Talent Development & Enablement Director

Artera•Santa Barbara, CA

1d•$170,000 - $235,000•Hybrid

About The Position

This is a high-impact individual contributor role for a senior talent development leader who wants to build the playbook for what career growth, performance, and learning look like inside an AI-native company — not retrofit old programs onto new tools. You'll own the systems that keep our workforce ahead of AI's pace: role charters that evolve as the work does, career ladders that reward AI-augmented output, performance frameworks that hold up under that bar, and manager enablement that makes all of it land. You'll sit on the People team reporting to the SVP of People for functional coherence, and spend the majority of your time cross-functionally — embedded with our Heads of Departments and other functional leaders — so the programs you build reflect how work actually gets done at Artera. This role is for someone with the seniority and judgment to operate without a playbook, the craft to build programs that scale, and the personal fluency with AI tools to design an enablement function that looks nothing like a traditional L&D org.

Requirements

8+ years of experience in talent development, organizational development, L&D, or performance management, ideally with exposure to high-growth and/or AI-native companies
Personal, daily fluency with AI tools (Claude, Claude Code, or similar) — you don't just talk about AI-augmented work, you live it in your own workflows
Proven track record designing career ladders, competency models, or leveling frameworks from scratch or through significant overhaul
Hands-on ownership of a full performance management cycle — including calibration, 360s, and manager enablement
Experience building learning and enablement programs that produced measurable business outcomes, not just training completion
Track record partnering cross-functionally with senior leaders (VP/C-level) as a trusted thought partner, not an order-taker
Strong systems thinking — you see role design, career growth, performance, and enablement as one connected system
Excellent judgment, discretion, and written communication; comfort presenting to executive audiences
Ability to operate autonomously at the director level while sitting in an IC seat
Ability to be onsite 4–5 days per week in Seattle or Santa Barbara, with occasional travel to other locations as needed

Nice To Haves

Experience inside an AI-native or AI-forward company where AI was a core driver of how work got done
Background redesigning roles or career frameworks specifically in response to AI adoption
Experience with Rippling (HRIS) and modern performance management tooling
Prior exposure to healthcare, SaaS, or other regulated industries

Responsibilities

Partner with Heads of Departments and other functional leaders to continuously redesign role charters as AI capabilities evolve — translating "what this job is" from quarter to quarter
Own the career ladder framework across the company: leveling criteria, competency models, and promotion readiness standards that reflect AI-augmented expectations
Build the internal mobility model — how people move across squads, functions, and levels as the org reshapes
Coach employees and managers through career transitions from traditional to AI-augmented roles
Own the end-to-end performance cycle — framework design, calibration processes, 360 review facilitation, and manager tooling
Partner with the SVP of People and HR Team on performance calibration across functions, ensuring consistency of the bar
Build the mechanisms that surface promotion readiness, performance risk, and development needs in a repeatable, data-informed way
Design and run the AI upskilling strategy — how every Artera employee, across every function, raises their AI proficiency quarter over quarter
Build programs (not courses) — learning experiences that produce measurable productivity gains, not completion certificates
Partner with the Internal Knowledge and Tools Squad to operationalize AI-delivered skills assessments, personalized learning paths, and training content
Design the onboarding program so new hires reach their first meaningful deliverable in under four weeks
Own new-manager onboarding and ongoing manager training — from first-time leads through senior directors
Build the change management playbooks Artera leaders use when org design, roles, or tooling shift
Equip managers to run great 1:1s, deliver feedback, coach through AI-driven change, and own their team's health
Own the monthly Talent and AI Enablement Review, inspecting AI proficiency, training impact, ramp time, manager effectiveness, and productivity gains with rotating leadership attendance
Contribute talent and enablement inputs to the Quarterly People Operating Review with the CEO and ELT
Bring a data-informed lens to everything — if it doesn't move a metric, it's not worth building