Director, Career Development

R-157965 |Global Headquarters – Chicago, USA

The Director of Career Development will be responsible for defining, developing, and leading the enterprise-wide strategy for internal early and mid-career talent movement and growth. This pivotal role will establish comprehensive frameworks, innovative programs, and robust tools that empower employees to own their career journeys with personalized experiences that not only support their growth but also future proof their capabilities. The successful candidate will drive the development and activation of this strategy, fostering a culture of continuous learning, development, and internal opportunity to strengthen our talent pipeline, enhance skill density, and boost employee engagement.

• Design and evolve a holistic, data-driven internal mobility and career development strategy aligned with the organization's overarching business objectives and talent needs.
• Continuously monitor and integrate external best practices in internal mobility, career development, and talent marketplaces to ensure our strategies remain innovative, competitive, and impactful.
• Lead the development and implementation of innovative programs, policies, technology platforms (including leveraging AI where appropriate) to support internal job movement, mentorship, and diverse career experiences.
• Oversee the creation of user-friendly resources, guides, and tools that empower employees to understand available career opportunities, develop required skills and experiences, and successfully apply for internal roles.
• Champion an "employee-owned, leader-supported" career philosophy, building leader capability to effectively guide, mentor, and empower their teams' internal growth and development.
• Collaborate closely with People Leads, Talent Leads, CoE peers, and People Services to ensure successful activation, integration, and adoption of internal mobility initiatives across all business units and geographies.
• Partner with Learning & Development to seamlessly integrate career development initiatives with existing training programs and learning pathways.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to transform our ability to hire from within and improve visibility to internal career opportunities through culture change and embedding new ways of working.
• Partner with our Employer Branding team to ensure synchronization of our employee value proposition across both internal and external talent marketplaces.
• Build strong partnerships and influence cross-functional and geographically dispersed teams, including People Leads, Talent Leads, Talent Acquisition, Talent Branding & Employee Experience teams, Learning & Development, and business leaders, to embed internal mobility practices into all talent management processes.
• Act as a trusted subject matter expert and strategic advisor to senior leadership on internal talent deployment, career growth initiatives, and talent marketplace solutions.
• Cultivate a strong network of internal stakeholders to drive alignment and successful delivery of strategic objectives.
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and establish robust metrics to measure the effectiveness and impact of career development initiatives.
• Provide regular, insightful reporting and analysis to leadership on career development trends, initiative effectiveness, and identify areas for continuous improvement and strategic adjustments.
• Develop and execute comprehensive communication plans to ensure high awareness, understanding, and adoption of career development initiatives across the entire organization.
• Champion a culture that actively values, promotes, and rewards internal career growth and continuous learning.

• Education Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, or a related field. Master's degree preferred.
• Experience 10+ years of progressive experience in Human Resources, with at least 5+ years specializing in Talent Management, Internal Mobility, Career Development, or Organizational Effectiveness.
• Demonstrated experience in designing, implementing, and managing large-scale, enterprise-wide talent programs from conceptualization to activation.
• Proven track record of building and leading successful strategies and driving measurable outcomes in talent-related areas.
• Significant experience operating within a large, complex, global organization, understanding the unique challenges and opportunities of talent management across diverse geographies and cultures.
• Skills Exceptional strategic thinking and analytical skills, with the ability to translate complex insights into actionable plans and deliver tangible results.
• Strong leadership and influencing skills, capable of engaging and building credibility with stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate…