Remarkable people, trusted by clients to design and advance the world. Wood has an exciting opportunity for a Global Competence Manager on a permanent basis. The role will inspire Wood’s enterprise approach to competence, providing a single, assured view of workforce capability across all regions, business units, and disciplines. You will shape and standardise how competence is defined, leading and aligning stakeholders through formal governance, consensus‑building, and evidence‑based decision making within a complex, matrixed organisation.
The Role
The Global Competence Manager will design, operate and govern Wood’s global competency framework and systems, ensuring consistent standards, robust assessment and assurance, and high‑quality data while providing trusted insight to inform workforce planning, learning investment and risk management. The role holder has enterprise authority over competency standards, assessment and assurance methodologies, evidence and verification requirements, and reporting, with the autonomy to challenge, escalates and drive remediation where competency or safety risks are identified.
Our Clients and Projects
Wood delivers solutions across more than 60 countries with local offices covering all major energy and materials hubs globally. For more than 160 years, we have partnered with clients to deliver engineering, advisory and operational solutions to some of the world’s most complex and critical challenges in energy and materials.
What We Can Offer
* Flexible working arrangements that balance client, team and individual needs, offering hybrid working arrangements
* Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion; we are an organisation actively committed to diversity and inclusion across our business with employee networks committed to giving all employees a voice
* Competitive salary with regular salary reviews to ensure we are rewarding at the right level in line with the market
* Flexible benefits package; inclusive of 33 days annual leave (including public holidays), generous contributory pension scheme, private medical cover, 4x base salary life insurance; all of these and more that can be adapted to suit your own lifestyle
* Commitment to continued professional development; development plans that are tailored to your individual needs and interests
* Global connections; join experts around the world who are at the leading edge of our industry, shaping the standards of our profession
Responsibilities
Global Competency Framework & Standards
* Own and maintain Wood’s global competency framework, covering technical, professional, and trade & craft roles
* Govern the design, structure, and maintenance of role profiles, competency standards, levels, and definitions, ensuring a single, integrated enterprise standard
* Apply consistent change control and governance to maintain accuracy, integrity, and alignment across all business units and disciplines
Competence Assessment, Verification & Assurance
* Lead the enterprise approach to competence assessment and verification, ensuring robust methodology, evidence standards, and quality controls
* Maintain oversight of assessment activity across all regions, ensuring consistency, compliance, and defensible records that support safe operations
* Operate an assurance model that provides line‑of‑sight to competency coverage, gaps, and risk, enabling timely interventions and remediation
Competency Systems, Data Quality & Reporting
* Own the global competency system, including configuration standards, data governance, and user guidance
* Ensure high-quality data through defined data hygiene rules, verification, sampling, and system controls
* Deliver clear, trusted enterprise reporting on competence coverage, gaps, trends, and risk, enabling informed decisions at operational, functional, and executive levels
* Integrate competency data into downstream processes such as deployment decisions, workforce planning, and capability development
Integration with Workforce Planning, Deployment & Academy
* Ensure competency outcomes directly inform operational workforce planning and utilisation, decisions providing clarity on skill availability, readiness, and risk
* Collaborate with workforce planning to align capability demand, succession needs, and project staffing priorities
* Integrate competency insights with the Wood Academy, ensuring learning pathways, curricula, and capability programmes are driven by enterprise competency needs and identified gaps
Global Governance, Compliance & Audit
* Establish and operate an enterprise competency governance model, ensuring representation from BUs, disciplines, and technical authorities
* Maintain competency related policies, standards, and procedures, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, client expectations, and internal assurance needs
* Support demonstration of framework with internal and client audits, acting as Wood’s authority on competency management and assurance
Stakeholder Leadership & Enterprise Adoption
* Influence and align operational, functional, and discipline leaders to adopt One Wood competency standards, systems, and processes
* Provide expert guidance to business units during organisational changes, mobilisation activities, and operational readiness efforts
* Drive consistent adoption of competency standards across all regions, ensuring alignment with enterprise expectations
Team Leadership & Capability Development
* Lead and develop a global core team responsible for competency systems, data, assessments, and governance
* Build and co‑ordinate a network of competence focal points, assessors, and verifiers across the business
* Promote continuous improvement in competency practice, tools, and methodologies
Continuous Improvement & Best Practice
* Refine the competency framework, systems, and assurance practices based on operational feedback, industry developments, and regulatory changes
* Benchmark against industry standards to ensure Wood maintains world‑class competency assurance for technical, professional, and trade & craft roles
* Champion innovation in digital tools, assessment models, and analytics to strengthen capability insight across the enterprise
Qualifications
Expected
* Degree level qualification or comparable experience
* Extensive experience in complex, safety‑critical industries with demonstrable depth across technical disciplines and/or enterprise capability functions
* Proven track record designing and operating competency frameworks at scale, including assessment & verification models and audit / assurance
* Experience managing vendors and supply chain to secure best value and quality
* Strong data orientation (stewardship, quality rules, reporting); comfortable with enterprise HR / LMS / competency platforms and analytics
* Demonstrated ability to lead through influence in a matrixed, global environment; excellent stakeholder engagement across BUs and functions
Desirable
* Professional certification in project / change management (e.g., MSP, PMI‑PgMP, Prosci/ADKAR) and/or data governance
Personal Attributes
* Highly organised, able to prioritise and deliver to tight timelines; balances procedural compliance with operational pragmatism without compromising safety
* Clear, concise communicator (written and verbal); able to translate complex technical concepts into business impacts
* Inclusive leader who builds collaborative, cross‑functional networks and a culture of continuous improvement
* Excellent communicator with the ability to articulate messaging clearly
* Role model for Wood’s values and behaviours for Wood
Diversity Statement
We are an equal opportunity employer that recognises the value of a diverse workforce. All suitably qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment on the basis of objective criteria and without regard to the following (which is a non‑exhaustive list): race, colour, age, religion, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, or other characteristics in accordance with the relevant governing laws.
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