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

Director of Talent & Learning

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, a real day, 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.

Experience bandDirector/VP (16-20 years)
Direct reports5-10 reports
Reports toChief People Officer
UK framework levelUsually a director, accountable for a division and its numbers

Also advertised as VP, Learning & Development · Head of Learning & Organisational Development · Global Learning Director

Built on an analysis of 43,079 real UK job descriptions · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Start with a free Future Fluency check, tuned to Director of Talent & Learning

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1What this role really is

This isn't just about running training; it's about shaping our entire workforce for the future. You'll be the architect of how we learn, grow, and build capability across a significant business unit or the whole organisation, making sure we've got the right people with the right skills for tomorrow's challenges. Frankly, you're building the talent engine.

2What you'd actually use

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

LMS/LXP (e.g., Cornerstone OnDemand, Degreed)Strategic

Leading vendor selection, defining governance models, architecting the enterprise learning ecosystem, ensuring strategic alignment of technology with business goals. You'll be influencing the roadmap, not just using the features.

Analytics & Reporting (e.g., Power BI, Tableau)Strategic

Defining the L&D data strategy, overseeing the creation of executive dashboards, presenting learning analytics insights to the C-suite to influence business decisions and secure investment.

HRIS (e.g., Workday HCM, SAP SuccessFactors)Strategic

Influencing HRIS data governance policies to ensure data quality for talent and learning initiatives, collaborating with HRIT on strategic integrations, ensuring seamless talent data flow.

Collaboration & PM (e.g., Asana, Monday.com)Strategic

Managing the entire L&D project portfolio, optimising workflows across your team, and reporting on portfolio status and strategic risks to senior stakeholders.

3What 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 choice	Coming in	Where you are now	The step above
L&D Strategy & Vision	No input on strategy; executes defined tasks.	Proposes improvements to existing programmes.	Designs and leads specific programme strategies within the overall L&D vision.
Budget Allocation	No budget authority.	Manages small project budgets (up to £5K) for content creation.	Recommends budget for specific programmes (up to £50K), requires Director approval.

4How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, honestly: the hard targets, how often each one is actually looked at, and the quiet human signals that never make it onto a dashboard.

Leadership Pipeline Readiness

Percentage of critical leadership roles with identified internal successors ready to step up within 12-18 months.

Target · Achieve 70% readiness for critical roles

If we have 10 critical roles, 7 of them should have a 'ready now' or 'ready in 12 months' internal candidate identified and actively developed through your programmes.

Internal Mobility Rate

Percentage increase in employees moving into new roles internally (promotions or lateral moves) year-on-year.

Target · Increase internal mobility by 10% annually

If 100 people moved internally last year, we'd expect 110 this year, directly linked to career development programmes you've put in place.

Talent Retention (Programme Impact)

Lower attrition rate for employees actively participating in key development programmes compared to the company average.

Target · 15% lower attrition for programme participants

If overall attrition is 20%, we'd expect it to be 17% or less for those in your leadership development or high-potential programmes.

Business Unit Performance Linkage

Demonstrable improvement in a specific business unit metric (e.g., sales conversion, customer satisfaction, project delivery speed) tied to a targeted learning intervention.

Target · Achieve a 5-10% improvement in a chosen business metric post-intervention

After a sales enablement programme, the average deal size for participating sales reps increased by 7% over 6 months.

L&D Budget ROI

Return on investment calculation for major learning initiatives, comparing programme costs to quantifiable business benefits.

Target · Positive ROI (>1:1) for all programmes over £50K

A £100K leadership programme leads to £150K in reduced employee turnover and increased productivity, yielding a 1.5:1 ROI.

Strategic Partnership & Influence

Being proactively sought out by business leaders for advice on talent challenges, not just training requests.

Invited to business unit leadership meetings
CPO regularly references your insights in executive discussions
business leaders approach you with strategic problems before they've even thought about a 'training solution'.

Organisational Capability Building

Successfully introducing new learning methodologies or technologies that become embedded in how the organisation learns.

Successful adoption of a new LXP across the business
positive feedback from managers on the effectiveness of new blended learning journeys
your team is seen as an innovation hub for learning.

Team Leadership & Development

Building a high-performing, engaged L&D team that consistently delivers high-quality work and feels supported.

High engagement scores within your L&D team
low voluntary turnover
positive feedback from your direct reports on their development and career progression
your team is seen as a desirable place to work.

External Reputation & Thought Leadership

Representing the company as a leader in talent and learning, attracting top L&D talent and sharing best practices.

Invited to speak at industry conferences
recognised by peers for innovative learning approaches
your team attracts high-calibre candidates because of your reputation.

5Would you like it

The honest version. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy

Building Organisational Capability

You'll spend time thinking about future skill gaps, designing multi-year development pathways, and seeing your programmes directly contribute to the company's strategic goals.

Leading the creation of a new leadership academy that directly addresses succession planning needs for the next five years.

Driving Business Impact through People

You'll be constantly looking for ways to link learning to tangible business outcomes—improved sales, better customer service, faster product delivery. Your success is tied to the business's success.

Presenting to the Board on how your talent programmes have reduced critical skill shortages in the tech team, directly impacting product roadmap delivery.

Leading and Developing a High-Performing Team

You'll be coaching your managers, setting strategic direction for your team, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and innovation within L&D.

Mentoring a Senior Learning Specialist to take on a larger programme, helping them grow into a future leadership role.

What frustrates people

Being seen as a 'cost centre' rather than a strategic investment, especially during tough economic times.
The constant battle to get senior leader buy-in and time for crucial development programmes.
Dealing with internal politics and competing priorities from different business units.
The slow pace of change in large organisations, making it hard to implement innovative learning solutions quickly.
The challenge of measuring true ROI for every single learning intervention, especially for leadership and soft skills.

What this role does not give you

A purely operational, 'hands-on' instructional design role—you'll be leading, not building every course.
A quiet, predictable environment where you can stick to a rigid plan—expect constant strategic pivots.
An easy ride where everyone immediately sees the value of L&D—you'll need to advocate and educate constantly.

6Who you work with

This role directly impacts our ability to execute on strategic priorities by ensuring we have the necessary skills and leadership in place. You'll influence talent retention, internal mobility, and our overall employer brand. Frankly, you're building the future workforce, so the impact is huge, both on our people and our bottom line.

Inside the business

Chief People Officer (CPO)
Business Unit Managing Directors
Heads of HR Business Partners
Finance Director (for budget approval)
Heads of Product & Technology (for future skills needs)

Outside the business

Learning Technology Vendors (Cornerstone, Degreed)
External Executive Coaching Firms
Industry Bodies (CIPD, Learning & Performance Institute)
Consultancy Partners (for specialist programme design)

7What you need before you start

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

Extensive experience (10+ years) in a senior L&D role, ideally managing a team or a significant function.
Demonstrable track record of designing and implementing large-scale, impactful learning programmes.
Proven ability to influence and partner with senior business leaders and C-suite executives.
Strong experience in managing significant budgets and demonstrating ROI for learning initiatives.
A deep understanding of learning technologies and how to leverage them strategically.

8What to practise next

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

Learning Data Strategy & Governance

With more learning platforms and data sources, having a clear strategy for data collection, integration, analysis, and governance is paramount. Without it, we can't prove impact or make informed decisions. This is about treating learning data as a strategic asset.

Data Lakes for Learning · xAPI & LRS Implementation · Data Privacy & Security · Data Visualisation for Executives

This quarter: Review our current learning data architecture and identify key gaps or opportunities for integration.
Next 6 months: Develop a proposal for a unified learning data strategy, including potential technology investments (e.g., LRS).
Next 12 months: Lead the implementation of enhanced data collection and reporting capabilities across our learning ecosystem.
Ongoing: Partner with our Data & Analytics team to explore advanced analytical techniques for learning data.

Quick win: Map out all current learning data sources and the metrics they provide. Identify 2-3 key questions about learning impact that you currently can't answer with data, and start thinking about how you could collect that information.

9Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up

Regularly attend industry conferences (e.g., Learning Technologies, CIPD Annual Conference) to stay abreast of trends and network with peers.
Engage in executive coaching or leadership development programmes to refine your strategic leadership and influencing skills.
Contribute to industry thought leadership through articles, webinars, or speaking engagements.
Participate in cross-functional strategic projects outside of L&D to deepen your business acumen and build broader organisational relationships.
Mentor emerging leaders within the organisation, which helps you refine your own leadership philosophy.

10How the AI economy is changing work like this

Before we ask anything of you, here's what we can already say about AI and work of this kind:

The new skill this role is being asked for: AI-Driven Learning Personalisation & Adaptive Pathways

Learners expect highly personalised experiences. AI is moving beyond simple recommendations to truly adaptive learning paths that adjust in real-time based on performance, preferences, and career goals. If we don't offer this, we'll lose talent to organisations that do.

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

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 Learning Personalisation & Adaptive Pathways

Learners expect highly personalised experiences. AI is moving beyond simple recommendations to truly adaptive learning paths that adjust in real-time based on performance, preferences, and career goals. If we don't offer this, we'll lose talent to organisations that do.

Adaptive Learning Engines
Skills Graph & Ontology
Predictive Analytics for Learning
Ethical AI in Learning

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

Learning Evaluation Models (Kirkpatrick L4, Phillips ROI)
Competency Mapping & Strategic Workforce Planning
Blended Learning Architecture & Ecosystem Design
Adult Learning Theory (Andragogy) & Learning Science
Organisational Development & Change Management

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
Senior L&D Manager / Head of L&D (mid-sized organisation)
3-5 years in this role
Skills to master
- Scaling learning programmes, managing a small team, building strong business partner relationships, owning a functional budget.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully led a major, multi-year learning initiative from strategy to execution.
- Consistently achieved measurable business impact from your programmes.
- Received strong feedback on your ability to influence senior leaders and manage a team.
- Managed a budget of at least £1M-£2M.
2
L&D Business Partner (large enterprise)
4-6 years in this role
Skills to master
- Deep understanding of specific business unit needs, translating business strategy into learning solutions, managing complex stakeholder landscapes, influencing without direct authority.
You're ready to move on when
- Became the 'go-to' L&D person for a significant business unit, proactively advising on talent strategy.
- Successfully navigated complex political environments to deliver impactful learning solutions.
- Demonstrated strong commercial acumen and linked L&D to business unit P&L.
- Built a reputation for being a trusted advisor, not just an order-taker.
3
Consultant (Learning & Talent Strategy)
5-7 years in this role
Skills to master
- Client management, strategic advisory, solution design for diverse organisational contexts, business development, thought leadership.
You're ready to move on when
- Successfully led multiple large-scale learning transformation projects for diverse clients.
- Developed strong expertise in a specific area (e.g., leadership development, digital learning).
- Demonstrated ability to influence C-suite clients and drive significant organisational change.
- Built a strong professional network and reputation in the industry.

11Where this role leads

The long view:Ultimately, this role is a launchpad for significant executive leadership. Whether you stay within L&D, move into broader HR, or even transition into consulting, the strategic thinking, leadership, and business acumen you'll develop here will set you up for a truly impactful career. It's about building people, and frankly, that's one of the most rewarding things you can do in business.

Pay & demand

Pay and demand for this role will appear here, each figure traced to a named authoritative source (e.g. the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, under the Open Government Licence). We don’t show numbers we can’t attribute.

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 Talent & Learning is actually changing. In about two minutes, the free confidence check asks where you stand on each of the ten. That's the whole check, and it's what makes the plan yours rather than generic.

12The team that's yours

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

Zavmo is a hyper-personalised AI learning platform. Twelve virtual tutors, each with a different way of teaching, and one orchestration agent that picks the right one for the moment. So every single lesson is shaped around you, your role, and the way you learn. Not a course everyone sits through. A conversation built for you, and no one else.

…and nine more, matched to you after your first chat. Meet all twelve

Start free and meet yours

13What it feels like

A conversation, not a course

Because your tutor knows your role, your projects and your last session, learning sounds like this. And it's different for every single person:

Provide learning opportunities for colleaguesLevel 5

Applied to your work in Director of Talent & Learning

This unit aims to equip learners with the skills to encourage learning and development in colleagues. Learners will be able to help colleagues identify learning needs, plan and implement learning opportunities, and review and update their development plans.

How the thinking builds

Remember
Understand
Apply
Analyse
Evaluate
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.

One to one, not one to many

No two people run this the same way

A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.

Your actual work Every lesson is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.

See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.

DemonstrateIllustration

Evidenced on your work in Director of Talent & Learning

You do not finish by watching something. You finish by showing it on the work you already do, against the measures this job is judged on.

Leadership Pipeline ReadinessPercentage of critical leadership roles with identified internal successors ready to step up within 12-18 months.If we have 10 critical roles, 7 of them should have a 'ready now' or 'ready in 12 months' internal candidate identified and actively developed through your programmes.Achieve 70% readiness for critical roles
Internal Mobility RatePercentage increase in employees moving into new roles internally (promotions or lateral moves) year-on-year.If 100 people moved internally last year, we'd expect 110 this year, directly linked to career development programmes you've put in place.Increase internal mobility by 10% annually
Talent Retention (Programme Impact)Lower attrition rate for employees actively participating in key development programmes compared to the company average.If overall attrition is 20%, we'd expect it to be 17% or less for those in your leadership development or high-potential programmes.15% lower attrition for programme participants
Business Unit Performance LinkageDemonstrable improvement in a specific business unit metric (e.g., sales conversion, customer satisfaction, project delivery speed) tied to a targeted learning intervention.After a sales enablement programme, the average deal size for participating sales reps increased by 7% over 6 months.Achieve a 5-10% improvement in a chosen business metric post-intervention

and 1 more in the full scoreboard below.

These are this job's own measures, with its own targets. Nothing is marked evidenced, because nobody has started this yet. Yours would fill in from the work you bring.

Your passport

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Every credit you earn and every fluency you build adds up: evidence where it counts, carried with you. Zavmo keeps the map: where you are, where you're heading, and the next step, at your pace, around your life. From Director of Talent & Learning to Chief Learning Officer (CLO), and whatever you decide comes after.

Level 7 · in progressAI Fluency→ Chief Learning Officer (CLO)→ your design

Where this takes you

Ultimately, this role is a launchpad for significant executive leadership. Whether you stay within L&D, move into broader HR, or even transition into consulting, the strategic thinking, leadership, and business acumen you'll develop here will set you up for a truly impactful career. It's about building people, and frankly, that's one of the most rewarding things you can do in business.

See Your Progress GrowIllustration

Director of Talent & Learning

Learning Evaluation Models (Kirkpatrick L4, Phillips ROI)
Competency Mapping & Strategic Workforce Planning
Blended Learning Architecture & Ecosystem Design
Adult Learning Theory (Andragogy) & Learning Science
Organisational Development & Change Management

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.

14The 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 Talent & Learning is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

Chief Learning Officer (CLO)
3-5 years
Level 7 (C-Suite)
- Global talent strategy and localisation of learning.
- Advanced organisational design and effectiveness.
- Strategic partnerships with academic institutions and industry consortia.
- Leading enterprise-level change management initiatives.
VP, People / Head of HR (broader remit)
4-6 years
Level 6/7 (broader HR leadership)
- Workforce planning and analytics beyond learning.
- Compensation and benefits strategy.
- Employee relations and industrial relations.
- HR technology strategy and implementation.

Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

As a Director of Talent & Learning, your time is precious. You're thinking about strategy, leading your team, and influencing senior stakeholders. You don't have hours to spend on manual tasks or sifting through endless data. This is where AI comes in—not to replace you, but to amplify your impact and free you up for what truly matters.

Imagine having a strategic co-pilot that helps you analyse talent data, forecast skill needs, and even draft board-level presentations. Our AI Productivity Hub isn't just for individual contributors; it's designed to empower leaders like you to work smarter, make faster decisions, and ultimately, build a more effective learning organisation. We're talking about real, tangible time savings that let you focus on vision, not admin.

Strategic Skill Gap Analysis

Feed HRIS data and business strategy documents into an AI tool to quickly identify emerging skill gaps across the organisation, predict future talent needs, and prioritise learning interventions. This moves you from reactive to proactive.

Board-Ready Report Generation

Use AI to synthesise complex learning analytics, ROI data, and programme impact summaries into concise, compelling board-level reports and presentations. Focus on refining the narrative, not crunching the numbers or formatting slides.

Executive Communication Drafting

Generate first drafts of strategic communications to the C-suite, business unit leaders, or external partners—think programme proposals, budget justifications, or thought leadership pieces. The AI handles the initial structure and tone, you add the strategic polish.

Vendor & Partner Evaluation

Use AI to quickly analyse RFP responses, compare vendor capabilities against your strategic requirements, and even draft initial negotiation points for major learning technology or content providers. This speeds up your procurement cycles significantly.

Common questions

How do you become a Director of Talent & Learning?

Common routes in include Senior L&D Manager / Head of L&D (mid-sized organisation) (3-5 years in this role), L&D Business Partner (large enterprise) (4-6 years in this role) and Consultant (Learning & Talent Strategy) (5-7 years in this role). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can a Director of Talent & Learning progress to?

This role can lead on to Chief Learning Officer (CLO) (3-5 years) and VP, People / Head of HR (broader remit) (4-6 years), depending on the skills you build.

What level is a Director of Talent & Learning in the UK?

This role aligns to RQF Level 7 on the UK framework, a guide to the depth of qualification it maps to, not a hard entry bar.

What new skills matter most for a Director of Talent & Learning?

Increasingly, AI-Driven Learning Personalisation & Adaptive Pathways. These are the areas where the higher-paid, future-proof work is heading.

The honest bit

You’ve started things before

Most of them were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.

There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.

And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.

What it costs

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

A single career-coaching hour costs more than a month of this, and it ends when the hour does. Zavmo doesn't. It's £70 a month, about £2.30 a day, for a companion that knows a Director of Talent & Learning, works on the job you actually do, and keeps going at your pace rather than a timetable's.

Searching and planning stay free. You only pay when you start learning.
Your credits are yours. Regulated, and they don't vanish when a subscription ends.
Cancel any time and billing stops. No notice period, no minimum term.

Your path, personalised

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.

This route runs to 10 national skill standards. That is a real journey.

Zavmo shapes a learning experience as unique as you are. It fits how you learn, your pace and the work you already do. Every step stays benchmarked to recognised national standards. That’s the plan for becoming a Director of Talent & Learning: personal to you, and it still counts. The first steps are free.

Independent research finds well-designed intelligent tutoring performs nearly as well as one-to-one human tutoring: VanLehn (2011), Educational Psychologist.

A private tutor in the UK averages £35–40 an hour . Zavmo is £70/month.

A Zavmo curriculum screen: a three-month plan built for a customer support lead, five Ofqual-regulated units and a hundred and ninety-six credits. — A real plan on learn.zavmo.ai: Ofqual-regulated units, credits, and a three-month run at your own pace.

Start free No commitment. See your first steps free.

15Where 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.

Other roles in Learning and Development

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.

If you leave this industry

Your skills as a Director of Talent & Learning are highly transferable across almost any industry, from technology and financial services to retail, healthcare, and professional services. The core challenge of building organisational capability and developing people is universal. You'll find opportunities in large corporations, scale-ups, and even non-profit organisations looking to professionalise their talent functions.

Not sure this is the right direction?

Work out what you actually want from work first, then come back and see which roles fit it. Takes about ten minutes.

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. Build my plan, free Here's the first ten minutes: a 2-minute confidence check → your personalised roadmap → meet the tutors matched to you. No card, cancel any time. 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.

Director of Talent & Learning

What's rising in its place

AI-Driven Learning Personalisation & Adaptive Pathways

Skills this role draws on

Technical

How you actually get there, here

Senior L&D Manager / Head of L&D (mid-sized organisation)

L&D Business Partner (large enterprise)

Consultant (Learning & Talent Strategy)

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

Roles this leads to

No two people are taught the same way. This is one-to-one, not one-to-many.

A conversation, not a course

No two people run this the same way

This isn't a certificate you file away. It's a passport to the life you're designing.

Everything else the record holds

The career path, and where it branches

Chief Learning Officer (CLO)

VP, People / Head of HR (broader remit)

Where AI is starting to help

Strategic Skill Gap Analysis

Board-Ready Report Generation

Executive Communication Drafting

Vendor & Partner Evaluation

Common questions

You’ve started things before

Less than one coaching session. Every month.

You have the map. Walking it is the part we do together.