.
  • You've successfully piloted and scaled new technologies that deliver tangible benefits. You regularly present insights on industry trends to leadership. Your strategy includes clear plans for adapting to emerging challenges, like the rise of generative AI in knowledge creation.

7Would you like it

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

What people enjoy
Building a Legacy of Knowledge

You'll feel a deep satisfaction knowing you're creating something that outlives individual employees, making the company smarter and more resilient. This shows up in your drive to capture tacit knowledge and build robust, scalable systems.

You're genuinely excited when a new hire tells you they found exactly what they needed in the knowledge base, or when a veteran employee says they finally documented that tricky process because of your team's support.

Solving Complex Organisational Puzzles

You thrive on untangling messy information flows, aligning disparate teams, and figuring out how to make knowledge accessible across a large, complex organisation. This means you'll enjoy the strategic planning and problem-solving aspects of the role.

You're energised by the challenge of getting Sales, Product, and Support to agree on a single, definitive product feature guide, knowing the impact it will have on customer experience.

Driving Tangible Business Impact

You're motivated by seeing your work directly translate into measurable improvements in efficiency, productivity, and ultimately, the company's bottom line. You'll love tracking those ROI metrics.

You get a real buzz from presenting to the board about how your knowledge initiatives reduced customer support costs by £250K this year, or how they sped up product development cycles.

What frustrates people
  • The SME Paradox: The people with the most valuable knowledge are always the busiest. You'll spend half your time chasing SMEs who are 'too busy' to document their process, only to have them complain that they're 'constantly interrupted' by people asking questions about that same process.
  • The 'Wiki Janitor' Perception: Fighting the organisational view that your job is simply administrative—tidying up pages and fixing links—rather than strategic architecture of the company's intellectual capital.
  • 'Single Source of Truth' Politics: Everyone agrees there should be a single source of truth, as long as it's their source. You will be the UN peacekeeper between departments who all have their own 'official' version of a document.
  • The Adoption Cliff: You'll launch a beautiful, intuitive, perfectly organised knowledge platform, see a big spike in usage for two weeks, and then watch in despair as everyone reverts to asking their neighbour or saving files to their desktop.
  • Content Orphanage: You are the custodian of the system, but not the owner of the content. You will be blamed when a sales policy is out of date, even though the Head of Sales hasn't reviewed it in two years despite your 14 reminders.
  • The Search Log of Despair: Looking at your analytics and seeing the same five basic questions being searched for hundreds of times, despite the answer being on the homepage of the knowledge base.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, solitary role where you just build systems without engaging people. This is a highly collaborative and influencing role.
  • Instant, dramatic results. Organisational change, especially around knowledge sharing, is a marathon, not a sprint.
  • A role where you're handed all the content. You'll be actively involved in the 'harvesting' and curation.
  • A static environment. The tools, the business needs, and the knowledge itself are constantly evolving.

8Who you work with

This role directly shapes our organisation's ability to learn, adapt, and scale. Your work will reduce operational inefficiencies, speed up time-to-competence for new hires, and ensure critical institutional knowledge isn't lost when people move on. Honestly, it's about future-proofing our intellectual capital and making sure we're always getting smarter as a company.

Inside the business
  • C-Suite (CEO, COO, CTO, CHRO)
  • Business Unit Leaders (e.g., Head of Sales, Head of Product, Head of Engineering)
  • Legal & Compliance
  • IT & Security
  • Finance Leadership
Outside the business
  • Key Technology Vendors (e.g., Confluence, Docebo, WalkMe)
  • Industry Bodies & Professional Networks
  • Consulting Partners

9What you need before you start

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

  • A proven track record of leading and scaling knowledge management or learning technology functions within a large, complex organisation (typically 1000+ employees).
  • Demonstrable experience managing significant budgets (£2M+) and driving measurable ROI from KM/L&D initiatives.
  • Extensive experience building and leading diverse teams, including managers, and fostering a culture of high performance and continuous improvement.
  • A deep understanding of at least two major KM/LMS platforms (e.g., Confluence, SharePoint, Docebo, Cornerstone) and experience with a full platform lifecycle (selection, implementation, optimisation).
  • Expert-level understanding of information architecture principles, taxonomy design, and content governance at an enterprise scale.
  • Strong executive presence and a history of successfully influencing senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders on strategic initiatives.

10What to practise next

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

Enterprise Knowledge Graph Design & Implementation

Traditional taxonomies are great, but knowledge graphs allow for much richer, semantic connections between disparate pieces of information, enabling truly intelligent search and recommendation. This is the next frontier for 'findability'.

Nodes & Edges · Ontology & Schema Definition · Graph Databases (e.g., Neo4j, Amazon Neptune) · Semantic Search & Reasoning

  • This month: Read introductory articles on knowledge graphs and their applications in enterprise KM.
  • Next quarter: Explore a free online course or tutorial on graph databases (e.g., Neo4j's intro courses).
  • Within 6 months: Identify a specific domain within your organisation (e.g., product features) and sketch out a basic knowledge graph for it.
  • Within 12 months: Partner with IT to investigate piloting a small-scale knowledge graph for a critical business area, demonstrating its value.

Quick win: Map out a complex business process or product feature in a visual tool like Miro, explicitly showing relationships. That's a mini knowledge graph!

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Actively participate in industry conferences and forums (e.g., KMWorld, Learning Technologies UK, ATD International Conference) to stay current on trends and network with peers.
  • Subscribe to leading industry journals and research papers in knowledge management, learning sciences, and organisational development.
  • Pursue executive education programmes focused on strategic leadership, digital transformation, or change management.
  • Mentor junior professionals in KM or L&D; teaching is a fantastic way to solidify your own understanding and give back to the community.
  • Contribute thought leadership through articles, blog posts, or presentations on the future of knowledge and learning.

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 Ethics & Governance in KM/L&D

As AI becomes embedded in knowledge creation, search, and learning personalisation, ethical considerations (bias, privacy, intellectual property) are paramount. Getting this wrong can lead to reputational damage or regulatory fines.

  • Algorithmic Bias Detection
  • Data Privacy & IP in LLMs
  • Transparency & Explainability
  • Human Oversight Frameworks

Adaptive Learning Pathway Design & Orchestration

The 'one-size-fits-all' approach to learning is dead. Employees expect personalised experiences. AI allows us to dynamically adapt learning and knowledge recommendations based on individual performance, skill gaps, and career goals. You'll need to lead this shift.

  • Skill Graph & Competency Mapping
  • Personalised Content Recommendation Engines
  • Learning Journey Orchestration
  • xAPI for Adaptive Learning

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Knowledge Taxonomy & Ontology Design
  • Instructional Design & Learning Experience (LxD)
  • Learning Analytics & Measurement (xAPI/SCORM)
  • Performance Consulting & Needs Analysis
  • Content Curation & Lifecycle Management
  • Community of Practice (CoP) Architecture & Facilitation

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

    Head of Learning Technologies / LMS Manager (L5)

    3-5 years in previous role

    Skills to master

    • Deep expertise in learning platform strategy, vendor management, and team leadership for technical L&D functions. A strong understanding of how technology enables learning outcomes.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successfully led a major LMS migration or implementation project across a large organisation.
    • Managed a team of 10+ learning technology specialists.
    • Consistently delivered on learning platform adoption and engagement metrics.
    • Presented strategic technology roadmaps to senior leadership.
  2. 2

    Senior Manager, Organisational Development (L5)

    4-6 years in previous role

    Skills to master

    • Broad understanding of talent management, organisational design, and change management principles. Ability to connect KM to broader HR and talent strategies.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Led significant organisational change initiatives with measurable impact.
    • Developed and implemented company-wide talent development programmes.
    • Demonstrated strong influencing skills across different business units.
    • Had direct exposure to C-suite level discussions on people strategy.
  3. 3

    Principal Knowledge Strategist / Learning Architect (L4)

    5-7 years in previous role

    Skills to master

    • Expertise in information architecture, taxonomy design, and content strategy at an enterprise level. Proven ability to translate complex business needs into scalable knowledge solutions.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Architected a major component of an enterprise KM system (e.g., global taxonomy).
    • Led cross-functional projects to improve knowledge findability and usability.
    • Mentored and guided other KM professionals on best practices.
    • Consistently presented data-driven insights on knowledge system performance to leadership.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to roles such as Chief Learning Officer or Chief Information Officer, overseeing learning or information strategy at a senior level.

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 Management & Learning Enablement is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

The record names a next step, but the catalogue has no page for it yet:

  • VP of Talent & Organisational Development (L7)

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 Manage knowledge in an organisation, worked against Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement.

Manage knowledge in an organisation Level 5

Applied to your work in Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement

This unit aims to provide learners with an understanding of knowledge management principles, strategies, and the role of technology within organisations. Upon completion, learners will be able to identify, assess, and effectively manage knowledge assets to support organisational objectives.

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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See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement
  • Knowledge Taxonomy & Ontology Design
  • Instructional Design & Learning Experience (LxD)
  • Learning Analytics & Measurement (xAPI/SCORM)
  • Performance Consulting & Needs Analysis
  • Content Curation & Lifecycle Management
  • Community of Practice (CoP) Architecture & Facilitation
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 Management & Learning Enablement is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. VP of Talent & Organisational Development (L7)

    3-5 years in Director role

    From L6 to L7

    • HRIS strategy and large-scale system integration
    • Global talent acquisition and employer branding
    • Executive coaching and leadership development at the highest levels
    • Organisational culture shaping across diverse 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're paid to think strategically, lead your team, and drive big initiatives. You shouldn't be bogged down in manual tasks or endless content reviews. AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to give you superpowers, freeing you up to do the work that truly matters.

Imagine having a tireless assistant that can sift through mountains of data, draft initial content, and even help you identify critical knowledge gaps before they become problems. That's the reality of AI in Knowledge Management and Learning Enablement. We're integrating these tools to help you and your team work smarter, not just harder, giving you back valuable hours every week.

Automated Knowledge Triage & Tagging

An AI engine that reads all new documents (e.g., in SharePoint, Google Drive) and automatically suggests metadata tags based on the content, identifies potential duplicates, and flags content that appears outdated. For you, this means less time overseeing manual tagging and more confidence in the findability of your content. You'll get a cleaner, more organised knowledge base with minimal human effort.

Generative Q&A Search Engine

Instead of just returning a list of links, an AI-powered search that synthesises information from multiple trusted sources to provide a direct, conversational answer to a user's question, complete with citations. This directly improves user experience, reduces 'where do I find X?' questions, and boosts trust in the knowledge system. You'll see higher adoption rates and happier employees.

AI-Powered SME Interviewer & Content Drafts

A tool that guides an SME through a structured interview, asking probing questions to turn their tacit knowledge into explicit documentation. It can transcribe the conversation and generate a first draft of an SOP or guide. For your team, this dramatically reduces the effort of 'knowledge harvesting' and content creation, allowing them to focus on refinement and strategic content planning. You'll get more content, faster, and more consistently.

Content Freshness & Gap Analysis

An AI model that scans the entire knowledge base to identify content gaps (e.g., high search volume for terms with no matching content) and flags articles that are likely outdated based on product release notes or changes in other related documents. This means you can proactively manage content decay and ensure your KM team is always focused on creating the most high-impact, relevant knowledge assets, rather than just reacting to complaints.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement?

Common routes in include Head of Learning Technologies / LMS Manager (3-5 years in previous role), Senior Manager, Organisational Development (4-6 years in previous role) and Principal Knowledge Strategist / Learning Architect (5-7 years in previous role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement progress to?

This role can lead on to VP of Talent & Organisational Development (3-5 years in Director role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for a Director of Knowledge Management & Learning Enablement?

Increasingly, AI Ethics & Governance in KM/L&D and Adaptive Learning Pathway Design & Orchestration. 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 learning and development

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, organisational design, change management and using technology to support performance, transfer to other settings. These include senior leadership roles in large organisations, consulting on organisational effectiveness, or independent work in learning technology or knowledge management.

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 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.