Senior Learning & Development Manager (Group)

About Our Client

Our client is a leading player in the aquaculture industry, with integrated operations spanning fish farming, processing, and distribution across East Africa. With a growing footprint across Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, our client is committed to sustainable aquaculture practices, operational excellence, and building a high-performing, values-driven organization to support its continued regional growth.

This role is based at the Homa Bay farm, the organization’s main base of operations. The client is open to discussing a hybrid arrangement for the right candidate.

Job Overview

As the Senior Learning & Development Manager (Group), you will own the end-to-end Learning & Development function for a workforce of more than 1,500 employees in Kenya. You will build and lead the L&D structure, set the Group learning strategy, run coaching and leadership development at scale, and build a Group Learning Academy, and establish the talent review and succession planning processes that secure leadership continuity for the business.

This is a full-scope L&D leadership role: you will design how L&D is organised and resourced, define what capabilities the Group needs to build, deliver programmes that reach everyone from farm-based and technical teams to executive leadership, and measure the impact on business performance.

Key Responsibilities

L&D Strategy & Function Leadership

• Develop and implement the Group Learning & Development Strategy and multi-year roadmap aligned to business goals and growth plans.
  

• Design the L&D operating model and organisation structure for the Group, including roles, governance, country-level learning partners and a learning academy approach suited to an 8,000+ workforce.
  

• Recruit, lead, coach and develop the Group L&D team, and build the capability of country-level learning champions.
  

• Partner with Group and Country Leadership Teams to identify current and future capability requirements and workforce development priorities.
  

• Lead annual Learning Needs Assessments (LNAs) across Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania and convert findings into prioritised learning plans.
  

• Develop and manage the annual L&D budget, vendor portfolio and learning investments.
  

• Establish a Learning Academy / Centre of Excellence that sets standards, frameworks and templates for learning across the Group.
  

• Act as a thought partner to the Group HR Director and executive team in shaping the People strategy and the evolution of company values.
  

Coaching & Leadership Development

• Design and deliver leadership development programmes for Supervisors, Managers, Senior Managers, and Executive leaders.
  

• Build and run a coaching culture, including executive and senior leader coaching, manager-as-coach capability, and a network of internal coaches and mentors.
  

• Coach leaders and managers on employee development, performance improvement, and career growth planning.
  

• Facilitate leadership forums, development workshops and cohort-based programmes across the Group.
  

• Design and run train-the-trainer programmes to build the capability of internal instructors, subject matter experts, and learning champions.
  

• Champion mentorship programmes and employee well-being as part of personal and professional growth.
  

Talent Management & Succession Planning

• Design and run structured talent review and succession planning processes across all countries and functions.
  

• Identify critical roles and build succession slates, with clear readiness assessments and development plans for successors.
  

• Partner with business leaders to identify high-potential talent and run high-potential and emerging leader programmes.
  

• Build internal leadership pipelines that support organisational growth and business continuity, balancing internal promotion with external hiring to close skill gaps.
  

• Develop career progression frameworks and development pathways for key functions, and ensure Individual Development Plans (IDPs) are implemented and monitored.
  

Learning Programmes & Capability Building

• Design, implement, and evaluate technical, functional, behavioural, and leadership development programmes, including aquaculture and operations technical training.
  

• Establish and maintain a Group-wide competency framework and skills matrix for all critical roles.
  

• Develop learning pathways and curricula for employees at all levels, including frontline and farm-based teams.
  

• Build a scalable onboarding system that helps every new employee understand the company's culture, values and ways of working, and how to apply them in their role.
  

• Scale high-quality operational and technical training across sites, supported by strong instructional design (in-person, virtual and blended curricula).
  

• Introduce modern learning solutions, including digital learning, blended learning, and microlearning, that scale across sites and countries.
  

Performance, Culture & Engagement

• Partner with HR Business Partners and Functional Leaders to identify performance and capability gaps and use performance data to shape learning interventions.
  

• Support the development of a high-performance, values-driven culture through learning, coaching, and development interventions.
  

• Partner with HR and Leadership teams to strengthen employee engagement and organisational effectiveness.
  

• Drive knowledge-sharing and organisational learning practices across countries and functions.
  

Learning Systems, Analytics & Governance

• Lead the implementation, administration, and optimisation of Learning Management Systems (LMS) at Group scale.
  

• Develop Group-wide training dashboards and learning metrics, and report regularly to Executive Leadership on learning outcomes, talent readiness and capability progress.
  

• Build tight, data-driven feedback loops to measure learning effectiveness and ROI, and use the results to continuously improve every programme.
  

• Develop and maintain Group L&D policies, procedures, frameworks and standards.
  

• Ensure mandatory training is delivered, tracked and compliant with local labour laws, industry regulations and audit requirements.