Northwestern Mutual

Assistant Director, Talent Management Experience Design

Northwestern Mutual$108K — $162K *
Business Services
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field required
  • Graduate degree strongly preferred
  • 6-8 years of experience in talent management or related HR disciplines
  • Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide talent management processes
  • Experience partnering with HR Business Partners
  • Experience leveraging Workday as a process owner

Responsibilities

  • Own end-to-end design and execution of talent management processes
  • Ensure talent processes are effective and aligned with business needs
  • Develop guidance and support materials for HR and leaders
  • Manage day-to-day operations of talent processes and resolve inquiries
  • Utilize talent analytics to monitor process effectiveness and gather insights
  • Lead retrospectives to identify opportunities for process improvement
  • Serve as primary HR contact for talent management processes

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health and wellness programs
  • Flexible work arrangements including remote and hybrid options
  • Professional development opportunities and training
  • Collaboration with experienced leaders across the organization
  • Access to cutting-edge technology and innovative tools
Full Job Description
About the Job:

The Assistant Director, Talent Management Experience Design for Career & Talent Planning owns the end-to-end design, execution, and continuous improvement of enterprise processes and experiences that empower employees to invest in their growth and strengthen the talent pipeline required to sustain and accelerate business performance.

This role is committed to the employee-facing experience, designing and curating an ecosystem that empowers individuals to explore career possibilities, set meaningful development goals, and track progress against a personalized growth plan that is integrated into the flow of work. The role also ensures these processes and experiences are effective, scalable, and aligned with business priorities, talent strategy, skills development, and the organization's culture and behaviors.

By leveraging talent data, skills insights, fit-for-purpose technology, and AI-enabled tools, this role ensures career and development experiences do not live in isolation by connecting them to talent review and calibration processes and agile succession approaches. In doing so, it makes individual growth aspirations visible to the organization, continuously informs leadership pipelines with real-time development data, and enables talent readiness to be assessed and acted upon with consistency and rigor.

Partnering closely with HR Business Partners and key stakeholders, the Assistant Director brings fresh perspectives to complex talent challenges, influences across functions and leadership levels, and translates people data and business insights into experience designs that reduce critical talent risk, strengthen organizational resilience, and create the conditions for both individual fulfillment and enterprise growth.

What You'll Do:

Enterprise Talent Process Ownership
  • Own the end-to-end design of the enterprise career, talent review & succession philosophy and processes, including: career planning, development planning, continuous career & development conversations, talent review & calibration, succession planning, and skill development.
    • Own the enabling technology experience and requirements for these processes (e.g., Development Plans, Talent Card, Talent Marketplace, Gigs, Career Hub, career navigation tools, etc.).
  • Ensure talent processes are practical, leader and employee-friendly, and aligned with enterprise talent philosophy, business needs, and culture.
  • Accountable for supporting delivery of these talent processes through developing clear guidance, materials, draft communications, and readiness support for HR Business Partners, leaders, and employees.
  • Providing day-to-day support and management of processes, including escalated technical inquiries, issue coordination, and follow-through with HR stakeholders.
  • Utilize talent analytics and relevant success metrics to assess the effectiveness of cycles, monitor adoption, gather insights for continuous improvement, and track progress and outcomes.

Continuous Improvement
  • Lead retrospectives and synthesize quantitative and qualitative feedback to identify opportunities to simplify and strengthen these talent processes.
  • Translate insights into clear recommendations and design enhancements that improve clarity, consistency, impact, and the employee, leader, and HR experience.

Stakeholder Partnership & Enablement
  • Serve as a primary point of contact for HR on enterprise talent management processes. Strengthens knowledge management for HR Services and HR business partners.
  • Provide consultation, guidance, and problem-solving support related to process execution, interpretation, and application.
  • Develop and deliver enablement materials (e.g., toolkits, job aids, FAQs, talk tracks, training, etc.) to support consistent enterprise adoption.
  • Creates automated and scalable self-service support through AI tools to quickly surface accurate guidance for employees, leaders and HR, reducing the day-to-day support requests.
  • Partners with the HR Advisory team to brainstorm and enable Career Center consultations related to career development and talent review & succession, including career planning and development action guidance.
  • Partners with HR Technology and Talent analytics to modernize and scale our talent management practices through fit-for-purpose tools, digital workflows, enhancements, and data-informed capabilities.


What Experience You'll Bring:

Education
  • Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Organizational Development, or a related field required
  • Graduate degree strongly preferred

Experience
  • 6-8 years of experience in talent management, organizational effectiveness, or related HR disciplines with a focus on high-impact, enterprise talent processes
  • Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide talent management processes (e.g., career development, talent reviews, succession planning, and skills)
  • Experience partnering with HR Business Partners
  • Experience leveraging Workday as a process owner to drive mature, scalable talent management processes and insights.


Skills & Capabilities
  • User-Centered Design Process: Designs products, services, and experiences that are tailored to the needs, preferences, and behaviors of the end-user.
  • Customer Centricity: Applies a customer first mindset to design and continuously improve solutions, systems, processes, and services that support enterprise strategy, impact critical business outcomes, and drive organizational success.
  • Stakeholder Relationship: Organizes, influences, monitors, and improves relationships with key stakeholders; systematically identifies stakeholders and analyzes their needs and expectations to support in planning and decision making while implementing various tasks to engage with them.
  • Cross Functional Partnering & Planning: Facilitates collaboration, communication, coordination, and planning with individuals and teams from different functions within the organization, and who have different areas of expertise, to achieve common goals.
  • Consulting: Connects with stakeholders to understand and gain specific information to help resolve customer problems in a given domain. Communicates effectively intent to customers, solicits customer requirements, utilizes domain knowledge and collaborates with the right stakeholders.
  • Executive Presence: Builds and maintains an authentic personal brand, inspiring and motivating people to pursue a desired outcome by sharing a clear vision and demonstrating confidence, professionalism, self-awareness and trust with business stakeholders.
  • Business Influence: Collaborates, communicates and influences direct reports, stakeholders, and other business functions based on understanding of the marketplace, organizational needs, and the client as a people manager.
  • Change Management: Acts as an advocate for change as well as identifying gaps/issues that should be addressed to deliver optimal client/field experiences. Leads change management, when driving technology or process improvements, applying relevant change acceleration, risk mitigation, and stakeholder management methodologies and best practices. Analyzes business trends and current state to develop a case for change that aligns with business strategy. Implements plans and strategies to manage organizational and behavioral changes by aligning leaders and engaging impacted stakeholders.
  • Adaptive Communication: Formulates strategies to be used to convey complex information about services, products, systems, or processes to targeted audiences; communicates and liaises between technical and non-technical audiences.
  • Learning Agility & Critical Thinking: Pursues learning and obtains knowledge continuously in relevant fields, methods, or technologies in current and future practices; continuously utilizes critical thinking to identify opportunities, execute solutions, and measure impact to constantly improve existing practices and processes based on feedback, lessons learned, and market trends.
  • Strategic Thinking: Uses critical thinking and knowledge of business demand to plan, design, prioritize and execute high impact initiatives and programs.
  • Analytical Thinking: Organizes and compares various aspects of a situation to comprehend and identify key or underlying complex issues through the use of quantitative data and analysis; leverages strong business acumen, problem solving, and interpersonal skills to think critically about situations from multiple perspectives and consistently seeks ways to improve processes.


#LI-Remote, #LI-Hybrid

Compensation Range:

Pay Range - Start:
$108,160.00

Pay Range - End:
$162,240.00

Geographic Specific Pay Structure:

Structure 110:
$118,960.00 USD - $178,440.00 USD

Structure 115:

$124,400.00 USD - $186,600.00 USD

We believe in fairness and transparency. It's why we share the salary range for most of our roles. However, final salaries are based on a number of factors, including the skills and experience of the candidate; the current market; location of the candidate; and other factors uncovered in the hiring process. The standard pay structure is listed but if you're living in California, New York City or other eligible location, geographic specific pay structures, compensation and benefits could be applicable, click here to learn more.

About Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual has been helping people and businesses achieve financial security for more than 160 years. Through a holistic planning approach, Northwestern Mutual combines the expertise of its financial professionals with a personalized digital experience and industry-leading products to help its clients plan for what's most important. Northwestern Mutual delivers financial security to millions with life, disability income and long-term care insurance, annuities, and brokerage and advisory services. The company manages billion of dollars of investments owned by its clients and held or managed through its wealth management and investment services businesses. Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), Milwaukee, WI (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries. Subsidiaries include Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS) (securities), broker-dealer, registered investment adviser, member FINRA and SIPC; the Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company® (NMWMC) (fiduciary and fee-based financial planning services), federal savings bank; and Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company (NLTC) (long-term care insurance).

Northwestern Mutual Careers

Joining Northwestern Mutual presents a unique opportunity to be part of a team that is dedicated to empowering personal and professional growth, innovation, and leadership in the financial services industry. As a company renowned for its commitment to excellence and a culture that values diversity and inclusion, Northwestern Mutual offers unparalleled job opportunities for both seasoned professionals and those at the start of their careers.

Work You’ll Do

At Northwestern Mutual, we believe in building strong relationships not only with our clients but also among our team members. By joining our team, you will collaborate with some of the most talented professionals in the industry, all united in their commitment to leadership and innovation. Our employees are equipped with top-tier benefits and diversity training that ensure their career journey is both rewarding and inclusive.

Explore Professional Growth and Development

Northwestern Mutual is committed to fostering an environment where career growth is not just a possibility but a priority. With a variety of positions available, from financial representatives to internships for budding professionals, our company is a place where your skills and passion can thrive. We provide extensive training programs and leadership development opportunities that prepare you for success in your current role and beyond.

Innovative Work Environment

Our team at Northwestern Mutual is at the forefront of integrating cutting-edge technology and innovative financial strategies to provide exceptional service to our clients. This focus on innovation is not just about staying current; it's about leading the way in the financial sector. Employees at all levels are encouraged to contribute ideas and take initiative, driving the company forward as a leader in the financial industry.

Be Part of Our Diverse and Inclusive Team

Diversity and inclusion are more than just buzzwords at Northwestern Mutual; they are integral to our company culture and business strategy. We are committed to creating a workplace where all employees can flourish. Our diversity training programs are designed to enhance understanding and foster an inclusive environment for all team members.

Networking and Career Advancement

Networking within Northwestern Mutual opens doors to expansive career advancement opportunities. We encourage our employees to engage in internal networking events, which often lead to mentorship and further career development. Whether you are looking to enhance your resume, prepare for an interview, or step into a leadership role, Northwestern Mutual provides the resources and support to help you achieve your professional goals.

Join Our Team

Search open positions that match your skills and interests. We are looking for passionate, curious, and solution-driven team players who are ready to take their career to the next level. Explore the job opportunities and internships available at Northwestern Mutual and find out how you can contribute to our legacy of innovation and leadership.

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Join us and start your journey at Northwestern Mutual today, where your career is nurtured, your skills are honed, and your achievements are celebrated.
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