Position Overview

Cengage is seeking a strategic, analytical, and highly collaborative leader to serve as our first Head of Workforce Planning. This newly created role will establish workforce planning as a core organizational capability and serve as the primary architect of our workforce planning strategy, processes, governance, and operating model.

The Head of Workforce Planning will partner closely with Finance, Talent Acquisition, HR Business Partners, and business leaders to develop hiring forecast and long-term workforce strategy. This role will play a critical part in helping Cengage align talent investments with business priorities while building the workforce capabilities required for future success.

This position is initially structured as an individual contributor role with significant visibility and influence across the organization. As workforce planning matures at Cengage, there will be opportunities to expand the scope of the function.

What You'll Do

Build and Lead Workforce Planning

• Establish and operationalize workforce planning at Cengage.
• Design and implement workforce planning methodologies, frameworks, governance, and operating rhythms.
• Develop short-, medium-, and long-term workforce plans aligned with financial targets.
• Create workforce planning processes that enable proactive talent decisions and resource allocation.
• Build executive-ready workforce insights, dashboards, and recommendations to support strategic decision-making.

Develop Hiring Forecasts and Talent Demand Planning

• Partner closely with Finance, Talent Acquisition, HR Business Partners, and business leaders to create and maintain workforce demand forecasts.
• Own enterprise hiring forecasts, headcount planning processes, and workforce scenario modeling.
• Establish forecasting accuracy of metrics and continuously improve planning assumptions and methodologies.
• Translate business strategy, financial plans, and market trends into workforce implications and hiring recommendations.

Lead Skills-First Workforce Transformation

• Serve as the HR lead for workforce planning capabilities enabled through Eightfold.
• Partner with Talent Management, Learning & Development, Talent Acquisition, and HR Technology teams to develop a comprehensive skills-based workforce strategy.
• Build processes and frameworks for skills intelligence, capability mapping, internal mobility, workforce segmentation, and future skills planning.
• Develop workforce insights that inform build, buy, borrow, and automate talent decisions.

Advance AI-Enabled Workforce Strategy

• Partner with the Head of AI Strategy and Enablement to assess the workforce implications of AI adoption across the business.
• Improve productivity, workforce effectiveness, and organizational capability through AI-enabled work models.
• Help define future workforce requirements, emerging skill needs, and workforce transformation priorities.
• Support workforce scenario planning related to automation, augmentation, and evolving job architectures.

Establish Governance and Strategic Workforce Processes

• Create governance structures and recurring planning cadences that support enterprise workforce decision-making.
• Facilitate regular workforce planning reviews with business and functional leaders.
• Develop workforce planning standards, tools, and templates.
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships that enable workforce planning to become an embedded business process.

Qualifications Required

• Bachelor's degree in HR, Business, Finance, Economics, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, Data Analytics, or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in workforce planning, strategic workforce planning, people analytics, talent strategy, finance, consulting, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience partnering with senior business leaders and Finance organizations.
• Experience developing workforce forecasts, headcount plans, or strategic talent plans.
• Strong analytical and quantitative skills, including workforce modeling and scenario planning.
• Exceptional communication, influence, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to build new processes and capabilities in a highly collaborative environment.

Preferred

• Master's degree (MBA, MHRM, Organizational Development, Economics, Analytics, or related field).
• Experience building or scaling a workforce planning function from the ground up.
• Experience implementing or leveraging workforce planning, talent intelligence, or skills platforms such as Eightfold.
• Experience with skills-based talent strategies and workforce transformation initiatives.
• Experience partnering on AI, automation, or digital transformation programs.
• Experience in a complex, matrixed organization.

Success Profile

The ideal candidate is equal parts strategist, operator, and change leader. They are energized by ambiguity, excited to build something new, and capable of translating business strategy into actionable workforce decisions. They combine strong analytical rigor with exceptional relationship-building skills and are passionate about helping organizations prepare for the future of work.

Most importantly, they are motivated by the opportunity to help Cengage power the people who power learners.

Compensation

At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.

The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.

In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company's discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below.

20% Annual: Individual Target

$160,000.00 - $165,000.00 USD