Senior Learning & Development Manager
Location: Dunstable (LU5 5XE), hybrid working 3 days in the office, 2 days working from home/another location
Function: People (Learning & Development)
Salary/Package: £80,000 - £90,000 dependant on skills and experiences + £5,650 car allowance (per annum, pro rata) + health + up to 10% matched pension + bens
Duration: 6-month FTC (October ’26 to March ’27)
At Whitbread, we’re building the capability that will shape the future of the UK's leading hospitality business. As Senior Learning & Development Manager, you'll play a pivotal role in designing and delivering learning initiatives that help our Head Office (known as Support Centre) people, leaders and teams develop the skills they need to succeed today and tomorrow.
Reporting into our Talent, Development & Inclusion Director, this is a highly visible role, partnering closely with senior leaders, HR Business Partners and specialist HR teams across our Support Centre. While you'll contribute to long-term capability agendas, this is first and foremost a delivery-focused role for someone who enjoys turning ideas into practical, impactful learning solutions and seeing programmes through from concept to implementation.
You'll lead the development and delivery of key capability programmes, including the next phase of our AI capability agenda, functional and technical skills frameworks, leadership and management development, and broader professional skills for example: influencing, organisational effectiveness and critical thinking. You'll also help shape learning priorities emerging from career development conversations and changing business needs.
You’ll manage one direct report and manage a significant learning budget. Forming relationships with internal stakeholders and external providers to deliver high-quality, measurable learning experiences that drive capability, performance and career growth will be key.
What we're looking for
- Significant Learning & Development experience within a large corporate or head office environment.
- Proven experience partnering with HR Business Partners, Centres of Excellence and senior stakeholders.
- Strong track record of designing and delivering management, leadership and professional skills programmes at every level of Support Centre.
- Experience managing external learning providers and budgets.
- Previous experience within retail, hospitality, travel, airlines or other multi-site customer-focused businesses would be highly advantageous.
- An engaging, pragmatic and commercially minded approach, with the ability to navigate complexity and deliver results.
If you're an experienced L&D professional who enjoys creating practical learning solutions, influencing senior stakeholders and delivering programmes that make a measurable difference, we'd love to hear from you.
We’re proud to be a Top Employer for 14 consecutive years, a top apprenticeship employer, a Leader in Stonewall’s Proud Employer Accreditation, and a Top 25 Exemplary Employer in the Investing in Ethnicity Parliamentary Matrix.
Join Whitbread and help develop the skills, leaders and capabilities that will power our future success.
