Senior Consultant - Leadership Development

William Blair•Chicago, IL

6d•$140,000 - $160,000•Hybrid

About The Position

William Blair is seeking a Senior Consultant, Leadership Development who is passionate about helping leaders thrive in their roles and advance their careers. This role is part of a collaborative HR team that takes a holistic approach to leadership development, combining formal programs, coaching, and performance systems. The position focuses on the training and program aspect, involving the design and delivery of leadership programs for individuals ranging from first-time managers to senior leaders, with the goal of building and sustaining a healthy pipeline for the firm's next generation of leaders. The role requires a blend of content creation, facilitation, and program management, with an emphasis on building new initiatives from the ground up. The ideal candidate is energized by creating new programs rather than maintaining existing ones, takes pride in their work quality, owns their results, and has strong instincts for effective learning content. This role reports to the Director, Talent Development & Culture and does not have direct reports.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
9-12 years of professional experience in learning and development.
5 years of demonstrated experience designing and delivering end-to-end management and/or leadership development programs is required.
Strong instructional design and facilitation skills; must be confident and experienced both designing content and personally delivering it to manager and senior-leader audiences.
Strong consulting mindset with the ability to synthesize strategy, data, and stakeholder input into clear, actionable recommendations.
Strong communication and relationship-building skills; comfortable partnering with senior stakeholders and other Learning & Development team members on shared programs.
Strong LMS experience required.
Working knowledge of adult learning theory and competency-based learning path design.
Experience managing external vendors.
Ability to work across multiple time zones.
Willingness to come into the office a minimum of two days a week; more as learning programs may require.

Nice To Haves

Experience building programs in ambiguous, early-stage environments (i.e., building from a partial foundation rather than a mature program) strongly preferred.
Workday Learning experience preferred.
Prior direct people-management experience; candidates should be able to speak credibly to the manager experience even without having formally managed others.
Financial services or professional services industry background.
Hogan Assessment Certification; experience leveraging assessment tools to support leadership development, coaching, and talent management strategies is a plus.
Professional credentials (e.g., CPTM, CPLM, CTDP, SHRM-CP/SCP, or equivalent).

Responsibilities

Design and develop curriculum, materials, and learning experiences for leadership development programs, working within an established strategic framework.
Design and facilitate structured programming for newly promoted senior leaders as they move into expanded roles.
Design and deliver a skill-building curriculum that prepares high-performing individual contributors for the transition into management.
Deliver targeted programming and coursework for experienced managers already leading teams, building their capability over time.
Own and continually expand a set of resources managers can use to support everyday leadership tasks.
Facilitate readback and development conversations for senior audiences using tools such as Hogan.
Manage external vendor relationships supporting leadership/management content, as needed.
Partner with HR Business Partners to understand business-unit-specific leadership development needs and inform program delivery.
Manage programs operationally through the LMS, including scheduling, reporting, and participant engagement tracking.
Additional responsibilities, as requested.