Senior Manager, Talent Development Programs

Putting people first, every day
 

BDO is a firm built on a foundation of positive relationships with our people and our clients. Each day, our professionals provide exceptional service, helping clients with advice and insight they can trust. In turn, we offer an award-winning environment that fosters a people-first culture with a high priority on your personal and professional growth.

Your Opportunity

The Senior Manager, Talent Development Programs provides strategic and people leadership for the firm’s enterprise Talent Development program portfolio. Reporting to the Director, Talent Development, this role is accountable for translating broader Talent Development strategy into portfolio priorities, ensuring the firm invests in high-impact programming that builds the capabilities needed today and into the future.

Leading a team of eight Talent Development professionals across multiple role levels, the Senior Manager creates the clarity, capability, and conditions for the team to perform at its best. This includes setting priorities, allocating resources, coaching and developing team members, and ensuring consistent standards of quality and execution across the portfolio.

Working closely with senior business leaders, subject matter experts, and colleagues across Talent Development and People & Culture, the Senior Manager serves as a trusted advisor on talent and leadership development needs. This role balances strategic thinking with operational excellence, using business insights, data, and emerging practices to continuously strengthen programming and demonstrate measurable value to the firm.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the prioritization, and continuous evolution of the firm’s enterprise Talent Development program portfolio, aligned with broader Talent Development strategy, firm priorities, and future capability needs.
• Translate organizational priorities and emerging business needs into clear program priorities, plans, and investments.
• Evaluate the portfolio holistically to identify opportunities to scale, redesign, integrate, consolidate, or sunset programming based on business need, evidence, and impact.
• Establish clear governance, quality standards, and decision-making processes across the program portfolio to support consistency, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Balance short-term business needs with longer-term capability priorities, adapting the portfolio as the firm and its needs evolve.
• Partner with the Director, Talent Development on broader Talent Development strategy, investment priorities, and opportunities to strengthen organizational capability.

People & Team Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of seven Talent Development professionals responsible for the design, management, and delivery of enterprise talent programs.
• Create clarity around team priorities, roles, accountabilities, and expectations while empowering individuals to take ownership and make decisions within their areas of responsibility.
• Allocate team capacity and resources across the portfolio based on strategic priorities, business need, impact, and available capacity.
• Provide ongoing coaching, meaningful feedback, and development opportunities that strengthen individual and collective capability.
• Build a strong talent pipeline through succession planning, stretch opportunities, knowledge sharing, and individualized development.
• Create a culture of trust, accountability, collaboration, inclusion, and continuous learning where team members are supported and challenged to grow.
• Establish and reinforce high standards for program leadership, facilitation, stakeholder partnership, and execution across the team.

Strategic Business Partnership & Influence

• Build trusted relationships with senior leaders and stakeholders across the firm, demonstrating credibility, integrity, empathy, and a strong client-first mindset.
• Serve as a strategic advisor on talent and leadership development needs, helping leaders translate business priorities and capability gaps into practical development solutions.
• Represent Talent Development in senior-level discussions, bringing a clear point of view on organizational capability, development priorities, and potential solutions.
• Influence decision making by providing thoughtful recommendations, demonstrating impact, and building alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.
• Collaborate closely with Talent Development, People & Culture, business leaders, and subject matter experts to ensure development solutions are integrated and aligned to broader firm priorities.
• Anticipate evolving internal client needs and ensure the team delivers responsive, high-quality, and practical solutions that create value.

Measurement, Impact & Operational Excellence

• Partner closely with the Talent Development technology and measurement teams to ensure consistent approaches to program measurement, data collection, reporting, and evaluation across the portfolio.
• Ensure programs align with established Talent Development measurement frameworks, tools, and standards, creating consistency in how impact and value are assessed.
• Leverage program data, participant feedback, stakeholder insights, and available business measures to evaluate portfolio effectiveness and inform program priorities and continuous improvement.
• Oversee portfolio-level resources, risks, vendor partnerships, and delivery requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement in processes and ways of working to increase efficiency, scalability, and effectiveness.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Stay current on emerging practices, technologies, research, and trends in talent development, leadership development, adult learning, and professional services.
• Foster innovation by challenging existing approaches and identifying opportunities to enhance how development experiences are designed and delivered.
• Champion thoughtful use of technology and AI-enabled solutions where they can improve learner experience, quality, efficiency, or impact.
• Encourage experimentation, learning, and knowledge sharing across the team while maintaining high standards of quality and client service.
• Build team capability by ensuring emerging practices and lessons learned are translated into practical improvements across the portfolio.

How Do We Define Success for Your Role?

• You bring BDO's strategy to life by leading with genuine care, focusing on what matters most, embracing progress over preservation, and fostering a culture where people can do more together. 
• You establish technology as a trusted business partner and strategic enabler, translating firm priorities into measurable technology outcomes. 
• You deliver a secure, resilient, reliable, and modern technology environment that supports exceptional employee and client experiences while enabling innovation and business agility. 
• You build a high-performing, accountable technology organization with the talent and capabilities required to support the firm's continued growth and transformation. 
• You maximize value from technology investments through disciplined planning and execution, strong governance, strategic partnerships, and continuous improvement. 

Qualifications & Experience

• Significant progressive experience in talent development, leadership development, learning and development, organizational capability, or a related field, ideally within professional services or another complex, distributed organization.
• Demonstrated experience leading an enterprise or large-scale portfolio of talent or leadership development programs.
• Proven success leading, coaching, and developing a high-performing team with multiple areas of responsibility.
• Strong strategic thinking and business acumen, with the ability to connect organizational priorities to capability and development needs.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships, influence senior leaders, and navigate complex stakeholder environments.
• Strong portfolio, program, and operational leadership skills, including experience prioritizing resources and managing competing business needs.
• Experience using data, insights, and business measures to evaluate effectiveness, demonstrate impact, and inform decisions.
• Strong consulting, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and presentation skills, with credibility working with senior audiences.
• Demonstrated adaptability and resilience in navigating changing priorities and business needs.
• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Adult Education, Organizational Development, Business, or a related discipline, or an equivalent combination of education and experience. Relevant professional certifications are considered an asset.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within professional services or a similarly complex, stakeholder-driven organization.
• Experience leading Talent Development programming across a large, geographically distributed organization.
• Experience with leadership and talent assessment tools, coaching methodologies, or leadership development frameworks.
• Experience leveraging learning technologies, AI, and emerging practices to enhance development experiences and operational effectiveness.
• Ability to communicate professionally in both French and English is considered an asset.

Why BDO?
Our people-first approach to talent has earned us a spot among Canada’s Top 100 Employers for 2026. This recognition is a milestone we’re thrilled to add to our collection of awards for both experienced and student talent experiences. 

At BDO, our people experience is guided by three core pillars—Do work with genuine care, Do what matters with purpose, and Do what’s next - shaping how we support our people, serve our clients, and grow together.

Our firm is committed to providing an environment where you can be successful in the following ways:

• We enable you to engage with how we change and evolve, being a key contributor to the success and growth of BDO in Canada.
• We help you become a better professional within our services, industries, and markets with extensive opportunities for learning and development.
• We support your achievement of personal goals outside of the office and making an impact on your community.
• We foster a collaborative, inclusive environment where your ideas are valued, and you can do your best work with genuine care and purpose
• We encourage innovation and forward thinking, empowering you to embrace what’s next and help shape the future of our firm

Giving back adds up: Where company meets community. BDO is actively involved in our communities by supporting local charity initiatives. We support staff with local and national events where you will be given the opportunity to contribute to your community.

Total rewards that matter: We pay for performance with competitive total cash compensation that recognizes and rewards your contribution. We provide comprehensive benefits from day one, and a flexible personal time off policy.  We’re committed to supporting your overall wellbeing and provide reimbursement for wellness initiatives that fit your lifestyle.

Everyone counts:  We are committed to creating a workplace where employees can participate fully, contribute meaningfully and succeed without barriers. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace defined by respect, fairness, and a true sense of belonging for everyone.  We recognize and celebrate the unique experiences, identities, and perspectives that each of us bring – and that these experiences strengthen how we work together.  Our commitment extends to ensuring that our application process is both inclusive and accessible.  If you require accommodation to complete the application process, please contact us.

Flexibility: All BDO personnel are expected to spend some of their time working in the office, at the client site, and virtually unless accommodations or alternative work arrangements are in place.

Our model is a blended approach designed to support the flexible needs of our people, the firm and our clients. It’s about creating work experiences that meet everyone’s needs and providing flexibility to adjust when, where and how we work to meet the expectations of our role.

Code of Conduct: Our Code of Conduct sets clear standards for how we conduct business. It reflects our shared values and commitments and includes guiding principles to help us make ethical decisions and maintain trust with each other, our clients, and the public.

BDO may use artificial intelligence enabled tools to support certain aspects of the recruitment process. While these tools assist our teams, our use of AI does not replace human decision making, and all employment-related outcomes are made by BDO personnel.

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Ready to make your mark at BDO? Click “Apply now” to send your up-to-date resume to one of our Talent Acquisition Specialists.

To explore other opportunities at BDO, check out our careers page.