Lead Talent Management & Leadership Develpment

Role Purpose

This role owns our client's end-to-end talent management and leadership development architecture. It is not a programme coordination role - it is a strategic practitioner mandate. The person in this role will design and run our client's Talent Management frameworks, build a functioning succession pipeline for critical roles, and develop the leadership capability of our client's current and next-generation leaders. The role demands someone who is comfortable in a room facilitating a development workshop with emerging leaders.

Key Responsibilities

1. Talent Identification & Classification

• Design, own, and execute our client's Leadership Development and Talent Management framework - defining the criteria, assessment methodology, and governance process for classifying talent into HiPos, SHR, CQC (framework to be a part of Leadership Development Initiatives. CQC is an example, we had different initiatives in past we had Trailblazers, Creative Commandos, CEO Leadership Circle, GROW, LEAP, NGLP etc.), emerging leader cohorts, and the broader talent pool.
• Lead the annual talent review process - facilitating structured 9-box calibration sessions with Business Heads and the COE, ensuring consistent application of performance and potential criteria across all IBUs and geographies.
• Build and maintain a talent heat map - a real-time view of our client's critical talent by IBU, role category, and readiness level - updated after each talent review cycle and available to CHRO and leadership.
• Define and track HiPo employee profiles - aspiration, ability, and engagement dimensions - using a combination of manager assessment, performance data, and validated psychometric or assessment tools where applicable.
• Own the SHR and CQC lists - their criteria, governance, review cadence, and exit/entry process - ensuring the classification is meaningful, dynamic, and tied to business-critical role mapping.

2. Succession Planning

• Own our client's succession planning framework for all critical roles - defining what constitutes a critical role, how succession depth is measured (Ready Now / Ready in 1 - 2 Years / Ready in 3+ Years), and the governance process for reviewing and updating succession slates.
• Facilitate succession review conversations with leaders - identifying internal successors, assessing readiness gaps, and translating gaps into targeted development actions with clear owners and timelines.
• Maintain succession depth metrics - percentage of critical roles with at least two internal successors, internal fill rate for critical roles, and succession conversion rate - and report to leadership quarterly.
• Integrate succession planning with talent identification, performance management, and internal mobility - ensuring the data from each process feeds the others rather than operating in silos.
• Manage talent risk for critical roles - identifying single points of failure, business-critical knowledge concentration, and flight risks in the SHR cohort - and develop contingency plans with business leaders.

3. Leadership Development

• Design and deliver our clients's leadership development architecture - spanning first-time managers, mid-level leaders, and senior leadership - with programmes that are contextually relevant, experientially grounded, and measurably effective.
• Build the leadership development calendar: identify learning interventions (workshops, executive education, action learning projects, coaching, mentoring, cross-functional assignments) for each cohort based on assessed capability gaps and succession readiness requirements.
• Own the design and delivery of flagship leadership programmes - including any structured cohort programmes for SHR or HiPo talent - managing external vendors, faculty, and programme logistics end-to-end.
• Build and govern a structured mentoring and sponsorship architecture - pairing high-potential employees with senior leaders, defining the engagement structure, tracking progress, and measuring outcomes.
• Measure the ROI and business impact of leadership development investments - capability improvement scores, promotion rates from programme alumni, retention of SHR cohort, and internal fill rates for critical roles.

4. Individual Development Planning & Career Architecture

• Own the Individual Development Plan (IDP) process for SHR and HiPo cohorts - designing the template, facilitating manager-employee development conversations, and tracking execution quality and completion rates.
• Build and maintain career pathway frameworks for key role families - defining the competencies, experiences, and milestones required to progress from one level to the next, and making these visible to all employees and managers.
• Partner with HRBPs on internal mobility - identifying and facilitating cross-functional and cross-geographic moves for high-potential employees as a deliberate development and retention lever.
• Ensure every identified SHR and CQC employee has an active, quality-reviewed IDP with at least one stretch assignment or development action in progress at any point in time.

5. Assessment & Talent Analytics

• Design and manage assessment centre frameworks for key talent decisions - senior hiring, HiPo identification, leadership programme selection, and promotion decisions for critical roles.
• Build a talent analytics capability - succession depth, leadership pipeline readiness, HiPo attrition, development investment per cohort, and internal promotion rates - to enable evidence-based talent decisions by the leadership team.
• Evaluate, procure, and manage external assessment and psychometric tools (e.g., Hogan, SHL, Korn Ferry, DDI) in alignment with our client's talent identification and development needs.
• Conduct periodic talent data analysis - identifying patterns in attrition among SHR cohort, demographic gaps in the HiPo pipeline, and IBU-level talent health - and present findings with recommended interventions to the leadership.

6. Organisational Development Integration

• Partner with the PMS Lead on performance-talent integration - ensuring calibration outcomes feed the talent review process, and that performance data informs succession and development decisions.
• Partner with the C&B Manager on retention frameworks for SHR and critical talent - long-term incentive structuring, recognition strategies, and bespoke retention levers for flight-risk high performers.
• Contribute to our client's culture and engagement agenda - designing talent-focused interventions that reinforce performance culture, internal mobility, and leadership visibility as cultural norms.
• Build our client's internal coaching capability - identifying and developing a cohort of internal coaches, establishing coaching standards, and integrating peer coaching into leadership development pathways.
• Organization Culture Building & DEII also to be a part of this role.

Stakeholder Complexity

Internal

• COE Head: talent philosophy, SHR classification decisions, Board talent reporting
• Business Heads and Senior Leaders: talent reviews, succession conversations, development sponsorship
• HRBPs: talent identification inputs, IDP execution support, internal mobility facilitation
• PMS Lead: performance-talent data integration
• C&B Manager: retention strategy for critical talent
• Learning & Development team: programme delivery, learning platform management
• HRIS / Technology: talent management system, data architecture, reporting

External

• Leadership development vendors and executive education institutions (ISB, IIM, XLRI, global programmes)
• Assessment and psychometric tool providers (Hogan, SHL, Korn Ferry, DDI, MindTools)
• Executive coaches and coaching networks
• HR benchmarking and talent advisory firms

Qualifications & Experience

• MBA / PGDM in Human Resources from a reputed institution.
• 10–14 years of progressive HR experience with a minimum of 5 years in a dedicated Talent Management, OD, or HR COE function.
• Desirable: direct, hands-on experience designing and running a succession planning framework and talent review process - not as a participant, but as the owner.
• Demonstrated experience designing and delivering leadership development programmes at mid-management and senior leadership levels.
• Working experience with assessment tools and methodologies - assessment centres, psychometric instruments, 360-degree feedback - in the context of talent decisions.
• Familiarity with talent management platforms (SAP SuccessFactors, Workday Talent, or equivalent) and people analytics tools.

Remuneration: Up to 23 LPA