Head of Learning & Development

Permanent position, location in Birmingham or Cambridge, Full time or would consider 0.8 FTE equivalent (4 days a week)

The opportunity

At Mills & Reeve we do things differently. We are ambitious to make our firm deliberately developmental, offering our staff a multitude of ways to develop their skills, grow their experience and develop as a person. This means, as an L&D team, we are involved right across the firm’s People Strategy, supporting the senior management team to build a truly inclusive culture where everyone thrives and others want to join.

We are looking for an experienced and talented Head of Learning & Development to run the L&D team and help us embed a learning culture into the firm. The main responsibilities of this role will be to:

• Be responsible for all learning programmes for lawyers, business services and executive support services including inductions and manage the team’s budget and external suppliers

• Head up L&D team which includes a L&D Manager, Senior L&D Advisor and L&D Assistant

• Design and deliver training, peer learning and best practice resources focused on the firm’s strategic priorities: outstanding client service; collaborative working; inclusive leadership / supervision; and continuous improvement

• Ensure we meet Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) regulatory requirements on continuing competence

• Support the development of an innovative new early year’s talent programme

• Support the evolution of our Executive Support Services with relevant skills and capability building

• Broaden programmes for Business Services to encourage strong delivery, high quality project management and alignment with the business

• Support the design and delivery of National Service Lines (NSL) & Sector awaydays and team building activities

• Support Business Services Directors to deliver functional training to the business, ensuring cohesion and alignment

As a Sunday Times Top 100 company (for twenty years) and a Platinum Investors in People accredited organisation, supporting our people to thrive and reach their potential is at the core of our culture. Our philosophy is to play to strengths and so you will have the flexibility and autonomy to develop and evolve the role. We want to find the right individual who we think can really help us move the dial on being a great place to work. We will be interested to know what you really love doing and where you have made a real impact - this is not about feedback scores on one-off training sessions, but really having made a positive imprint where you have worked.

What we are looking for

It is likely that your background and experience will include experience of:

• developing others within a fast paced, intellectually rigorous environment (professional service firm experience preferred) through training and development activities. Coaching and mentoring experience would be a plus.

• presenting and facilitating

• making things happen – leading initiatives / managing projects, influencing senior stakeholders

• leading a team

• developing yourself – as a team we role model working on ourselves to be able to better coach, mentor and lead others.

• communicating to a high standard in person and in writing

• building relationships with people at all levels across the business and externally

• working independently and managing a broad workload

This is a national role with responsibility for supporting the learning and development of 1200+ employees across the firm. You need to be able and willing to regularly travel to all seven Mills & Reeve LLP offices and other sites within the UK. We know some applicants worry about this aspect, however we are committed to work/life balance and team members have diary autonomy so can manage this alongside home responsibilities. Our firm requirement is to be in the office at least 50% of the time.

The scope of the role encompasses the non-legal learning and development needs of lawyers, non-solicitor fee earners and business services across the firm’s seven locations (Birmingham, Cambridge, London, Norwich, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford). You must have the right to live and work in the UK – this is not a remote role.

The role requires close liaison with many people, in particular the NSL leaders, talent partners, Managing Partner, HR, marketing, support service heads, regulatory bodies, professional support lawyers and external providers.

Measures of success

• Supporting a wide range of development activities to a high standard

• Assisting individuals with their development and gaining high levels of positive feedback.

• Building credibility and a strong internal profile with a wide range of senior stakeholders

• Developing the role to really deliver impact and so you thrive at the firm too.

Pre-employment screening

Please note that, in the event that we make an offer of employment, we will conduct pre-employment screening that includes checks relating to your professional and academic qualifications, references from previous employers, your eligibility to work in the UK. You will also be required to complete a self-declaration to access your character and suitability.

Disclosure and barring service check

This post is also subject to a satisfactory response from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

The Mills & Reeve Business Services career structure

We have a firm wide Business Services career structure and a published career progression framework.  Within the firm wide career structure there are five career levels.  For the purposes of the framework, this role is at a Senior Manager level and the role profile that details the outcomes and activities expected of across the firm is included with this job description.  Further information on the firm’s Business Services career structure is available from HR.

The package

As you would expect, the firm offers a generous salary and benefits.  The firm’s standard benefits are detailed in the following link:

 https://www.mills-reeve.com/careers/benefits

The firm

What really sets Mills & Reeve apart from other law firms is the way we work with our clients. We understand that clients, in the 21st century, no longer want a traditional law firm – they want one that embraces forward thinking approaches to service, billing, commercial know-how, innovation, people management and community engagement.

Why not find out more about what it’s like to work at Mills & Reeve by taking two minutes to watch our video?

https://player.vimeo.com/video/157575542

And finally

Mills & Reeve is committed to providing an inclusive and supportive working environment. We are happy to consider flexible working arrangements and endeavour to achieve the right balance for both our people and the business. This attitude to flexible working ensures we continue to provide outstanding service to our clients, whilst allowing our people to develop their careers in the knowledge that personal priorities will remain just that. Mills & Reeve is committed to promoting equality, diversity and to providing an inclusive and supportive environment. Please click the link below to find further information regarding our diversity policy.

https://www.mills-reeve.com/about-us/diversity-and-inclusion

If you would like any more information about Mills & Reeve, you can visit our website by clicking on the following link:

http://www.mills-reeve.com/