Description
You are mission-driven and action-oriented. You love to get involved and work as part of a team to accomplish something great. Any job is your job if it helps the team succeed, and you thrive on variety. Today, you’re looking for a role where you can use those traits to make a real difference in the world by advancing the most important social issues facing humanity today. If that sounds like you, Arabella Advisors can’t wait to meet you.
The Director of Learning and Development, Advisory is a mission-driven and proactive professional specializing in adult learning and engagement who will lead the staff training and development function for Arabella’s Advisory Services team, a team of management, strategy, and social impact consultants.
This is a newly created position that will design, implement, and facilitate Advisory’s learning programs, including in the areas of onboarding, technical skills, management, and team convenings. This role will ensure organizational learnings are captured, developed, and used to improve capabilities and services. This position will partner with Advisory senior leaders and managers, as well as learning and development staff across the firm, to develop and implement relevant programs and interventions.
We seek a candidate with adult learning expertise who has experience designing effective learning and development approaches for a team comprised of professionals at all career levels, and who has experience in a professional services or consulting context. Experience in the philanthropy sector would also be beneficial.
Essential Responsibilities
Learning Strategy and Infrastructure Development (15%)
- In partnership with the Advisory team’s head of learning & development, develop an updated learning strategy for the Advisory team. Gather input from firmwide and external resources and identify learning needs
- Co-develop and operate against the team's strategic goals for learning and development
- Develop and manage an annual training curriculum and schedule to carry out the team's strategic goals for learning and development across the team, and coordinate its execution in partnership with existing staff and others
- Develop and convey learning & development guidelines, standard operating procedures, and effective approaches
- Work in partnership with knowledge management focused team members to ensure learning & development materials are available and shared effectively on team platforms and other means
- Work in partnership with and manage external consultants to support the advancement of strategic goals for learning & development
Curriculum Development and Execution (70%)
- Manage the orientation of new staff and those in new roles to the basics of their jobs, where to turn for more information, and how their job skills map to their career growth
- Conduct audit of orientation programming
- Support the Advisory team members to update orientation materials to meet learning needs, including refreshing and maintaining resources for successful onboarding that team members are expected to achieve in a given timeframe
- In partnership with the Advisory team’s head of learning & development, update the team’s approach to using shadowing, buddies, managers, and coaching to support skills training
- Serve as a resource as needed to Advisory team members on their learning needs
- Oversee skills training for team members staffed on each project type to gain skills by service area and background to work effectively with different client types
- Build curricula to ensure staff at all levels have the right knowledge and skills to competently deliver core services and continue to develop at the firm by meeting core competencies, including experiential learning components
- Update and/or support Advisory team members to develop materials to support learning about our approach to servicing project types and client segments
- Develop and implement a plan to provide regular/just-in-time trainings for team members as they are staffed on projects
- Manage skills training for team members staffed on each project type on the concrete skills expected of their role
- Identify skill areas and project manage and support staff to develop skills training by level on functional skills
- Determine and develop a plan to see manager support/training needs in consultation with existing Advisor team managers
- Develop a system to track experience and credential Advisory team members for gaining specific skills
Support the development of content for team and community of practices retreats (15%)
- In partnership with the learning & development lead, develop learning content for team retreats
- Serve as an advisor/support of technical experts on the team in specific service areas and client types as they develop community of practice and other retreats and meetings
To Be Successful in This Role, You’ll Need:
- Bachelor's Degree, certificate, and/or related experience in learning and development, curriculum design, and/or adult learning
- 6+ years of work experience with steadily increasing responsibility; at least 2 years in a client services environment (e.g., consulting, legal services)
- Experience in designing and implementing a learning strategy, and in leading learning initiatives and organizational development
- Ability to manage and lead complex projects, oversee and delegate to others, and meet deadlines
- Excellent presentation and facilitation skills and the ability to manage group dynamics both in- person and during virtual trainings
Other Characteristics:
- Excellent communication skills, including the capacity to persuasively convey information and concepts to stakeholders
- Highly collaborative working style and strong interpersonal skills
Our Core Competencies:
- The ability to provide excellent service, including being able to effectively manage resources, create and implement enhancements across the firm to efficiently achieve service standards, and to coach junior teammates on how to address complex service challenges
- The ability to oversee and advise on multiple complex projects, including encouraging workflow and work plan innovations, and ensuring deliverables are high-quality and meet clients’ needs
- The ability to coach colleagues in how to understand stakeholders’ perspectives and to handle high-level stakeholder challenges
- The ability to effectively communicate difficult messages, to represent the firm to external audiences, and to mentor colleagues in how to adapt style, tone, and content to various audiences
- The ability to help teams overcome collaboration challenges and promote compromise, inclusion, and openness; promote and lead activities that support an open, safe, and inclusive organization; understand the context in which we work and build critical cross-team connections; and share useful knowledge firm wide
- The ability to regularly integrate learnings to improve team operations, to lead learning opportunities that enhance team performance, and to be a mentor to others
- The ability to empower teammates to solve problems and provide guidance only when necessary; to solve complex challenges without clear owners or solutions by identifying innovative approaches; and to facilitating coordination with others and to coach colleagues in thinking through solutions
- The ability to create space for and/or facilitate conversations about DEI, bring diverse networks and relationships to the firm, and model leading through one’s own learning edges
About Arabella Advisors
Arabella Advisors helps foundations, philanthropists and investors who are serious about impact achieve the greatest good with their resources. We work on issues ranging from the social and economic advancement of women and girls, and conservation of our climate and planet, to reducing poverty and inequity in the United States and around the world. Our staff members are mission-driven and action-oriented, and have a unique combination of experience in philanthropy, business, nonprofits, government, finance, law, and other fields. We combine creative, strategic thinking with knowledge and networks developed through decades of hands-on experience. The fastest-growing philanthropic advisory firm in the nation, Arabella is also a certified B Corporation.
About Arabella’s Advisory Team
The Advisory team is a collegial, client-focused, and DEI- and impact-driven community that provides a range of strategic consulting services to institutional foundations, family foundations, corporations and corporate foundations, impact investors, and philanthropic individuals. Our team helps clients chart their social impact and philanthropic journey, design and build new initiatives and organizations, develop grant-making and impact investment strategies, implement programs and grant initiatives, conduct diligence, evaluate impact, and collaborate effectively with other donors and investors. Together, we work with many of the nation’s leading philanthropists, helping them achieve equity-focused impact in education, health, conservation and the environment, and more.
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Advancing DEI within our firm and in our work with partners is critical to our mission. To be effective partners to philanthropists, nonprofits, and communities impacted by philanthropic dollars, we need to have a highly diverse staff, a workplace where individuals are encouraged to retain their uniqueness and can feel a sense of belonging, and a nuanced understanding of the racial, ethnic, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and other disparities that undergird the issues we engage in and the interactions we have with one another. For us, equity means that our staff members, our clients, and the people they serve can experience the same level of success, no matter their starting place. We expect all our employees to share this commitment, and always seek ways to improve how well we live these values. Click here to learn more about DEI at Arabella and read our official DEI statement.
Total Rewards (compensation and benefits)
This is a full-time position. We offer a competitive and holistic total rewards package that includes salary, bonus, and benefits. Our base salaries are based on a blend of similar sized organizations from different sectors, including nonprofits, foundations, and professional service firms. They are also based on local market rates and differentiated by geography.
All full-time staff are eligible for our generous benefits package on their first day of employment:
- Health insurance- On average Arabella pays 86% of the medical premium, 80% of the dental premium, and 100% of the vision premium
- Paid time off- 16 days’ vacation, 10 personal days, 11 company holidays (7 federal and 4 more from a list of inclusive cultural and religious holidays and your birthday), 20 hours’ volunteer leave, 8 weeks’ parental leave
- 401(k) retirement plan- We offer a 4% employer match on a dollar-per-dollar basis, and there is no waiting or vesting period; all funds contributed by you and Arabella are yours to keep on day 1
- Reimbursements for your personal cell phone plan and fitness
- Pre-tax withholding for transportation and parking
- Bonus incentive opportunities
- Access to professional development opportunities
Working with Us
While this position must be based in Washington, DC, Chicago, IL, Durham, NC, New York, NY or San Francisco, CA, please note that due to COVID-19, all Arabella Advisors' offices are closed, and we continue to temporarily work in a remote environment.
When we reopen -- currently anticipated in early 2022 -- we will be returning to work with a hybrid workplace strategy to ensure continued flexibility for our staff, while deepening our strong culture rooted in collaboration and in-person interactions between colleagues. It is our expectation that once we reopen, Arabellans will generally work 2-4 days per week from the office and 2-4 days at home/remotely. We will make reasonable accommodations under the guidelines of the Americans With Disabilities Act.
To center the safety and well-being of its employees, Arabella Advisors requires that any employee who is required to conduct in-person activities for their job must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 within four weeks of their start date. This position may require candidates to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Accommodations may be sought and approved in accordance with the law.
We are committed to having a passion-driven, inclusive, transparent, collaborative, healthy, and fun culture. We invite you to visit our careers page to learn more.
How to Apply
Submit a resume and a one-page cover letter online. The cover letter should address why you’re excited to work at Arabella and why you’re qualified for this specific job.
Arabella Advisors is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to racial equity. If we can make the application process easier through accommodation in the recruitment process, please let us know.
We encourage you to read (or listen to) our DEI statement prior to applying. We make a particular effort to recruit people of color and members of marginalized groups to apply for open positions. Once you have applied, we welcome your feedback on how you have experienced our values around DEI in the recruitment process.
While Arabella is open to individuals from various locations applying to join our team, please note that we generally are unable to pay for relocation expenses, and, except in rare circumstances considered on a case-by-case basis, all applicants must already be legally eligible to work in the United States at the time of application to be considered for this position.
We will review applications as they are received and look forward to hearing from you.
