Are you an experienced learning professional ready to take the reins of a high-impact L&D programme? We are looking for an ambitious and highly organised Head of Learning & Development (L&D) to lead the strategy, delivery, and evolution of our professional development offering at Dukes Education.
This is a central role working at the heart of a dynamic education group — collaborating with senior leaders, functional specialists, and training partners to deliver development experiences that make a lasting difference and directly fulfil our strategic objectives.
Responsibilities
* Design and manage a broad, strategic L&D calendar.
* Coordinate closely with programme leads, senior educators, and heads of function to shape training that meets evolving needs.
* Accountable for the quality of delivery of each course — from registration to evaluation.
* Manage key relationships, including communications with schools, facilitators, the Marketing and Communications teams, and external event partners.
* Collaborate and share resources, content, and ideas with Dukes Europe.
* Lead on impact reporting across the group and report regularly to senior stakeholders.
* Deliver selected training sessions and champion the professional development culture across the organisation.
* Accountable for the performance of the Dukes Hub LMS.
* Take the lead on our flagship biennial conference, working alongside event partners to deliver a high-impact experience for our staff in January 2027.
* Manage the L&D budget, ensuring best value and alignment with group strategy.
Qualifications
Essential
* Strong experience in Learning & Development, ideally within education or a similarly complex, multi-stakeholder environment.
* Proven track record of designing, managing, and evaluating L&D programmes.
* Excellent communication, relationship-building, and project management skills.
* Confident delivering or facilitating professional learning sessions.
* Comfortable using or managing Learning Management Systems (Docebo or similar).
* Ability to analyse data, gather feedback, and report insights clearly to senior leaders.
* A collaborative mindset with a flexible, problem-solving approach.
Desirable
* Degree-level qualification in Education, L&D, Organisational Development or related field.
* CIPD Level 5 or above (Learning & Development) or equivalent.
* Coaching or facilitation accreditation (e.g. ILM, Insights Discovery, etc).
* Experience working in or with schools, or education groups.
* Experience managing events or external providers.
Why join Dukes?
Dukes Education is a growing family of schools, educators, and professionals with a shared commitment to excellence and innovation. We invest in people, value professional growth, and believe that learning should be dynamic, inclusive, and inspiring — for our students and our staff.
Safeguarding and child protection:
Dukes Education is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. Applicants will be required to undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with past employers and the DBS.
The post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (1974) and we are therefore permitted to ask job applicants to declare all convictions and cautions (including those which are ‘spent’ unless they are ‘protected’ under the DBS filtering rules) in order to assess their suitability to work with children.
We are an equal opportunities employer.