Director Of Learning And Development Jobs in Worcester, MA

At SharkNinja, culture is our engine for growth - our True Edge and our competitive advantage. We keep the owner-founder ethos and the fierce, winning spirit that shapes how we build teams, develop talent, and win. This role sits at the centre of that: it turns our culture and our ambitions for our people into learning experiences that change how Sharks lead, manage, and perform. 

This is a dual-mandate role. On one side, you lead Learning & Development globally - accountable for building a high-performing L&D practice across every region. On the other, you lead Talent Acceleration delivery in the US, owning how our practices land day to day for Sharks across the Americas. You will run both in a matrix - building the L&D capability that other regions draw on, while delivering the full tX agenda where you sit. 

The role: 

You are the enterprise owner of Learning & Development at SharkNinja and the leader of Talent Acceleration delivery in the US. You build the L&D practice end to end - multimodal instructional design and development, delivery, measurement, and learning technology - and you make sure it shows up as real capability for our managers, leaders, and employees, not as a catalogue of programs. 

The US Talent Acceleration team reports directly to you, assigned functionally against the priorities that matter most at any given time. Learning & Development extends into other geographies as needs require - placing people close to the business so design stays global and delivery stays local. You set the practice, build the team, and carry it through to impact. 

What you'll own:

Global Learning & Development practice 

• Practice and strategy: own the vision, standard, and roadmap for L&D globally - a high-performing practice in multimodal instructional design and development, delivery, measurement, and learning technology, coherent across the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.
• Design and development: build learning experiences across our priorities - reinforcing our culture, building our managers and leaders, and upskilling our employees - using the full range of modalities (in-person, virtual, digital, social, on-the-job, and AI-enabled).
• Signature programs: own our global onboarding experience that immerses new hires in our culture and accelerates their impact, our manager and leadership capability build, and the culture programs that embed how we work into the organization.
• Learning technology and systems: own the learning technology stack and the systems, platforms, and infrastructure that let learning scale - selecting, integrating, and getting value from the tools that carry the practice.
• Measurement and impact: define how we measure learning - from engagement to capability to business outcome - and use the data to sharpen what we build and retire what does not earn its place.
• AI-native learning: build L&D for an AI-first company - weaving AI into how learning is designed, delivered, and scaled, and into what Sharks are learning, in step with our Jailbreak AI Academy and AI capability work. 

US Talent Acceleration delivery 

• Regional delivery lead: own how the full Talent Acceleration agenda - culture, learning and leadership development, succession, and performance - is delivered for Sharks across the Americas, the US peer to our regional tX leads in EMEA and APAC.
• Team leadership: lead, develop, and grow the US tX team, setting priorities, raising the bar on delivery, and building the bench.
• Business partnership: partner with US business and P&C leaders to translate enterprise tX priorities into what actually lands in the region, and bring regional signal back into the global practice.
• Execution and operations: run the calendars, cadences, and delivery mechanics that keep the regional agenda moving - on time, on quality, and visibly connected to our priorities. 

Leading in the matrix 

• Functional assignment: your US team reports to you directly and flexes onto the priorities that need them most - effort follows what matters, not fixed lanes.
• Global design, local delivery: place L&D talent in other geographies as needs require, keeping design consistent globally while delivery stays close to the business. 

What success looks like:

• Builds L&D from a set of programs into a high-performing, measurable practice that managers, leaders, and employees experience as real capability.
• Leads confidently in a matrix - holding a clear global L&D standard while delivering the full tX agenda in the US, and keeping accountability clean where talent is shared across lines.
• Ships learning experiences that visibly move our priorities - culture, manager and leadership capability, and workforce upskilling - and can prove the impact with data.
• Builds and grows a strong US tX team and a global L&D bench, developing people and raising delivery quality.
• Influences senior decision-makers with a solution-oriented approach; comfortable presenting to, and being challenged by, executive stakeholders.
• A curious, courageous builder - rolls up sleeves where it counts, embraces obstacles, and holds a long-term view on capability. 

Desired experience:

• Proven leadership of a Learning & Development function or practice - across instructional design and development, delivery, measurement, and learning technology - ideally at global scale.
• Track record designing and facilitating high-impact learning across multiple modalities, including manager, leadership, and culture / onboarding programs.
• Experience leading in a matrix - managing solid-line reports across geographies and delivering through shared or dotted-line talent.
• Strong measurement and data orientation: defines learning metrics, reads the trends, and uses them to drive investment and design decisions.
• Comfort with AI-enabled ways of working and enthusiasm for building AI-forward learning.
• Advanced degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Learning, Education, Human Resources, or a related field, with 10+ years of progressive experience; or equivalent depth. People-leadership experience required.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and stakeholder skills; strong program and project management across competing priorities. 

Embodies SharkNinja's Success Drivers: 

Rarely Satisfied    Progress over Perfection    Details Make the Difference    Winning is a Team Sport    Communicate for Impact 

Who thrives here: 

You thrive here if: 

• You don't wait for permission - you see a challenge and own it.
• You embrace discomfort - growth happens on the edge of possibility.
• You don't just deliver programs - you build capability that changes how people work.
• You play to win - repeatedly. Winning today fuels winning tomorrow.
• You thrive on unvarnished feedback - it fuels your growth.
• You ask, "How can we make this happen - faster, bigger, better?"
• You execute with urgency, rapidly iterating, identifying gaps, and pivoting. 

SharkNinja isn't for everyone. But if you're ready to build talent capability at a scale most companies only talk about, this is your place. Welcome to SharkNinja. We're just getting started. 

Leveling note: 

Evolution of the existing US Talent Acceleration Lead role, expanded to carry global accountability for Learning & Development in a matrix. Scoped at Senior Director. Pending Total Rewards leveling validation and compensation range.