Job title
Talent Development Manager
Department
People Team, Learning & Knowledge
Our Purpose
To forge long-term relationships that have a positive impact on our people, our clients, our business partners, and our communities.
Our Commitment to Our People
We do not think there is a magic formula to the Higgs culture. The key is to listen to and respect our people. If we take care of our people and our people take care of our clients, then everything we want as a firm will take care of itself. We are friendly and open to new ideas.
Our Core Values
Higgs core values are “CLEAR” – Care, Legacy, Excellence, Authenticity, Relationships
Role Purpose
The Talent Development Manager is responsible for designing and delivering the firm’s talent, leadership and performance development strategy, ensuring our people have the skills, behaviours and commercial capability required to support ambitious growth.
Working closely with the Learning & Knowledge Manager, the role will create a market-leading development experience that strengthens our employer value proposition, develops future leaders, supports career progression and builds a high-performance culture aligned to the firm’s strategic objectives.
As the firm continues to grow organically and through acquisition, the role will ensure development frameworks, leadership capability and talent practices scale consistently across the business.
Key Responsibilities
- Leading the firm’s behavioural and professional development strategy, designing and delivering programmes that build core skills, leadership capability, management effectiveness and employee engagement.
- Leading the firm’s talent development strategy, including identifying high-potential colleagues, succession planning, career pathways and future leadership capability.
- Owning and continuously improving the firm’s performance management framework and system, including appraisal processes, goal setting, promotion criteria, development planning and performance-related guidance for managers and colleagues.
- Developing programmes that strengthen commercial awareness, financial literacy, pricing capability, client relationship management, business development and leadership behaviours required within a private equity-backed business.
- Designing development pathways for every key career stage, including emerging leaders, managers, senior leaders, partners and future partners.
- Designing, commissioning and evaluating learning initiatives aligned to business goals, utilising internal and external facilitators and ensuring development solutions meet the needs of lawyers and central team colleagues across the firm.
- Partnering with the Learning & Knowledge Manager to coordinate the firm’s overall learning offering, including CPD planning, annual learning priorities and the effective use of the Learning Management System (LMS).
- Providing coaching, guidance and support to managers and leaders on people development, talent growth, succession planning and building high-performing teams.
- Developing meaningful people metrics and dashboards to evaluate learning effectiveness, capability growth, internal mobility, succession strength, retention and business performance.
- Leading the development of future skills, embedding AI capability, digital adoption and innovation into development programmes to improve productivity, client service and operational effectiveness.
Person Specification
- Significant experience in learning and development, talent development or organisational development within a professional services environment.
- Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills, with the ability to build credibility with partners, directors and managers.
- Experience of designing and delivering development initiatives for colleagues at all career stages.
- Experience developing talent strategies that support organisational growth and change.
- Strong coaching, facilitation and communication skills and ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on delivery.
- Excellent organisational and project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
- Data-driven approach with the ability to evaluate impact and identify improvement opportunities.
Technical Know How
- Strong knowledge of behavioural, management and leadership development methodologies.
- Experience of performance management, appraisal and career development frameworks.
- Understanding of talent management, succession planning and promotion processes.
- Experience of developing learning pathways and competency frameworks.
- Knowledge of learning needs analysis, learning design and evaluation techniques.
- Experience of using Learning Management Systems (LMS) and learning analytics.
- Understanding of CPD frameworks and professional services learning requirements.
- Knowledge of current learning technologies and learning best practice.
What We Offer You
We offer more than just a job. Our benefits reflect our commitment to your development, wellbeing and work-life balance. Click here to discover more.
Higgs offers hybrid working wherever possible. Our Higgs’ Best FIT (flexible, inclusive, together) principles are designed to ensure that people can complete their best work from the most appropriate location. If you are looking to work flexibly then let us know and we will do what we can to accommodate your request.
We also encourage a ‘dress for your diary’ approach which means dressing in a manner appropriate for your schedule or the specific appointments you have on any given day.
Equal Opportunities
Higgs LLP is proud to be a signatory of The Law Society’s Diversity, Inclusion Charter and a Disability Confident Committed Employer. These commitments reflect our dedication to building a workplace that is inclusive, accessible, and welcoming to all. We actively encourage applications from individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities.
As part of our Disability Confident commitment, we offer a guaranteed interview to disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role and choose to opt into the Disability Confident Interview Scheme.
We are also committed to ensuring that all applicants can fully participate in the recruitment process. If you require any reasonable adjustments, please let us know by contacting us at [email protected]
We recognise that inclusion is an ongoing journey, and we regularly review and publish our diversity data, which can be accessed here.
People Driven. Legal Excellence.
