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Head of Learning and Development | Irvine, CA (Hybrid)

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Title: Head of Learning & Development

Your Mission

As Head of Learning & Development, you will be responsible for rebuilding Blizzard University, Blizzard’s company-wide Learning & Development organization, which will be focused on helping our employees develop the executive function and technical competencies, skills, and behaviors required to be successful at Blizzard and throughout their careers.

Core responsibilities will include designing foundational technical programs aligned with our most pressing business needs and working with our engineers, artists, game designers, QA leaders, and producers to design curriculum for the future of the industry, our games, and player expectations.

In partnership with our business and HR leaders as well as our Activision Blizzard Learning & Development partners, you will be responsible for implementing foundational and supplemental leadership and managerial development programs that set the bar for people management and leadership in the gaming industry. This will include building a strong partnership with our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) organization to ensure our trainings are inclusive, and we are intentionally incorporating foundational and specialized DE&I offerings that foster a diverse, inclusive and equitable culture.

Beyond the curriculum, you will be responsible for developing additional key learning experiences, including a comprehensive new employee onboarding experience; and partnering with business leaders and HR Business Partners to develop career maps and pathing for all subject areas across Blizzard. In addition, you will ensure Blizzard University is equipped with hybrid tools, streamlined processes, modern learning platforms, and multi-modality experiences that enable our employees to learn and grow wherever they work and play.

You will empower our people and managers by developing a learning culture where there are ample opportunities for every employee to not only learn, but teach. Your team will impart upon all employees that they are empowered to lead their own development but will also develop managers to take ownership for the development and progression of their people.

Reporting to the Head of Culture, you will partner with the Head of Culture to lead the “Develop” people goal - 1 of 4 primary Blizzard people goals. You and your Learning & Development team will also play a key role in training culture and facilitating organizational and team change across all of Blizzard.

This role requires a unique combination of strategic, operational, and tactical expertise in the L&D space from a values-based leader. The ideal candidate will have deep learning & development experience within a business environment, a growth mindset, be pragmatic and yet a strong innovator, and above all else be incredibly passionate about enabling our employees to be at their very best.

If you’re looking for a team where inclusion, thoughtfulness, compassion, professionalism, innovation, nimbleness, collaboration, and humor are all seen as critically important, don’t wait. Join us and help craft our future! This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work-from-home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA

Responsibilities

• Determine and implement a company-wide learning and development strategy and approach as part of an integrated talent and capability strategy
• Build and lead a learning and development team of 9 (and growing) and re-establish Blizzard University as an internal ‘institution’ and a brand
• Provide expert thought leadership, partner with business leaders and the Blizzard HR Leadership Team on learning strategies, emerging skills, and competencies, and alignment between learning, talent retention, talent attraction, and performance
• Design and deliver foundational management and leadership training to all Blizzard people leaders in partnership with ABK Learning & Development
• Partner with our HR Technology, Operations, and People Analytics teams to ensure the effective, efficient, and hybrid deployment of learning activities and an outstanding employee experience
• Identify and manage external L&D vendors as required
• Conduct regular training needs assessments to identify business critical development requirements, with awareness of external talent trends and emerging trends in the entertainment and technology industries
• Ensure an ongoing awareness of industry-standard processes for all things learning and development exploring new and innovative ways of ensuring professional development
• Ensure the company’s culture, values, diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas are championed and reflected as part of all learning initiatives

Requirements

• At least 10+ years of talent experience with demonstrated depth, success, and expertise in Learning and Development
• 3+ years of people management
• Self-directed, HR leader with clear evidence of establishing and leading successful learning and development global programs which have delivered positive results
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to think critically and independently. Able to prioritize for impact and adjust focus frequently and effectively as priorities change
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy and vision into plans and action
• Strong familiarity and focus on employee development standard processes in the field from successful, fast-paced, and growing global companies
• Outstanding teammate/relationship builder with the ability to work and influence people at all levels
• Familiarity with the latest corporate learning systems and tools, with additional depth in learning management systems
• Passion for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) and understanding of how to achieve DE&I goals through training and employee development
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and presentation skills. An appreciation of how to tell a story and embed change with a diverse audience
• Exceptional project and process management skills with a demonstrated track record of delivering high-quality results in a fast-paced, complex, dynamic business environment.
• Able to handle numerous projects concurrently

Bonus points for:

• Prior gaming, technology, or entertainment industry experience
• Prior experience working in a matrixed environment
• Prior experience developing curriculum for a highly technical workforce
• People analytics/data storytelling capability would be advantageous

We love hearing from anyone who is enthusiastic about changing the games industry. Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when, in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We are committed to working with and providing reasonable assistance to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you are a disabled individual requiring an accommodation to apply for an open position, please email your request to accommodationrequests@activisionblizzard.com . General employment questions cannot be accepted or processed here. Thank you for your interest.

Our World

At Blizzard Entertainment, we pour our hearts and souls into everything we create. Best known for iconic video game universes including Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, and StarCraft, we’ve been creating genre-defining games for millions of players around the world for more than 30 years. We’re on a quest: bring our dreams to life and craft the most epic entertainment experiences…ever. Hard work, iteration and polish go into the Blizzard “secret recipe,” but the most important ingredients come from talented people who share our vision. If that sounds like you, join us.

The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status, among other characteristics.

Rewards

We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;
• If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.

Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/ .