Talent Manager (Manager, Talent Management)

Department: Human Resources (CT)

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Chester, CT

Reporting To: Jen Anderson

Compensation: $140,000 - $160,000 / year

Description

Whelen Engineering is establishing an integrated Talent Management capability that brings together talent strategy, workforce planning, succession and performance management, career development, and an established Learning & Development function.

The Manager, Talent Management will build and lead this capability while assuming leadership of Whelen’s existing Learning & Development function and team. The role will be accountable for delivering key learning and development commitments, strengthening leadership and workforce capability, and ensuring talent programs support measurable business outcomes.

The Manager will also help operationalize Whelen’s newly implemented job architecture, embedding it into talent programs such as career development, internal mobility, succession planning, workforce planning, and learning.

The role will establish enterprise talent frameworks, standards, tools, and measures and enable delivery through HR Business Partners, HR Operations, the L&D team, and business leaders. In talent acquisition, the Manager will own enterprise strategy, sourcing strategy, vendor governance, process design, and performance improvement, while HR Business Partners remain the primary business-facing partners.

This role reports to the VP of Human Resources, serves on the HR Leadership Team, and leads the Learning & Development team.

Position will be located in either Chester, CT or Charlestown, NH location.

Duties and Responsibilities

Enterprise Talent Strategy and Workforce Planning

Develop and execute an enterprise talent strategy aligned with Whelen’s business and workforce priorities.
Connect workforce planning, talent acquisition, learning, performance, succession, career development, and internal mobility into an integrated talent agenda.
Lead workforce planning frameworks and processes, partnering with HR Business Partners and leaders to identify future capability, capacity, and critical-role needs.
Translate workforce needs into priorities for recruiting, development, succession, and learning.
Lead enterprise talent reviews focused on performance, potential, readiness, mobility, and talent risk.
Help operationalize Whelen’s job architecture as a foundation for career paths, internal mobility, development, succession, workforce planning, and talent acquisition.
Build and continuously improve the Talent Management operating model, governance, tools, measures, and roadmap.

Learning & Development Strategy and Leadership

Lead Whelen’s Learning & Development function, setting strategy, priorities, expectations, and measures for the L&D team.
Own the enterprise L&D strategy and annual plan, aligning learning investments to business priorities and workforce capability needs.
Ensure delivery of Whelen’s key learning commitments, including leadership development, career development, compliance learning, and other priority capability-building programs.
Provide strategic leadership for Whelen University and the broader learning ecosystem.
Partner with HR Business Partners and business leaders to identify capability gaps and prioritize learning solutions.
Oversee the learning portfolio while empowering the L&D team to manage program design and day-to-day delivery.
Connect learning to performance management, career pathways, job architecture, succession, internal mobility, and leadership development.
Oversee learning technology, content, vendors, and external partners, including effective use of Workday Learning.
Measure participation, effectiveness, capability development, behavior change, and business impact and adjust investments accordingly.
Coach and develop the L&D team and evolve the capability as business needs change.

Performance Management Strategy and Framework

Own Whelen’s enterprise performance management philosophy, framework, standards, and cycle design.
Connect performance management to development, career growth, succession, recognition, and other talent programs.
Partner with HR Operations and HR Business Partners to translate the framework into Workday processes, communications, reporting, and manager guidance.
Equip HR Business Partners to advise leaders throughout goal setting, feedback, reviews, development planning, and performance improvement.
Use performance data and feedback to identify talent priorities and continuously improve the process.

Succession Planning and Leadership Development

Design and govern succession planning for leadership, critical, and hard-to-replace roles.
Facilitate enterprise talent and succession reviews in partnership with HR Business Partners.
Identify high-potential and high-impact talent and translate reviews into development, mobility, and retention actions.
Lead the strategy for leadership development and ensure programs address Whelen’s current and future leadership needs.
Use job architecture and career pathways to strengthen succession pipelines and clarify development paths.
Monitor bench strength, readiness, mobility, and talent risk.

Employee Development and Career Growth

Establish enterprise approaches to career development, internal mobility, and employee growth.
Operationalize Whelen’s job architecture and Career Pathways as practical tools employees and leaders can use to understand roles, career opportunities, skills, and development needs.
Connect career pathways to learning, performance, succession, recruiting, and internal mobility.
Partner with HR Business Partners and leaders to identify development opportunities for individuals and teams.
Promote a culture of continuous learning and career growth.

Talent Assessment and Analytics

Use talent data, workforce analytics, and assessment tools to improve talent decisions.
Establish measures across workforce planning, performance, succession, mobility, leadership development, and learning.
Provide HR and business leaders with clear insights on talent trends, risks, and priorities.
Measure the effectiveness of talent and learning programs and recommend improvements.

Organizational Effectiveness
Provide talent and capability expertise to organizational design, change, and business transformation initiatives.
Partner with HR Business Partners to identify recurring workforce, capability, engagement, and performance needs.
Use job architecture, talent data, and workforce insights to strengthen organizational capability and clarify development priorities.
Partner with the Manager, Total Rewards to connect career architecture, talent practices, and rewards programs where appropriate.

Leadership and Collaboration

Serve as Whelen’s enterprise leader for Talent Management and Learning & Development, accountable for strategy, team effectiveness, execution, and outcomes.
Lead, coach, and develop the L&D team.
Provide enterprise talent frameworks, tools, analytics, and specialized expertise to the HR organization.
Partner closely with HR Business Partners, who remain the primary relationship owners and business-facing delivery partners.
Equip HR Business Partners with the tools and expertise needed to deliver talent programs and incorporate business feedback into enterprise design.
Engage directly with leaders, in coordination with the relevant HR Business Partner, when specialized talent expertise or enterprise facilitation is needed.
Serve as a core member of the HR Leadership Team and contribute to Whelen’s broader people strategy.

Education and Experience

5+ years of progressive experience in talent management, Learning & Development, organizational development, or related HR disciplines, including experience in a strategic or leadership capacity.
Experience leading or providing significant oversight of an L&D function, team, or enterprise learning portfolio.
Experience translating business and workforce needs into learning, development, and talent priorities.
Demonstrated ability to set strategy, lead through others, and create accountability for execution and outcomes.
Experience across multiple talent disciplines, such as workforce planning, succession, performance management, leadership development, career development, talent acquisition, or organizational effectiveness.
Experience implementing or operationalizing job architecture, career frameworks, or related talent infrastructure.
Strong understanding of talent acquisition strategy, sourcing, vendor management, and recruiting process improvement.
Experience working across HR Business Partners, centers of expertise, and HR Operations or shared services.
Strong executive presence, facilitation, coaching, analytical, change management, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience managing and developing direct reports.

Preferred:

Experience in a manufacturing, engineering, or industrial environment.
Experience with Workday Learning, Talent, or comparable platforms.
Experience managing learning ovendors and service-level expectations.
Experience with curriculum strategy, leadership development, or enterprise capability-building programs.
Relevant SHRM, HRCI, coaching, talent assessment, L&D, or organizational development credentials.

All Employees Shall

Comply with the EH&S Policy and applicable regulatory and company EH&S rules and requirements
Report to supervision conditions or practices that are either unsafe or that may adversely impact the environment, to ensure prompt resolution of potential hazards
Attend scheduled EH&S training program
Actively support the organization’s efforts to meet or exceed EH&S goals and plans
Recommend improved EH&S practices

Must be able to communicate effectively with co-workers, supervisors, and third parties. This ability to communicate requires the employee to be conversant in English as the majority of our workforce and the third parties that we encounter only speak English.
The incumbent is responsible for complying with the policies in Whelen’s “Employee Handbook.”

Whelen Engineering is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment based on race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, sex, ancestry, citizenship status, mental or physical disability, genetic information, sexual orientation, veteran status, or military status.

This Job Description is to serve as a guide. It is intended to be flexible and will continue to evolve over time with business needs and demands and may be updated periodically and at the Company’s discretion.

Nothing in this position description changes or is intended to change the employment at-will relationship with the Company. Employment at-will means that an employee or the Company may terminate the employment relationship at any time, for any reason or no reason at all, with or without notice.

Duties and Responsibilities

Education and Experience

All Employees Shall

About Whelen Engineering