Senior Specialist, Talent Development

Why Wyndham?

By joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, you will play an integral role in our mission to make hotel travel possible for all. You’ll be part of the largest hotel franchise company in the world, where we strive to deliver the best value to our owners and guests. Most importantly, you’ll be entrusted to live our unique Count on Me culture, set by our core values of integrity, accountability, inclusive, caring and fun. At Wyndham, we provide all team members the opportunity to grow through best-in-class training and career development, leadership training, mentorship opportunities and educational support.  Supporting our team members is a top priority, which is why we offer competitive compensation and benefits, vacation, team member appreciation days, workplace flexibility and much more.  At Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, we value and embrace a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion that supports team members of all backgrounds and experiences. We can’t wait to welcome you!

The Role

As a member of Wyndham University’s Learning & Development team, the Senior Specialist of Talent Development reports to the Senior Manager of Learning & Development and is responsible for helping to support our corporate team members throughout the Talent Management cycle.  From time to time, this position could cross over providing training across audiences of full-service hotels with similar training needs.  The Senior Specialist serves as a learning and development subject matter expert, improving and delivering existing programs. From time to time, they will work with key business partners to provide guidance and help execute on development requests that support strategic alignment and help drive WH&R goals.  
  
This role manages and supports a variety of high impact, business aligned initiatives focused on developing, engaging and retaining a diverse hybrid workforce in our organization.  The Sr Specialist will help support the overall global learning and development strategy by delivering impactful and relevant training and facilitation experiences to team members.   At times, they may help provide high level instructional design to content when needed, deliver training in both a live and virtual environment, lead or support L&D projects, and help manage select vendor relationships in order to provide training solutions to our business partners. This role may also help with efforts to improve existing programs, curate content and craft new learning solutions and experiences that address individual, team and organizations needs/goals.  

Their primary focus will be to hone their facilitation and talent development skills but on occasion, this position may collaborate with corporate HR and business partners in order to understand needs, assess what’s possible and leverage resources, while working with the larger L&D team to develop and deliver on training recommendations and personalized solutions that supports our values-driven culture.  
 

What you'll do

Business Partner & Liaison

• At times, may serve as an L&D consultant, establishing themselves as a go-to-resource for team members, business partners and HR on team member development initiatives.  
• Partners with L&D support teams (Project Managers, Instructional Designers and other facilitators) to leverage resources and develop learning solutions.
• Partners with L&D support teams (IDs, PMs, and other facilitators) to ensure all program and content solutions align with departmental and business priorities and are of consistent quality.  Provides training solutions in a variety of formats, including distance learning, classroom, and other blended learning platforms, when possible.
• Grows business acumen and works with Subject Matter Experts to increase understanding and allow them to connect L&D initiatives to the business.
• With support from the Senior Manager, the Senior Specialist works with business partners in an effort to assess team member development needs, identify gaps and provide resources and recommendations to enhance team effectiveness and productivity.  Supports organizational development initiatives such as engagement survey, change management, compliance and organizational restructuring.
• This role collaborates with the Manager, Senior Manager and Senior Director to identify and assess learning needs, customize, coordinate, design, develop, deliver and evaluate learning and development programs.  They will also help create the conditions and platforms which enable continuous learning, reflection and exchange.

Strategy, Content Design, Development 

• With support from leadership, designs, develops, delivers and evaluates learning and development programs, including but not limited to leadership development, presentation skills, Performance Management and New Hire Onboarding. 
• On occasion, this role acts as project lead by managing activities and timelines, driving progress, tracking and reporting.  
• Drives and delivers the new hire onboarding process to ensure effective introduction of new team members to all relevant aspects of the business.  Provides training that helps team members leverage tools and resources for optimal performance, and completion of all requirements.
• Can help collaborate with Manager, Senior Manager and Senior Director in the development of both short-term and long-term training strategies that help to address gaps in business skills, knowledge, and abilities.  Helps to create a sustainable infrastructure for ongoing development that enables continuous learning, reflection and exchange.
• Supports business initiatives that require training support.  Works in partnership with Wyndham University teams to ensure all development solutions align.   
• With support from the Manager or Senior Manager, they may manage select vendor relationships; strategizes, tracks and reports on usage.  
• In partnership with HR, supports the performance management cycle by providing a variety of learning solutions that increase engagement and adoption. Utilizes the learning management system and other tools to set up, manage and track learning.  

You'll be successful if you have

• Hands-on professional with strong written and verbal communication skills, and a superb ability to communicate ideas through facilitation. 
• Proactive in seeking solutions and leveraging existing resources.
• Ability to positively influence and impact people including those not in a direct reporting role and at higher organizational levels.
• Excellent planning, documentation and organizational skills. 
• Attention to details and high standard of quality; strong commitment to continuous improvement. 
• Demonstrated ability to work under pressure and excel in a fast-paced environment. 
• Results driven, self-starter, open to change, provide problem solving solutions.
• Enthusiastic and desire to advance self and others personally and professionally.
• Able to multi-task and provide follow up. 
• Demonstrates professionalism in all interactions.
• Ability to interact with team members across the organization, developing and maintaining strong relationships while demonstrating strong interpersonal skills. 
• High energy, enthusiastic, motivational training style.
• Project management mindset. 
• Ability to create and modify training content.
• Familiar with a variety of standard concepts, practices and procedures within the hospitality and L&D industries.
• Agile, adaptable and flexible – open and responsive to change.
• Able to build on other people’s ideas during conversations and collaborations.  
• Able to listen empathically and adjust to audience reaction.
• Personalizes communication to make it relevant to the audience and possesses excellent clarity of expression. 
• Demonstrates personal accountability. 
• Exercises initiative, good judgement and knowledge within scope of training responsibilities.
• Impactful storyteller – Able to develop strong presentations and deliver them to audiences at various levels.
• Open to learning about hospitality and franchising business in order to offer more personalized training.

Required Qualifications/Experience

• Unless there is a legal requirement, experience will be accepted for the education requirement.
• Bachelor's degree in business, Human Resources, Organizational Development or related area preferred. 
• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience, including facilitation, instructional design, public speaking, and platform skills.
• Well-versed in Learning & Development best practices (i.e., assessing learning needs, learning styles, building curricula, distinguishing between teaching and presenting) or experience in providing live and virtual training program delivery to both small and large audiences of all customer types.
• Experience with initiatives or programs to promote diversity and inclusion.
• Solid knowledge of facilitation, instructional design and 1 on 1 coaching preferred.
• Solid knowledge of topics such as performance management, management, leadership and organization development, and development planning preferred.
• 3-5 years in hotel industry a plus. 
• Proficient in MS Office 2010 (i.e., PowerPoint, Word, Excel). 
• Experience with Zoom (or online meeting platforms) required.
• Experience working in and administering Learning Management Systems, social media and other tools to organize and track/coordinate learning.
• Training certifications in large certificate programs like AHLA, Emergenetics, Ken Blanchard, Clifton Strengths or Crucial Learning a plus. 
• Experience in Instructional Design, Adult Learning, or related field a plus. 
• Member of training associations such as CHART, ATD, etc. preferred.