Sr Manager, Leadership Assessment and Succession Planning

CDW•Vernon Hills, IL

About The Position

At CDW, we make it happen, together. Trust, connection, and commitment are at the heart of how we work together to deliver for our customers. It’s why we’re coworkers, not just employees. Coworkers who genuinely believe in supporting our customers and one another. We collectively forge our path forward with a level of commitment that speaks to who we are and where we’re headed. We’re proud to share our story and Make Amazing Happen at CDW. Job Summary The Sr. Manager, Leadership Assessment and Succession Planning is responsible for refining, implementing, and managing CDW’s enterprise-wide talent review and succession planning framework to ensure leadership continuity, accelerate high potential talent, and strengthen CDW’s long term leadership pipeline. Reporting to the Director, Talent Strategy, this role partners closely with Talent Management leaders, HRBPs, and Centers of Excellence, to drive consistent processes for identifying critical roles, identifying and assessing successor readiness, and activating targeted development plans for individuals and talent pools. This individual contributor role serves as the organization’s subject matter expert and process owner for succession planning. Key responsibilities include establishing the enterprise succession methodology, supporting HR leadership with annual and ongoing talent reviews, maintaining robust reporting and analytics on pipeline health, and advising senior leaders on succession risks, opportunities, and talent strategies. The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in succession planning, talent assessment tools, and change management, along with strong operational execution and the ability to influence stakeholders across the enterprise. This role is designed for a practitioner who operates at the intersection of behavioral science and business strategy and has a propensity for AI and HR system optimization.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree and 7+ years of progressive talent management, OD, or HR experience, with 3+ years in succession planning or talent program ownership OR 7+ years of progressive talent management, OD, or HR experience, with 3+ years in succession planning or talent program ownership
Exposure leadership development program design, executive assessment, or high-potential talent acceleration frameworks.
Proven track record presenting to and influencing senior and executive stakeholders.
Demonstrated end-to-end ownership of succession processes in a complex, matrixed, or enterprise-scale organization (5,000+ employees preferred).
Hands-on Workday Succession and Talent module experience strongly preferred, functional configuration and data management ownership a significant plus.
Strong communication, stakeholder engagement, and change management leadership skills

Nice To Haves

Experience with AI-enabled learning platforms or skills intelligence tools
Familiarity with global talent practices and regional nuances
Systems Thinking, connecting succession to workforce planning, L&D, performance management, and business strategy with a clear cause-and-effect lens.
Transforms raw talent data into strategic narrative.
Builds clarity from complexity; resists oversimplification in readiness assessments.
Meticulous about program design and execution.
Builds repeatable, scalable processes that survive leadership turnover and organizational change.

Responsibilities

Lead and continuously elevate the enterprise succession and assessment strategy, program and processes, spanning critical role identification, talent reviews, readiness assessments, successor nominations, and pipeline development.
Advance the methodology by strengthening nine box calibration, readiness criteria, and pipeline depth, while driving consistent enterprise adoption of the nine box philosophy and related talent practices.
Oversee the end-to-end development lifecycle for successors, high potential, and key talent, ensuring a seamless progression from assessment through development planning and execution.
Partner with HRBPs, COEs, and business leaders to define targeted development plans, curated experiences, and interventions that address readiness gaps and accelerate growth.
Use data insights to track progress, pipeline velocity, and risk.
Continuously improve the talent review and succession planning process, refining tools, frameworks, governance, and leader capability to strengthen decision quality, reduce bias, and ensure alignment with long term enterprise talent needs.
Serve as the functional owner of Workday Succession and Talent modules, partnering with HRIS Technology to optimize configurations, workflows, and user experience. Ensure data integrity across talent profiles, succession pools, and readiness ratings.
Build executive ready dashboards and analytics to monitor bench strength, pipeline health, diversity, and year-over-year progress. Translate trends and insights into actionable recommendations for senior leaders and the CHRO.
Develop predictive and forward-looking assessment and succession metrics, connecting bench strength to business risk, retention, organizational agility, and future capability needs. Partner with People Analytics to integrate succession data with broader workforce intelligence.