Head of Leadership Development

Summary Press space or enter keys to toggle section visibility Location London, Reading Job Type Full Time Posted Date
07-Oct-2026

Ref #AVT
110842

Leadership capability has never been more critical to business success. As Head of Leadership Development, you will shape and lead the organisation's leadership strategy, creating the frameworks, programmes and interventions that build exceptional leaders, strengthen leadership teams and enable a high-performing, future-ready culture.

This is a highly influential role with visibility across senior leadership, where your work will directly support business transformation, customer trust, inclusive leadership and sustainable growth. Working across the business and the wider People function, you'll design and embed enterprise-wide leadership propositions that drive measurable impact. You'll establish leadership expectations and assessment frameworks, lead coaching and team effectiveness strategies, leverage innovative learning approaches and digital tools, and build trusted partnerships with senior stakeholders and external providers.

Combining strategic thinking with deep expertise in leadership development, you'll use insight, data and organisational diagnosis to continuously evolve leadership capability across the organisation. You will also play a critical role in supporting the organisation's transformation agenda, creating the leadership conditions required to build a simpler, leaner, faster and higher-performing organisation, while enabling leaders to thrive in an increasingly agile and agentic environment.

Who we areAt Virgin Media O₂, we connect people to the moments that matter most. Virgin Media leads the UK for broadband reliability, speed and overall performance, while O₂ keeps people connected on the move with award-winning coverage.

We're also proud to be named one of the Financial Times Top 500 Best Employers for 2026, based on one of the UK's largest employee satisfaction surveys.

Join us and you'll be part of a team that stays curious, positive and focused on making life easier for our customers and each other. We're investing in the future of connectivity, from expanding next-generation 5G to exploring satellite-supported solutions that help reach rural communities and hard-to-connect places.

You'll work with people who back good ideas and give you plenty of room to grow. So if you're looking for a place where you can feel supported, trusted and genuinely valued, you'll feel right at home here.

Our Ways of Working We're a flexible-first organisation, because we know people do their best work when they have choice and clarity. To support meaningful collaboration, we ask everyone to spend at least eight days a month connecting with each other in person.

That doesn't just mean time in the office – it could be team meetings, offsites, volunteering days, cross-functional projects, or away days. What matters is making those moments count, so when we come together, it benefits everyone.

Accessible, Inclusive and Equitable for All We believe a better tomorrow starts with the choices we make today. That means moving the dial on diversity, building equity into everything we do and putting inclusion at the heart of our business.

Virgin Media O₂ is an equal opportunities employer and we work hard to remove bias and barriers. We want every person who joins us, and everyone thinking about joining us, to feel seen, heard and supported.

When you work with us, you'll have access to our award-winning employee network groups. These communities bring people together, champion allyship and create uplifting spaces where you can learn, share and feel part of something bigger. They play a big role in helping people feel connected from day one.

The must haves

Significant experience leading enterprise-wide leadership development strategies and programmes within a large, complex, matrix organisation.

Proven track record of designing and implementing leadership frameworks, assessment approaches and scalable leadership curriculums that drive measurable business outcomes.

Recognised executive or organisational coaching accreditation, with substantial experience delivering coaching interventions for senior leaders and leadership teams.

Extensive experience influencing Executive and Senior Leadership teams, acting as a trusted advisor and leading organisation-wide leadership and team effectiveness initiatives.

Demonstrated expertise in using organisational diagnostics, leadership data, insights and…