Senior Manager, L&D Strategy, Development, & Evaluation

Reports to: Head of L&D

Our mission as a Learning & Development team is to grow and keep the most innovative talent in the food industry. 

As the Senior Manager of L&D Strategy, Development, and Evaluation you will help build the roadmap of learning programs to be created, develop the content for the leadership development programs on this roadmap, and evaluate the effectiveness of all learning programs, so that we know which to expand and which to improve.

SMART Goals -- What you’ll deliver 60 to 210 days into the role

Early on, you will help the Head of L&D establish a learning council with the right people who can build the learning roadmap, as well as a steering committee of senior executives who can approve it. Then you will analyze the critical skills needed at each level, assess our current learning programs, and build the roadmap of programs missing and needed to build those skills, so that senior executives can easily understand what we are building and when. Then you will create the leadership development content. Finally, you will begin publishing our results and assessing stakeholder satisfaction with L&D’s priorities and progress. Your SMART goals will include: 

1. Learning Council and Steering Committee:  By 60 days in role, you’ll have established and begun driving, a recurring set of meetings with Learning Council members (e.g., bi-weekly or monthly) to assess our current learning offerings and build the learning roadmap, and a recurring set of meetings with the Learning Steering Committee to review and approve the learning roadmap and reporting of evaluations (e.g., quarterly).
2. Learning Roadmap:  By 90 days in role, you’ll have designed the annual and quarterly roadmap for L&D, inclusive of learner and stakeholder insights, and will have this into production with key executives of the Steering Committee, along with an evaluation framework. You will have assessed level by level, the most critical skills needed and the current vs. future learning programs and solutions needed to build those skills (e.g., where only instructor-led/e-learning training exists, you will have identified the need for supplemental social and experiential learning solutions, and will have built the plan to develop them).
3. Evaluate and Report:  By 120 days in role, you will have established the technology that will enable you to produce the first quarterly report of evaluations (e.g., how well learners remember and understand programs, and why), based on data from multiple sources (including participant surveys, the learning management system, and performance data) that will enable executive stakeholders to make data-informed decisions on their L&D investment options and establish the baseline evaluation of the program to date.
4. Leadership Development Content:  By 150 days in role, you will have built and gotten Steering Committee buy-in on the high-level design of the one or two most critical leadership development programs to be created (e.g., 1 or 2 modules in our Coach In Training program that will help for our Head Coaches, aka general managers, grow and keep their teams, and an Area Leader executive development program to grow and keep our Head Coaches). You will have identified the blended mix of solutions (i.e., not just instructor-led/e-learning, but also social and experiential learning solutions) that will help learners understand and remember critical leadership skills, as well as the after-training support. 
5. Content Delivery & Net Promoter: By 210 days in role, you’ll have developed the leadership development content yourself (or leveraged external flexible resourcing). You’ll have ensured that our Regional Training Managers and their trained trainers can deliver it in a scalable way across the fleet. You’ll have published the second quarterly report and will have begun analyzing the trend line to establish if the executives believe L&D focuses on the right priorities and making impact fast enough. You’ll have built out a user platform for stakeholders to engage in our roadmap, objectives, data, or anything else we deem necessary.  

Competencies - What you should have

In order to be successful in this role, you’ll want to have previous experience navigating complex and ambiguous situations and getting things done in a fast-paced growth stage, while using your business acumen and resources to chart a course to successful outcomes. Additionally, you’ll need a track record of delivering results while working with your colleagues in the organization to win support and resourcing for your ideas. Your ideal competencies will include:

• Strategic Thought
• Understands the business:  The business insight, customer focus, financial acumen, and tech savvy to generate the right info for executives. And the solutions you recommend and build will need to connect to the strategic competitive advantage SG is looking to gain as a company.
• Makes complex decisions:  Managing complexity, decision quality, and stakeholder needs to help executives make decisions on L&D investments. You will need to analyze all leaders’ skills and make a holistic set of recommendations in the form of a learning roadmap that breaks down into key audiences and content to be created.
• Creates new and different:  Maintaining a global, strategic, and innovative perspective that generates creative solutions to problems with an eye toward scaling in a sustainable way that supports SG’s growth in all areas. We need to both strategize but also get things done quickly and cost-effectively. 
• Communications & Influence
• Communicates effectively:  Writes and presents clearly and concisely without being overly verbose. You’ll need to help L&D document simply what problems we’re trying to solve and how the programs are accomplishing this. 
• Content Development:  You’ll need to be able to not just strategize but build the leadership development program content yourself (or contract with external flex resourcing) -- and quickly -- in order to help learners easily understand, remember, and apply key leadership skills on the job.
• Organizational savvy:  Understands how to leverage formal and informal networks to gather support. We operate in a matrixed structure with interactions across both the People and Operations teams, so you’ll need to be able to get the right people to weigh in at the right times, in order to get a senior Steering Committee aligned on priorities and the Learning Roadmap approved.
• Persuades:  Understands different stakeholders' wants and needs, and adjusts style of influence to gain buy-in. When Operations Market Directors complain about a program not working, you’ll need to not just build content 
• Results
• Takes initiative:  Is action oriented and resourceful. We are a company in growth mode and need to prioritize speed.
• Manages execution:  Directs work, plans and aligns, and optimizes work processes. Making the learning roadmap and content happen will require strong meeting governance and communication that allows others to co-create and weigh in regularly.
• Focuses on performance:  Ensures accountability and drives results present the right priorities to executives. The evaluation framework that proves what’s working and not will drive everything, from the audiences we focus on to the content we build, improve, or do away with. 

Requirements/Preferred Qualifications: 

• 5-7 years developing learning strategy/roadmaps, content in a variety of formats, and evaluations that measure what is working vs. is not
• Strong proficiency using various content creation, editing, and presentation tools including MS Office, PowerPoint, Google Slides, Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, & Premiere Pro
• Deep understanding of learning evaluations and the various Learning Management Systems (LMS) or Learning Content Management Systems that drive performance and retention outcomes. Experience with Wisetail LMS and UltiPro HRIS, especially ability to extract data that correlates learning programs with outcomes (performance, retention), a huge plus
• Deep knowledge of learning and development best practices, key learning techniques, and adult learning techniques 
• In-depth knowledge of restaurant, hospitality, retail, or grocery industry a plus
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, so that the learning strategy and roadmap as well as evaluations can be presented to senior executives and approved, and so that the learning content resonates with learners
• Thrives in a fast-paced environment, enjoys creative problem-solving, cross-functional collaboration, and rapid execution
• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience preferred in education, organizational development, human resources or a related discipline

What you’ll get:

• Competitive pay + bonus plan based on performance
• Health, dental + vision insurance,  401k
• Flexible PTO, because we respect the need for work/life harmony
• An opportunity to make a real impact on the people around you, both by growing them and by connecting them to real food
• To live the sweetlife and celebrate your passion + purpose
• A collaborative family of people who live our core values and have your back
• A clear career path with opportunities for development, both personally and professionally
• Community impact opportunities
• Free sweetgreen swag
• Complimentary sweetgreen 

Come join the sweetlife! 

About sweetgreen

sweetgreen is on a mission to build healthier communities by connecting people to real food. We passionately believe that real food should be convenient and accessible to everyone. Every day in each sweetgreen restaurant, our 4,000+ team members make food from scratch, using fresh ingredients and produce delivered that morning. And in our local communities, we’re committed to leaving people better than we found them. We’re in the business of feeding people, and we’re out to change what that means. Our people are our most valuable ingredient - the heart of our company, the face of our brand, and what truly makes the sweetgreen experience special and unique. 

sweetgreen provides equal opportunities for everyone that works for us and everyone that applies to join our team, without regard to sex or gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, pregnancy, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, any service, past, present, or future, in the uniformed services of the United States (military or veteran status), or any other consideration protected by federal, state, or local law.

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