Executive Director, Global Learning

Executive Director, Global Learning

Syneos Health® is a leading fully-integrated life sciences services organization built to accelerate customer success. We partner with innovators at every point across the drug development and commercialization continuum, helping them navigate complexity, anticipate change and accelerate progress.

Every day we perform better because of how we work together, as one team, each the best at what we do. We bring together talented experts across a broad spectrum of business critical corporate functions. Every role plays an essential part in enabling our customers to achieve their goals. Our teams are agile, collaborative, and committed to delivering—for each other, for our customers, and ultimately for the people who rely on the services we support.
Discover what your 25,000 future colleagues already know:

Why Syneos Health
• We are passionate about developing our people, through career development and progression; supportive and engaged line management; technical and therapeutic area training; peer recognition and total rewards program.
• We are committed to building an inclusive culture – where you can authentically be yourself. Central to this is our purpose – Driven to Deliver – which captures the passion of our colleagues to show up each day and shape solutions that have the ability to dramatically impact someone’s life.
• We are continuously building the company we all want to work for and our customers want to work with. Why? Because we know that when we bring together smart colleagues from across the world, we can shape the future of healthcare, driving impact for customers and defining the pace of patient progress.

Job Responsibilities

Job Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Partnership

• Serves as the enterprise thought leader and senior advisor on learning, translating company strategy and workforce priorities into a multi-year global learning agenda.

• Partners with senior business and HR leaders to identify critical capability gaps, align learning priorities and secure commitment to enterprise solutions.

• Develops and executes strategies and functional objectives for Global Learning in line with company strategic priorities.

• Represents the organization in relevant external forums and uses broad internal and external networks to bring forward industry practices, emerging technologies and innovative solutions.

Enterprise Learning Strategy & Governance

• Sets priorities, allocates resources, establishes policies and plans, and owns the Global Learning budget and investment portfolio.

• Establishes enterprise governance, standards and decision rights for learning management, clarifying accountabilities across the center of excellence, customer-facing learning teams, business functions, HR and external partners.

• Anticipates present and future capability needs by integrating business strategy, workforce trends, performance data and stakeholder priorities.

• Defines enterprise measures for learning effectiveness, adoption, capability growth and business impact; uses results to adapt strategy, investments and delivery.

Learning Portfolio Technology & Innovation

• Sponsors and oversees the global learning model, including scalable curricula and a standardized catalogue review cycle.

• Directs the design, development, procurement, delivery and evaluation of learning products and services that enable employees to perform effectively.

• Owns the enterprise learning technology and digital enablement roadmap, applying AI, data and emerging tools while maintaining quality, compliance and accessibility standards.

People Leadership & Operating Model

• Directs the activities of the Global Learning area through leaders and senior professionals, with accountability for performance, capacity, resource allocation and delivery.

• Builds an effective global operating model that balances enterprise consistency with the needs of business units, functions and geographies.

• Sets clear goals and decision rights, develops leadership capability and succession depth, and holds leaders accountable for measurable outcomes.

• Creates an environment for collaboration, experimentation, learning and skill-building while managing risk and maintaining execution discipline.

Critical Skills

• Comprehensive knowledge of adult learning, capability building and relevant internal and industry standards and principles.

• Strong business acumen and an in-depth understanding of business dynamics, with the ability to integrate Global Learning priorities across business units and functions.

• Ability to make high-quality decisions with significant long-term impact and to balance enterprise priorities, customer needs, financial constraints and risk.

• Ability to synthesize complex information and data into clear insights, investment choices and recommendations for senior executives.

• Executive-level influence and communication skills, including the ability to challenge constructively, navigate conflicting viewpoints and build alignment without relying on authority.

• Demonstrated ability to lead a global portfolio, budget, vendors and interdependent initiatives through a complex matrix organization.

• Ability to lead through ambiguity and change, anticipate downstream implications, and adapt plans as business needs evolve.

Key Behaviors

• Proactively solves challenges and mitigates risks.

• Communicates effectively with all levels of the organization.

• Thinks like the customer to anticipate and clarify needs and sets clear expectations with stakeholders.

• Partners cross-functionally to align and deliver on interdependent outputs, seeking varied perspectives to improve results.

• Shows up prepared, engaged and with solutions.

• Balances customer needs with team capacity and budget and coaches leaders on expectation-setting and issue management.

• Aligns cross-functional partners and manages conflicts constructively to improve collective results.

• Clarifies team priorities, scope and trade-offs, removes barriers and provides timely, performance-based recognition.

Additional Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, I/O Psychology, Education, Business or a related field required; graduate degree preferred.

• 10+ years of progressively responsible related experience, including at least 3-4 years of management experience and substantial leadership responsibility in a global, matrixed organization.

• Demonstrated experience leading an enterprise learning function or a comparably broad capability portfolio, including strategy, governance, budget, technology and measurement.

• Proven ability to influence senior executives and translate enterprise strategy into scalable programs and measurable business outcomes.

• Experience working in a large, complex global organization with an HR center of excellence operating model.

• Strong personal presence, self-awareness, learning agility and customer orientation.

• Advanced proficiency with learning technology (Cornerstone is a plus), data and productivity tools.

• Ability to travel domestically and internationally, approximately 25%.

At  Syneos Health, we believe in providing an environment and culture in which Our People can thrive, develop and advance. We reward and recognize our people by providing valuable benefits and a quality-of-life balance. The benefits for this position may include a company car or car allowance, Health benefits to include Medical, Dental and Vision, Company match 401k, eligibility to participate in Employee Stock Purchase Plan, Eligibility to earn commissions/bonus based on company and individual performance, and flexible paid time off (PTO) and sick time. Because certain states and municipalities have regulated paid sick time requirements, eligibility for paid sick time may vary depending on where you work. Syneos complies with all applicable federal, state, and municipal paid sick time requirements.

Salary Range:

$173,600.00 - $312,400.00

The base salary range represents the anticipated low and high of the Syneos Health range for this position. Actual salary will vary based on various factors such as the candidate’s qualifications, skills, competencies, and proficiency for the role.

Get to know Syneos Health

Over the past 5 years, we have worked with 94% of all Novel FDA Approved Drugs, 95% of EMA Authorized Products and over 200 Studies across 73,000 Sites and 675,000+ Trial patients.

No matter what your role is, you’ll take the initiative and challenge the status quo with us in a highly competitive and ever-changing environment. Learn more about Syneos Health.

http://www.syneoshealth.com

Additional Information

Tasks, duties, and responsibilities as listed in this job description are not exhaustive. The Company, at its sole discretion and with no prior notice, may assign other tasks, duties, and job responsibilities. Equivalent experience, skills, and/or education will also be considered so qualifications of incumbents may differ from those listed in the Job Description. The Company, at its sole discretion, will determine what constitutes as equivalent to the qualifications described above. Further, nothing contained herein should be construed to create an employment contract. Occasionally, required skills/experiences for jobs are expressed in brief terms. Any language contained herein is intended to fully comply with all obligations imposed by the legislation of each country in which it operates, including the implementation of the EU Equality Directive, in relation to the recruitment and employment of its employees. The Company is committed to compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, including the provision of reasonable accommodations, when appropriate, to assist employees or applicants to perform the essential functions of the job.

Why Work Here

Discover what our 29,000 employees already know: work here matters everywhere. We work hard, and smart, all in the name of getting much-needed therapies to those who need them most. A career with Syneos Health means your everyday work improves patients’ lives around the world. Selecting us as an employer secures a career in which you’re guaranteed to:

Collaborate with passionate problem solvers

Partner with the most diverse team of experts in the industry. From the top down, our people are inspiring. Everyone has a voice and is encouraged to use it.

• Work in specialized Syneos Health teams that are therapeutically or functionally aligned for expert collaboration.
• We assemble clinical teams where everyone, from CRAs to senior management, is skilled in the same therapeutic area or customer teams. With this structure, everyone on your team speaks the same language and can deliver unique insights into the therapeutic environment and patient population.
• We are partners with purpose. We integrate seamlessly with our customers and do what’s best for their success. Our people provide the brilliant ideas, valuable insights and endless energy that accelerates the impact of life changing therapies worldwide.