Principal, Leadership Capability

NBCUniversal • Universal City, CA

1d

About The Position

This is a rare opportunity to shape the next generation of leadership capability in a complex, global organization – and to do it from the ground up. As part of the Leadership Capability & Learning Center of Excellence, this role serves as the diagnostic and design engine of our leadership development system. The Principal is responsible for identifying the leadership capability gaps that matter most to business performance, translating those gaps into clear behavior targets, and designing practical development experiences that drive real and measurable behavior change. This is not a role for someone who delivers programs that already exist. It is a role for someone who figures out what the organization actually needs — and then builds it. Every experience this role designs is grounded in diagnosis, anchored to our Leadership Expectations Framework, and built with measurement in mind from the very first conversation. You will work closely with Talent Management, Organizational Effectiveness, and HR Business Partners to read organizational signals, form a point of view on what must change, and build leadership experiences that connect directly to business outcomes. You will also collaborate closely with the Senior Manager of Leadership Growth & Enablement, whose work governs the infrastructure of how leaders move through the development ecosystem. Together, these two roles form the architecture of the COE — one diagnosing and designing, the other governing and sequencing. This role is for a builder and a thinker. Someone who is as comfortable forming a point of view in ambiguity as they are translating that view into something a leader can use on Monday morning.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in organizational development (OD), Industrial-Organizational Psychology, HR, or related field required.
• 7–10 years of progressive experience in leadership development, organizational development, or talent management — with clear evidence of owning diagnosis and design, not just program delivery.
• Demonstrated experience diagnosing leadership capability gaps using organizational data, talent insights, or qualitative signals — and translating that diagnosis into a clear, prioritized point of view on what needs to change.
• Experience designing and building leadership development experiences from scratch, including the ability to define what behavior change looks like and how it will be measured before design begins.
• Strong facilitation skills with the ability to hold senior leader audiences, create psychologically safe environments for honest dialogue, and guide conversations that translate expectations into practical behavior change.
• Proven ability to work as a strategic partner to HR Business Partners and senior business leaders — not as a program vendor but as a trusted advisor who can challenge thinking and hold a point of view under pressure.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to translate complex capability concepts into language that resonates with business leaders at all levels — from a frontline manager to the C-suite.
• Demonstrated comfort operating in ambiguity — building without a complete playbook, iterating quickly, and forming a point of view without waiting for perfect information.

Nice To Haves

• Experience building or contributing to a Leadership Expectations or Competency Framework in partnership with an external vendor or internal stakeholders.
• Familiarity with coaching governance, assessment frameworks, or HiPo programming — even if not as the primary owner.
• Experience working in a COE environment where standards and frameworks had to scale across multiple sites, geographies, or business units.
• Background in learning science, adult learning theory, or experience design — enough to have an informed point of view on what makes a development experience effective versus just well-received.
• Experience in a complex, operationally intensive industry — entertainment, hospitality, retail, or similar — where leadership development had to be practical, fast, and business-relevant rather than theoretically elegant.
• Familiarity with global mindset considerations in leadership development — designing experiences that are relevant and equitable across geographically and culturally diverse leader populations.
• Graduate degree in organizational psychology, organizational development, or a related field, or equivalent professional certifications in coaching, assessment, or leadership development.

Responsibilities

• Diagnose Leadership Capability Needs: Form a clear, evidence-based point of view on what is actually getting in the way of leadership effectiveness. Synthesize signals into a prioritized perspective and make a call. Partner with Talent Management, Organizational Effectiveness, and HR Business Partners to interpret organizational signals — including talent review data, employee engagement results, leadership performance indicators, and business outcomes — and identify where leadership capability gaps are costing the organization most. Use the Leadership Expectations Framework as a diagnostic lens, identifying which specific capabilities are most critical to strengthen given current business priorities. Translate diagnosis into a clear capability priority: not a list of everything that needs to improve, but a defensible point of view on what must change first and why. Bring capability priorities to life for leaders and stakeholders in ways that are practical, business-relevant, and free of unnecessary jargon — making the case for why this work matters in terms the business actually cares about.
• Design, Build & Bring to Life Leadership Development Experiences: Design development experiences that are modern, practical, and built to drive behavior change, not just awareness. Measurement is not an afterthought here. It is a design discipline. Before anything is built, define what behavior change looks like, how it will be assessed, and what business outcome it is intended to move. Design leadership development experiences grounded in learning science and adult learning principles, with a relentless focus on practical application over theoretical knowledge. Build measurement architecture into every experience from the outset, defining success metrics, behavior change indicators, and business linkages before design begins, not after delivery ends. Rapidly prototype and pilot solutions, gathering feedback early and iterating quickly rather than waiting for perfection before launching. Co-create learning experiences with leaders, ensuring that what gets built reflects real leadership challenges, earns leader ownership, and lands as relevant rather than as an HR initiative. Ensure every experience connects to and builds upon other elements of the leadership development system — coaching, assessments, onboarding, HiPo programming — rather than functioning as a standalone event. Facilitate leadership development sessions, forums, and peer learning experiences when appropriate, creating conditions for honest reflection, meaningful dialogue, and behavior change that leaders can apply immediately. Integrate AI and learning technologies to enhance development experiences, extend learning beyond formal sessions, and scale capability building across a global, complex organization.
• Measure Impact & Continuously Evolve the Work: Take ownership of demonstrating that leadership capability investment is moving the business forward — not through participation counts or satisfaction scores, but through evidence of behavior change and organizational outcomes. Track and report on the metrics defined during the design phase, assessing whether leadership behaviors are shifting and whether those shifts are connecting to the business outcomes they were designed to influence. Use measurement insights to continuously refine experiences — killing what is not working, strengthening what is, and evolving the portfolio over time as organizational needs shift. Build a body of evidence that the COE can use to demonstrate value, inform future investment decisions, and make the case for why leadership development is a business imperative, not a nice-to-have.
• Understand and actively participate in Environmental, Health & Safety responsibilities by following established UDX policy, procedures, training, and team member involvement activities.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, gender identity or expression, age, national origin or ancestry, citizenship, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, veteran status, membership in the uniformed services, genetic information, or any other basis protected by applicable law.
• Consideration for employment of qualified applicants with criminal histories, or arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with relevant legal requirements, including the City of Los Angeles' Fair Chance Initiative For Hiring Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, where applicable.
• Right to request a reasonable accommodation if you are a qualified individual with a disability or a disabled veteran and require support throughout the application and/or recruitment process as a result of your disability.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Principal