Head of Talent Development

Canonical is a leading provider of open source software and operating systems to the global enterprise and technology markets. Our platform, Ubuntu, is very widely used in breakthrough enterprise initiatives such as public cloud, data science, AI, engineering innovation and IoT. Our customers include the world's leading public cloud and silicon providers, and industry leaders in many sectors. The company is a pioneer of global distributed collaboration, with 1200+ colleagues in 75+ countries and very few office based roles. Teams meet two to four times yearly in person, in interesting locations around the world, to align on strategy and execution.

The company is founder led, profitable and growing.

We are building a Talent Development function that is future focused and driven to define the future of the workplace, within a global, growing open source software company,  pioneers in remote-first collaboration and employment. 

This is an opportunity for a person with outstanding leadership, organisation and intellect, to build our Talent Development team to enhance our leadership and people management practices in our remote setting. We are now 1,200+ colleagues across 75+ countries. We would like to create a new team to focus on Talent Development - to deepen our insights and effectiveness as a remote-first and globally distributed organisation.

We know that being effective remotely requires discipline and good habits, and we would like to invest in the research needed to understand that, the training and policymaking which enables it, and the selection mechanisms that ensure consistency of behaviours. We'd like to understand what really makes a distributed, remote-first workplace work. We think we're pretty good at this, remote-first for almost 20 years, but we know there is a lot still to understand, and the frontier of possibility continues to move outward. We'd like to invest in research, analytics and tooling which raises the bar even further for remote collaboration, organisation and leadership. Most importantly though, we'd like to invest in training and multi directional communications to ensure that our leadership team is consistent in setting and maintaining expectations, driving desired team practice and behaviors, as well as expected management practices are effectively embedded across the company . 

This role is the fourth remaining Lead role in our People function, which is a  cross-disciplinary group of organisational psychologists, engineers, statistics / analytics experts, talent science and employee relations specialists. We are recruiting globally, and believe we are bringing in outstanding new colleagues in a way that is fearlessly global. Naturally, they come from a wide range of backgrounds, norms and experiences, and our goal in setting up the Talent Development team is simply to lead the leaders to a position of consistent clarity on who we are, how we roll, and how that changes over time.

Location: This role will be based remotely in the EMEA region.

The role entails

• Define and implement an inspiring and comprehensive talent development program
• Develop, drive and embed effective programs of management and leadership development within our remote organisation
• Design and deliver core training programs, partnering with specialist vendors where appropriate 
• Create and implement leadership performance indicators and metrics
• Own our leadership skills matrix for performance management, talent assessment, succession planning, mentorship, virtual learning and career development.
• Set up a global learning framework for training and career fulfillment
• Build and manage a new team of Talent Development specialists
• Take a data focused lens to understand trends to strategise and define career development frameworks
• Own and enhance the impact of the learning budget

What we are looking for in you

• An exceptional academic track record from High school and beyond
• Possess insight and experience on what makes people successful in a globally remote tech company at the management level.
• Demonstrated experience with strong insight and perspective on the key conditions and practices that create high performing teams 
• Ability to create, lead and execute strategy, and drive change across a company
• Strong business acumen with the ability to balance strategy with execution 
• Analytical and problem solving skills, for data driven decision making with particular experience in measurement of the impact of development programmes
• Experience in people management and being accountable for a budget
• Willingness to travel up to 4 times a year for internal events

What we offer colleagues

We consider geographical location, experience, and performance in shaping compensation worldwide. We revisit compensation annually (and more often for graduates and associates) to ensure we recognize outstanding performance. In addition to base pay, we offer a performance-driven annual bonus or commission. We provide all team members with additional benefits which reflect our values and ideals. We balance our programs to meet local needs and ensure fairness globally.

• Distributed work environment with twice-yearly team sprints in person
• Personal learning and development budget of USD 2,000 per year
• Annual compensation review
• Recognition rewards
• Annual holiday leave
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Employee Assistance Program & Wellness Platform
• Opportunity to travel to new locations to meet colleagues
• Priority Pass and travel upgrades for long-haul company events

About Canonical

Canonical is a pioneering tech firm at the forefront of the global move to open source. As the company that publishes Ubuntu, one of the most important open-source projects and the platform for AI, IoT, and the cloud, we are changing the world of software. We recruit on a global basis and set a very high standard for people joining the company. We expect excellence; in order to succeed, we need to be the best at what we do. Most colleagues at Canonical have worked from home since our inception in 2004.​ Working here is a step into the future and will challenge you to think differently, work smarter, learn new skills, and raise your game.

Canonical is an equal opportunity employer

We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and background create a better work environment and better products. Whatever your identity, we will give your application fair consideration.

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