The Senior Manager, Talent Strategy & Succession is responsible for shaping CDW's enterprise approach to talent planning, leadership succession, and future workforce readiness. Reporting to the Director, Talent Strategy & Workforce Transformation, this role helps ensure CDW has the leadership bench strength, critical talent, and future capabilities required to execute its business strategy and drive long-term growth.
This leader translates business priorities into talent strategies, identifies talent and capability risks, and partners across the Coworker Success organization and with business leaders to build plans that strengthen organizational readiness. The role helps drive more proactive, integrated, and data-informed talent decisions across the enterprise.
The successful candidate will bring an enterprise talent mindset, strong business acumen, and the ability to connect leadership assessment, succession, and future capability needs into a cohesive talent strategy.
What you'll do
Talent Strategy & Workforce Planning
- Translate business strategy, workforce trends, and organizational priorities into talent implications and workforce planning strategies.
- Assess future talent and capability needs and identify gaps that could impact business performance.
- Partner with leaders and HR Business Partners to develop plans to address talent, leadership, and capability gaps.
- Bring a proactive talent planning perspective to business and functional planning discussions.
- Incorporate emerging workforce trends, skills needs, AI fluency, and AI-related capability requirements into talent planning efforts.
Succession & Leadership Assessment
- Serve as the Global Process Owner for CDW's succession planning and leadership assessment practices, including governance, methodology, tools, standards, talent review processes, and continuous improvement.
- Lead enterprise succession planning efforts to strengthen leadership pipeline health, critical role readiness, and bench strength.
- Partner with HRBPs and leaders to identify, assess, and develop future leadership talent.
- Facilitate or support senior leader talent reviews and succession discussions that result in clear decisions, ownership, and follow-through.
- Monitor succession readiness, leadership pipeline strength, retention risk, and critical role coverage.
- Ensure talent assessments and succession decisions are grounded in business priorities, leadership expectations, and future capability requirements.
Talent Insights & Governance
- Use talent, performance, workforce, and skills data to identify risks, opportunities, and trends.
- Provide clear talent insights and recommendations that support better business decisions.
- Develop reporting and governance routines that enable stronger talent discussions and follow-through.
- Continuously improve talent planning, succession, and assessment practices to increase business value and usability.
Enterprise Partnership
- Partner across Coworker Success (HR) and with business leaders to ensure talent planning is integrated, practical, and business-relevant.
- Ensure talent planning practices connect with performance management, skills strategy, learning, talent acquisition, and workforce planning.
- Serve as a trusted advisor to HR and business leaders on talent strategy, succession, leadership effectiveness, and workforce readiness.
- Influence stakeholders across a complex, matrixed organization to drive alignment, accountability, and action.
What we expect of you
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Business, Organizational Development, Psychology, or a related field and 7+ years of progressive experience in talent management, succession planning, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, HR business partnership, or related disciplines OR
- 11+ years of progressive experience in talent management, succession planning, workforce planning, organizational effectiveness, HR business partnership, or related disciplines
- Experience leading enterprise talent programs or processes within a large, matrixed, multinational organization.
- Strong business acumen and ability to translate business strategy into talent implications and recommendations.
- Strong facilitation, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
- Experience using talent data and workforce insights to support decision-making.
- Demonstrated personal use of AI tools to improve productivity, analysis, communication, decision-making, or workflow effectiveness.
- Strong curiosity and commitment to continuous learning in AI, workforce transformation, and the future of work.
Preferred skills, experience and qualities needed
- Experience leading succession planning, talent reviews, leadership assessment, or workforce planning in a large multinational organization.
- Prior HR Business Partner experience.
- Experience with Workday talent and succession tools.
- Familiarity with skills-based talent practices, workforce analytics, AI-enabled workforce planning, or emerging talent intelligence tools.
- Experience applying AI or talent intelligence tools to improve talent planning, workforce insights, succession planning, or decision support.
- Experience helping leaders or teams adopt new tools, behaviors, or ways of working through practical reinforcement and change management.
Pay range: $ 143,000 - $199,800 depending on experience and skill set
Annual bonus target of 15% subject to terms and conditions of plan
Benefits overview: https://cdw.benefit-info.com/
Salary ranges may be subject to geographic differentials
CDW is committed to being an AI-fluent organization
Were looking for people who bring curiosity, a learners mindset, and a willingness to engage with ever-evolving technology and tools. We value adopting AI as a partner, openness to experimentation, and a shared interest in learning together on AI. Our goal is to create a culture where AI enhancesnot replaceshuman creativity and decision-making. You dont need to be an expert today; what matters is your readiness to explore, adapt, and grow with us as we integrate AI responsibly and effectively into our work.
Additionally, CDW is committed to fostering an equitable, transparent, and respectful hiring process for all applicants. During our application process, our goal is to understand your experience, strengths, skills, and qualifications. As an AI forward company, we see AI not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for new ways of thinking, creating, and communicating. We encourage candidates to embrace an AI mindset, one thats curious, adaptive, and ready to explore whats possible. We welcome thoughtful use of AI to expand your perspective and elevate how you share your story, while ensuring your application remains rooted in your own background, judgment, and voice.
