Position SummaryThe Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) is seeking a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) for a full-time, regular position within the Office of the Chief Operating Officer (OCOO) in Washington, DC. Reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer with a secondary reporting relationship to the Chief of Staff, the CLO will serve as a transformational leader responsible for developing and implementing the organization's learning and development strategy in alignment with the PCAOB's strategic plan including efforts to re-skill and up-skill staff with a focus on technical skills and emerging technologies, such as AI.
This pivotal role includes leadership and continuous innovation of PCAOB Elevate, our learning and development program. The individual in this position will deliver high-quality, cost-efficient learning solutions, facilitating staff skill enhancement for both current responsibilities and future organizational needs. Additionally, the CLO will design, execute, and evaluate the effectiveness of all learning and development initiatives to support professional growth and foster a culture of continuous learning.
Responsibilities- Design, develop, and lead an organizational-wide integrated curriculum framework that includes learning paths and case studies of actual audit, legal or economics best practices across the industry to present real-world examples regarding how such practices are evolving.
- Lead transformation efforts to enable the re-skilling and up-skilling of staff, with a focus on technical skills and emerging technologies, such as AI, including machine learning, generative AI.
- Design and lead an effort to provide scalable learning and development programs to include engaging and interactive trainings that incorporate effective adult learning methodologies; leveraging a variety of delivery methods (instructor led onsite, online, self-directed , social learning, webinars, etc.) and practical on the job training (i.e., toolkits, job aides, etc.) for inspectors and other PCAOB professional staff as part of a comprehensive approach to enhance skills for current operations and prepare staff to meet the future needs of the organization.
- Oversee, develop, recommend, and lead key strategic learning and development initiatives including management and executive leadership development, staff career development, and organizational development; and initiatives to support mentor programs, succession planning, secondments, rotations, and fixed term fellowship programs, such as the new 2-year fixed term Audit Practitioner Fellowship Program designed to offer an opportunity to work with the Office of the Chief Auditor on standard-setting and research initiatives.
- Partner with Division/Office leaders to leverage existing in-house experience and unique institutional knowledge to assess, identify, and implement learning and development opportunities in support of organizational initiatives and allow staff to remain at the forefront of their profession.
- Partner with the COO, Chief of Staff, and senior leadership across the organization to ensure learning and development strategies are aligned with organizational initiatives, including the enhancement of employee experience.
- Provide strategic counsel to senior leadership on all organizational learning and development processes and issues.
- Collaborate with OCOO, Chief of Staff, and senior leadership on implementing learning and development strategies.
- Work with the COO to successfully manage the organizational learning and development budget planning and execution process.
- Identify, select, and manage relationships with external firms specializing in learning, talent, and organizational development to support initiatives.
- Lead and execute projects to continuously evaluate and improve processes, procedures, content, and service delivery to ensure effective and positive user experience.
- Research best practices, legal developments, emerging trends, technological advancements, and benchmark comparisons to create innovative learning and development practices.
- Track metrics and analytics that effectively measure, benchmark, and monitor the impact of learning and development strategies (pre- and post-training) on the organization and leverage metrics and analytics to modify and continuously improve offerings.
- Manage, review, and analyze metrics with leadership to develop, and implement solutions, action plans, programs, and recommend policies.
- Oversee the management of the Workday learning platform that effectively handles all aspects of the learning process, including administering, documenting, reporting, tracking, and delivery of learning and development programming.
- Develop, manage, and retain a high-performing team of learning and development professionals while promoting a culture of continuous improvement in alignment with the PCAOB's values.
- Perform the full range of supervisory duties, including evaluating employee performance; making recommendations for appointment and promotion; hearing and resolving complaints; identifying development and training needs; and other related supervisory tasks.
- Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications Education/Technical Expertise
- Bachelor's degree from an accredited university in Human Resources, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Organizational Development, Business, or a related field.
- Minimum of 15+ years of experience leading and developing creative adult learning solutions that translate to positive behavioral change at the individual, team, and organizational level within a multi-faceted, geographically dispersed organization.
- Strong understanding of the wide variety of firm audit methodologies and the industries in which they operate.
- Experience developing training curriculums on AI literacy, reskilling for AI, and using AI-powered analytics to link learning directly to business objectives; familiarity leveraging AI to create personalized, workflow-embedded learning ecosystems is a plus.
- Strong understanding of AI concepts, including machine learning, generative AI, and related data platforms.
- Proven change management skills; ability to drive positive change and create the conditions to allow team members to continuously innovate and leverage technology effectively.
- Proven success in the development and application of diagnostic tools (i.e., training evaluations, surveys, assessments, etc.) in planning and leading complex enterprise-wide learning and development initiatives and in implementing ways of continuously improving offerings.
- Experience working with executives, managers, and staff on transformational planning and implementation of practical organization-wide learning and development strategies; ability to lead and influence operational and strategic planning to drive results.
- Ability to build relationships and work strategically with leaders and others to drive a knowledge sharing program across the organization.
- Ability to create an environment that encourages innovation, values continuous learning, and uses modern learning experience tools.
- Must be able to handle employee-sensitive and business information with the utmost confidentiality.
- Strong presentation skills and the ability to clarify and summarize issues and solutions to internal clients, business partners, and stakeholders.
- Excellent analytical, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills; ability to apply these skills to drive improvement, short-term and long-term planning, and business decisions.
- Ability to manage expectations effectively when handling multiple projects with competing deadlines while driving key deliverables.
- Deep working knowledge of general HR policies.
- A self-starter able to administer multiple assignments at any one time, where some assignments are routinely unstructured, requiring autonomy and independent judgment.
- In-depth experience successfully harmonizing diverse and competing interests.
- Ability to clearly articulate a position with sound logic, supporting empirical evidence, and impartiality.
- Ability to effectively represent the organization to a variety of both internal and external constituencies.
- Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future.
Preferred Qualifications
- MBA or master's degree.
- Experience as a learning and development leader within an accounting organization or law firm.
- Experience with Workday and other cloud-based learning and development platforms.
- CPA or Certified Learning and Development Professional (CLDP) or related credentials; SHRM Certified Professional (SHRM-CP) or SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) credential.
Desired Leadership/Management Skills and Abilities
- Ability to drive a positive "tone at the top" of the organization and hold others accountable for doing the same.
- Ensures that own behavior is consistent with the highest ethical standards and aligns with the values of the organization.
- Must be able to motivate and inspire employees at all levels of the organization.
- Proven ability to develop, coach, and mentor staff, providing constant feedback and clear direction.
- Ability to promote collaboration by unifying teams, setting common goals, and incentivizing collaborative behavior.
- Demonstrated success in establishing and maintaining positive working relationships with others, both internally and externally, to achieve the goals of the organization.
- Ability to build credibility, organize effectively, delegate responsibility, solve problems quickly and communicate clearly.
- Possesses the balance and emotional intelligence required to meet the diverse needs of the Divisions/Offices.
- Proven ability to navigate and resolve various types of conflict in a timely and productive manner.
