Learning & Talent Development Manager

Learning & Talent Development Manager

Barbour South Shields, England, United Kingdom

Barbour is a family‑owned brand established in 1894 in South Shields in the North East of England. Founder John Barbour began supplying oilskins and other garments to protect the growing community of sailors, fishermen and dockers. Still family owned and now fifth generation, Barbour HQ remains in South Shields. Under the leadership of Chairman Dame Margaret Barbour, Barbour has grown into a lifestyle brand sold in over 55 countries worldwide including Europe, the US and Asia offering a wardrobe of stylish functional clothing, footwear and accessories inspired by the unique values of the British countryside.

The iconic Barbour Bedale and Barbour Beaufort wax jackets continue to be made by hand in the factory in South Shields. In 2020, Barbour launched Wax for Life, an overarching name for all of Barbour’s wax services designed to encourage customers to extend the life of their wax garments. Wax for Life includes re‑waxing and repairs (first introduced in 1921) and Barbour Re‑Loved an up‑cycling circularity initiative.

Each year over 70,000 wax garments are sent back to Barbour globally to be repaired, rewaxed or altered.

Position Overview: We are currently recruiting for a Learning & Talent Development Manager to join our HR team, based at Barbour House, South Shields. For this role we are looking for someone who is both a strategic and hands‑on practitioner, responsible for designing and delivering innovative talent, leadership, and team development initiatives that elevate organisational capability. You will champion a culture of continuous learning, ensuring leadership, managerial, and team effectiveness are embedded across the business.

By combining strategic foresight with operational excellence, you will proactively identify opportunities for improvement and align learning strategies with organisational priorities to drive measurable impact.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Lead the LMS strategy to position the platform as the organisation’s central learning hub, ensuring alignment with business priorities and workforce development goals.
• Own the end‑to‑end LMS lifecycle, including roadmap development, vendor evaluation, and continuous platform enhancement to deliver a seamless, engaging user experience.
• Drive adoption and impact through compelling campaigns, high‑quality content, and actionable reporting that demonstrate measurable improvements in learning engagement and capability building.
• Partner with senior stakeholders to enhance manager capability, leadership standards, and a high‑performance team culture across all levels of the organisation.
• Design and implement tiered leadership and manager development programmes aligned to capability requirements.
• Develop team development sessions that strengthen collaboration, communication, and performance across functions.
• Develop and execute the annual learning plan, informed by organisational priorities and skills gap analysis.
• Manage vendor relationships, budgets, and ensure inclusive, accessible learning design.
• Introduce innovative learning methodologies (e.g., micro‑learning, social learning, digital‑first approaches).
• Be hands‑on in delivery, facilitating workshops, individual coaching, and team development sessions where required.
• Own the Performance & Development cycle, talent reviews, and succession planning processes.
• Implement career development frameworks and high‑potential development plans to build robust talent pipelines.
• Drive internal mobility and career progression opportunities across the organisation.

Onboarding & Induction

• Review and elevate the existing 90‑day onboarding framework, curate LMS content for a consistent experience and accelerate new hire integration.
• Establish feedback loops to continuously improve onboarding effectiveness.

Employee Engagement & Surveys

• Lead the bi‑annual engagement survey process, including design, delivery, insights analysis, and action planning.
• Implement pulse surveys and feedback mechanisms to monitor engagement trends and inform interventions.

Skills and Experience:

• Experience managing talent development in a…