Director, Corporate Learning & Development

Gardner-White Furniture•Bloomfield Hills, MI

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Corporate Learning & Development leads the organization’s learning strategy and capability-building initiatives, primarily to improve sales performance. The role designs, implements, and measures training programs aimed at improving close rate, average ticket, productivity, and new-hire ramp-up. It oversees field coaching to support adoption on the sales floor and applies a performance-driven approach to leadership development, compliance, HR, legal, and enterprise-wide learning initiatives. The Director develops learning pathways and multi-year curricula, leads onboarding and certification programs, manages post-onboarding support through the first 180 days, and creates scalable training content. The role establishes and continuously improves field-coaching standards, equips leaders to coach employees, and oversees compliance and enterprise training in partnership with Human Resources and Legal. The position collaborates with business stakeholders on training for new products, collections, promotions, financing offers, and operational changes. It establishes learning and performance metrics, reports on business impact and return on investment, oversees learning systems and external vendors, and manages the Learning & Development budget. The position supervises Sales Performance Coaches, with additional positions anticipated as the function grows. It operates in an office environment and regularly travels to stores across Michigan markets.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience.
10+ years of experience in retail sales leadership, learning and development, or sales enablement.
5+ years leading a training or enablement function with direct reports.
A record of training programs tied to measurable sales results, rather than completion counts alone.
Hands-on instructional design skills, including adult learning, microlearning, and blended programs.
Experience administering a Learning Management System (LMS).
Credibility on the sales floor, including comfort selling, observing, and coaching in front of associates.
Strong data skills, including building scorecards, reading POS data, and isolating training impact.
Clear executive communication skills and ability to drive adoption across store operations without direct authority.
Ability to regularly travel to stores across Michigan markets.

Nice To Haves

ATD or similar certification.
Experience in retail, home furnishings, or commissioned in-store sales is strongly preferred.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the organization’s learning and development strategy, primarily focused on Sales and aligned with business goals and growth objectives.
Design and maintain learning pathways for seller development, leadership development, and enterprise-wide training.
Build multi-year curricula covering selling processes, product knowledge, design, financing, protection plans, coaching, communication, performance management, and other business competencies.
Assess organizational learning needs and implement development solutions to improve employee capability, engagement, and business performance.
Lead the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of new-hire onboarding programs, including certification requirements, skill assessments, and readiness milestones.
Manage post-onboarding hypercare through employees’ first 180 days, including scheduled coaching, performance reviews, and retention-focused interventions.
Improve time-to-productivity, employee engagement, and early-tenure retention through targeted initiatives.
Create, curate, and deploy training content such as videos, facilitator guides, leader toolkits, role-play exercises, job aids, and performance support resources.
Develop modular, field-ready training programs and keep materials current and aligned with business priorities and operational requirements.
Design and lead the field coaching model, including standards, methodologies, tools, performance expectations, visit cadence, observation frameworks, and meeting structures.
Monitor coaching effectiveness and improve coaching practices; partner with field leaders on skill development, performance improvement, and best-practice adoption.
Develop leadership programs and resources focused on coaching, communication, accountability, performance management, and talent development.
Support leaders in reinforcing key behaviors and operational standards to foster continuous learning.
Oversee development, delivery, tracking, and reporting of compliance and enterprise training, including harassment prevention, wage and hour compliance, workplace safety, and policy updates.
Partner with Human Resources and Legal to ensure training reflects current policies, regulations, and organizational requirements.
Collaborate with Merchandising, Marketing, Operations, Human Resources, and other stakeholders on training and communication for organizational initiatives.
Prepare employees and leaders for launches involving new products, collections, promotions, financing offers, and operational process changes.
Establish learning and performance metrics, baseline measures, and reporting processes to assess program effectiveness and business impact.
Report training effectiveness, return on investment, and future opportunities to senior leadership; design and evaluate pilot programs before broader implementation.
Oversee learning technologies and systems, including the LMS, content libraries, certification tracking tools, and digital learning platforms.
Manage relationships with external vendors, training partners, and technology providers.
Develop and administer the Learning & Development budget and implement technology and process improvements.
Supervise Sales Performance Coaches and support growth of the function.