Senior Manager, Learning & Development

Role Summary

WeirFoulds is seeking a Senior Manager of Learning & Development to establish and lead the firm's learning and development function.

This newly created role represents a strategic shift from a traditional training model toward a comprehensive approach to development, capability building, and organizational effectiveness. The successful candidate will design and implement a firm-wide learning strategy that supports lawyers and business professionals throughout their careers while helping the firm build the skills required for future success.

The Senior Manager of Learning & Development will be responsible for identifying critical capability needs, designing scalable development programs, supporting leadership and career development, advancing digital and AI fluency, and ensuring development investments align with firm priorities. The role requires a balance of strategic leadership and hands-on execution.

Reporting to the Chief People Officer, the Senior Manager of Learning & Development will work closely with firm leadership, practice group leaders, People & Culture, Marketing, Technology, and subject matter experts across the firm.

This is a full-time, permanent opportunity with core work hours of Monday to Friday – 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. We are currently operating under a hybrid work model, and the successful candidate will be required to work from the office a minimum of 3 days per week.

Key Responsibilities

Learning & Development Strategy

• Develop and execute a firm-wide learning and development strategy aligned with the firm's business and talent objectives.
• Identify current and future capability requirements across lawyers (in partnership with the professional development team) and business services professionals.
• Establish a multi-year learning roadmap supporting career progression, leadership development, digital capability, and business performance.
• Develop frameworks, standards, and governance for learning across the firm.
• Advise leadership on development priorities and learning investments.

Program Design & Learning Architecture

• Design a structured and staged development framework spanning onboarding through senior leadership.
• Create learning pathways tailored to different populations, including:
  • Students
  • Associates
  • Counsel
  • Partners
  • Legal Assistants
  • Clerks
  • Business Services professionals
• Build development experiences that combine formal learning, coaching, mentoring, stretch experiences, and on-the-job development.
• Introduce milestone-based learning aligned with key career transitions.

Leadership Development

• Design and oversee leadership development initiatives for key stakeholder groups (e.g., Practice Group Chairs, people leaders, and emerging leaders).
• Support coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and high-potential development initiatives.
• Establish development programs that strengthen leadership, management, communication, delegation, coaching, business development, and strategic thinking capabilities.

Digital & AI Capability Development

• Partner with the AI committee and the AI facilitator to define the firm's digital fluency and AI capability-building agenda.
• Partner with Technology and Professional Development teams to identify emerging skills requirements.
• Design learning programs that help individuals effectively leverage technology, AI, and evolving ways of working.
• Ensure employees have access to practical, relevant, and role-specific digital learning experiences.

Learning Delivery & Facilitation

• Personally design, develop and facilitate selected high-impact learning programs.
• Engage and manage external facilitators, coaches, and learning partners where appropriate.
• Build and maintain a network of internal subject matter experts who contribute to learning delivery.
• Ensure learning experiences are engaging, practical, and focused on measurable outcomes.
• Balance strategic leadership with hands-on program development, facilitation and implementation.

Talent & Career Development

• Partner with the Professional Development, Legal Talent, and HR teams to support development planning and career growth.
• Help establish consistent development approaches across the firm.
• Support initiatives related to onboarding, performance development, succession planning, mentorship, and talent acceleration.
• Develop tools and resources that support individual growth and career ownership.

Learning Operations & Measurement

• Establish learning metrics, success measures, and reporting frameworks.
• Evaluate program effectiveness and continuously improve offerings.
• Track participation, engagement, capability growth, and business impact.
• Manage learning budgets, vendors, and technology platforms.
• Provide leadership, coaching and direction to learning resources, including the Training Coordinator, internal subject matter experts and external learning partners.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• 8+ years of progressive experience in learning and development, organizational development, talent development, leadership development, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing enterprise-wide learning strategies.
• Demonstrated facilitation experience with leadership, professional services or corporate audiences.
• Experience building learning programs from the ground up rather than operating within a mature learning function.
• Experience leading and developing employees, project teams, or cross-functional stakeholder groups.
• Strong curriculum design, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Experience influencing senior leaders and driving change across complex professional environments.
• Strong project management and program evaluation capabilities.

Preferred

• Experience within a professional services, legal, accounting, consulting, or knowledge-based organization.
• Experience leading leadership development and high-potential programs.
• Familiarity with digital capability development, AI adoption, and workforce transformation initiatives.
• Experience managing learning technologies and external learning providers.

Success in the First 24 Months

The successful candidate will:

• Establish a clear firm-wide L&D strategy and roadmap.
• Build a structured development framework for lawyers and business professionals.
• Launch digital fluency and AI capability programs.
• Introduce leadership development programming for key leadership populations.
• Improve onboarding and career development experiences.
• Implement development planning for targeted talent groups.
• Establish meaningful measurement of learning effectiveness and business impact.
• Build the foundation of a scalable learning function that grows with the firm.

Candidates who meet the above qualifications are asked to apply online with a copy of their resume and cover letter attached (preferably together in a single file). 

The target salary range for this position is $110,000 – $140,000, commensurate with the successful candidate’s skills, experience, and qualifications.