Director of Learning and Development recruitment
A Director of Learning and Development owns how your company builds skills across every level. You get a search built for one outcome: a leader who turns training spend into measurable improvements in performance and retention.
The Director of Learning and Development role and its hiring market
Day to day, this person reports to the CHRO or VP of HR. They set the strategy for leadership and manager development, design onboarding programs, and keep compliance training current with federal and state rules. They also choose and run learning platforms like Workday Learning, Cornerstone, Docebo, or LinkedIn Learning. Budget and vendors sit on their desk. They measure what sticks: course completion, behavior change, promotion rates, and manager feedback.
The market for these leaders splits between HR generalists who inherited training and true learning executives. Hiring goes wrong when companies hire a great facilitator and then expect a strategy leader. A Director of Learning and Development must read a P&L, manage vendor contracts, and explain why a program did or did not move a business metric. Strong candidates can point to specific manager development work and a learning platform migration they led.
What sets a strong Director of Learning and Development apart
Each of these can be checked in interview or through references before you make an offer.
- Budget ownership
- A strong candidate can describe a learning budget they managed and the tradeoffs they made. Ask for the size and how they cut waste.
- Platform migration
- They have led a switch from one learning platform to another. Ask what broke and how they fixed it.
- Manager development results
- References can confirm a manager program they built changed promotion or retention numbers. Ask which metric moved and by how much.
- Executive reporting
- They have presented learning results to a CHRO, CFO, or COO. Ask how they handled a skeptical executive.
How we screen Director of Learning and Development candidates
Screening starts with the systems a company uses. If you run Workday Learning, ask candidates to walk through a configuration or reporting task. For a Cornerstone shop, check that they know how to build assignments and track completion. Certifications matter when the role sits inside HR: SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or a CPTD from the Association for Talent Development. Scenario questions cover real problems: a compliance deadline missed, a vendor renewal over budget, a manager program with low signup. References must confirm the candidate owned the learning budget and the platform decisions. They also delivered sessions.
What shapes Director of Learning and Development pay
Pay for a Director of Learning and Development moves with company size, industry, location, and the scope of the role. A director over a learning team with compliance and leadership programs in a regulated industry earns more than one focused only on soft skills. Certifications like SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or CPTD can push a candidate higher. The range is set with you before the search starts and posted in job ads where state pay transparency rules require it. Location and whether the role is hybrid or on site also matter, along with the number of employees the learning programs must reach.
Other learning and development roles we recruit
Hiring a Director of Learning and Development: common questions
What is the difference between a Director of Learning and Development and a Training Manager?
A Training Manager runs the delivery of programs. A Director of Learning and Development sets the strategy, owns the budget, picks the learning platform, and reports results to the CHRO or VP HR. The director decides what to build, buy, or stop. They also connect learning to business goals like retention and promotion rates.
Which learning systems should a candidate know?
That depends on your stack. Workday Learning fits companies that already use Workday for HR and payroll. Cornerstone and Docebo work for larger or more complex learning needs. LinkedIn Learning often supplements leadership and professional development. Ask candidates to demonstrate a real task in your platform.
How do you test for strategic thinking in a candidate?
Give them a scenario: manager turnover is up, and the executive team wants a fix. Ask what data they would pull, which program they would build first, and how they would measure it. Strong candidates start with business metrics and work backward to learning content. References should confirm they have done this at a similar scale.
How long does the search take?
Most searches for a Director of Learning and Development take a few weeks to a few months. The timeline depends on how narrow the systems requirements are and how quickly your team can interview. You get a short list of screened candidates and the process keeps moving. There is no way to promise an exact date, but you will know the stage at every step.
Send us your Director of Learning and Development role
Tell us the level, the pay range, the location and the systems your Director of Learning and Development will use. We will come back with a view of the market and a plan for the search.
Prefer email? Write to info@hr-recruitment-agency.com.
Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm.