Who We Are:
Our vision is to grant the wish of every eligible child. Through our mission, we are uniting communities to grant life-changing wishes. As the world’s largest wish-granting organization, we strive to create a sense of community and an environment where we warmly embrace our wish families, volunteers, and colleagues.
Joining Make-A-Wish means becoming part of a mission that believes in the power of a wish.
Location:
Applicants must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the U.S. We do not sponsor employment visas or other immigration processes to attain or maintain employment eligibility.
Remote positions are open to applicants based anywhere in the continental U.S. Hybrid positions are open to applicants based in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
Position Summary
The Director, Learning & Organizational Development leads the strategy, design, and enterprise execution of Make-A-Wish’s leadership, learning, and organizational development initiatives. This role designs, facilitates, and sustains scalable, mission-aligned training content and systems that strengthen leadership capability, enhance organizational effectiveness, and enable employees and leaders across the national organization to grow, thrive, and deliver lasting impact for wish families.
Serving as a trusted advisor and thought partner to executive leadership, the Director aligns leadership development, career growth, learning strategy, and organizational design to Make-A-Wish’s strategic plan, values, and evolving business needs. The role provides strategic and day-to-day leadership to an instructional design resource and oversees external partners and vendors to ensure high quality, consistent, and impactful learning experiences.
Knowledge and Abilities
• Enterprise level expertise in leadership and talent development, including career architecture, competency modeling, succession strategy, and leadership assessment.
• Strong understanding of how learning, leadership capability, and organizational design drive engagement, performance, and mission impact.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive outcomes without direct authority.
• Excellent facilitation, coaching, communication, and storytelling skills.
• Ability to lead through complexity, change, and ambiguity with empathy and sound judgment.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate strategy into measurable, high impact programs.
Key Responsibilities
Enterprise Learning, Leadership & Organizational Design Strategy
• Develop, lead, and institutionalize an enterprise wide leadership, learning, and organizational development strategy aligned to Make-A-Wish’s strategic plan and annual priorities.
• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior and executive leaders on leadership capability, talent development, culture, and organizational effectiveness.
• Build multi year roadmaps for leadership development, succession planning, workforce capability, and organizational design.
Leadership Development & Capability Building
• Design and implement tiered, Make-A-Wish–branded leadership development experiences for emerging leaders through executives.
• Establish leadership competency models and behavioral expectations aligned to mission, values, and culture.
• Create executive coaching, high potential, and succession ready development experiences in partnership with HR Business Partners and senior leaders.
• Implement and sustain enterprise leadership assessments (e.g., EQ/360 tools) to inform development, coaching, and succession strategies.
Organizational Development & Effectiveness
• Lead organization design and effectiveness initiatives, including structure, role clarity, spans and layers, and team effectiveness.
• Partner on enterprise change management efforts tied to major initiatives, transformations, and strategic priorities.
• Facilitate leadership offsites, team effectiveness sessions, and cross functional working forums as needed.
Career Growth, Talent & Succession
• Design and institutionalize an enterprise Career Growth Model, including career pathways, critical experiences, and development opportunities.
• Partner with executive leaders and HR Business Partners to lead biannual, cross functional national talent and succession planning processes.
• Identify organizational capability gaps and design targeted strategies to strengthen leadership bench strength and internal mobility.
Learning Strategy, Design & Delivery
• Oversee the design and delivery of blended learning solutions (facilitated, virtual, digital, cohort based) grounded in adult learning principles.
• Curate and integrate internal and external learning resources, including certifications, executive programs, and leadership tools.
• Facilitate enterprise learning programs and workshops across the National Office and Chapters, modeling inclusive and mission aligned facilitation practices.
Tools, Technology & Continuous Improvement
• Guide the effective use of learning and change technologies (e.g., LMS, LXP, talent platforms) to support scalable learning and development.
• Continuously evaluate learning programs, tools, and vendors for quality, relevance, scalability, and impact.
• Manage external partners and vendors to support enterprise learning and development goals.
Culture, Inclusion & Engagement
• Reinforce Make-A-Wish values through leadership behaviors, development programs, and learning experiences.
• Embed inclusion, belonging, and leadership accountability into leadership and talent development initiatives.
• Support broader engagement and culture building efforts in partnership with People & Culture leadership.
Measurement & Impact
• Define success metrics such as leadership bench strength, internal promotion rates, succession readiness, engagement scores, and program effectiveness.
• Use data and insights to continuously improve programs and demonstrate ROI.
• Build executive level dashboards and reporting to communicate talent development outcomes and organizational impact.
Qualifications
Required
• Bachelor's degree in human resources, Organizational Development, Industrial Organizational Psychology, Business, or a related field.
• 10+ years of progressive experience in Learning & Development, Organizational Development, Talent Development, or Leadership Development.
• 5+ years operating at an enterprise or national scope with senior level influence.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience, including oversight of instructional design resources.
• Demonstrated success building and institutionalizing leadership development strategies, learning programs, and talent systems.
Preferred
• Master's degree in organizational development, Human Resources, or related discipline.
• Certifications in coaching, change management, or assessment tools (e.g., Prosci, Hogan, Korn Ferry, EQ).
• Experience in national, global, nonprofit, or complex matrixed organizations.
Working Environment
• Fully remote work environment
• Some travel required
• May require work outside a traditional Monday – Friday work week, and outside normal business hours.
What We Offer:
Benefits
- Comprehensive benefit package, effective day 1: Medical, Vision*, Dental*, Wellness
- Competitive compensation with annual incentive potential
- Health Savings Account and Flexible Spending Account Options
- Health Reimbursement Account fully funded by Make-A-Wish America
- Short Term Disability*, Long Term Disability* and Life Insurance
- Additional Insurance Plans: Accident, Critical Illness, Hospital Indemnity, Pet Insurance through Figo
- 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan with 5% match after one year of service
- Eligibility for student loan forgiveness through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
- The organization will send a laptop, 24” monitor, and a docking station/adaptor to new hires
Time Off
- Up to 15 PTO days
- 10 Sick Days
- 11 Paid Holidays
- 2 Volunteer Days after one year of service
- 2 Personal Days accrued annually
- Parental Leave
Also...
- Employee Awards and Recognition Programs
- Individual and Leadership Development
- Discounts and special offers for theme parks, events, hotels, concerts, and movie tickets
*Monthly premiums paid for the employee for vision, dental, and short/long term disability.
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What We Do
Make-A-Wish America is the world's leading children's wish-granting organization, dedicated to creating life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses. Founded in 1980, it has granted over 600,000 wishes worldwide.
