General Summary:

The Lead Training Specialist is responsible for leading the design, implementation, and evaluation of training programs that build employee capabilities and support organizational goals. This role provides supervision and guidance to Training Specialists, ensuring high-quality training delivery, consistency, and alignment with talent development strategies. The Lead Training Specialist serves as a subject matter expert, mentor, and coach, fostering a culture of continuous learning and professional growth.

Supervisory responsibilities:

• Recruits, interviews, hires, and trains direct reports.
• Oversees the daily workflow of their department.
• Provides constructive and timely performance evaluations.
• Handles discipline and termination of employees in accordance with company policy.

Principal Duties & Responsibilities:

Leadership & Supervision

• Supervise, mentor, and support Training Specialists in program delivery, facilitation, and instructional design.
• Assign projects, monitor performance, and provide feedback to ensure quality standards and timelines are met.
• Facilitate professional development opportunities for the training team to strengthen instructional skills.

Talent Development

• Partner with HR, leadership, and managers to identify training needs, skill gaps, and career development opportunities.
• Lead the design and execution of learning pathways that build employee skills, leadership readiness, and career progression.
• Implement tools and practices that measure the impact of training on employee performance and engagement.

Training Program Management

• Oversee the development, coordination, and delivery of training programs across departments.
• Ensure training content is updated, relevant, and aligned with organizational goals.
• Evaluate training effectiveness and recommend improvements based on feedback and performance outcomes.

Instructional Design & Facilitation

• Design and deliver high-impact training sessions using blended learning approaches.
• Incorporate adult learning principles, technology, and innovative practices into training delivery.
• Serve as a lead facilitator for complex or organization-wide training initiatives.

Collaboration & Continuous Improvement

• Collaborate with leadership to support organizational change initiatives and culture-building efforts.
• Maintain awareness of learning and development trends and integrate best practices into training strategies.
• Drive process improvements to enhance training delivery, reporting, and compliance.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required:

• Culture: Actively builds a respectful, fair, and empowering environment where everyone can thrive while supporting positive teamwork.
• Results: Consistently meets goals and expectations by aligning team efforts with organizational objectives, seeking solutions, and proactively addressing challenges using available resources all while maintaining a positive attitude and a passion for our mission.
• Accountability: Leads by example, takes responsibility for one’s actions, fulfills commitments, and ensures that individual contributions align with the mission, team, and organizational goals.
• Job knowledge and expertise: Demonstrates a deep understanding of job responsibilities and proactively enhances knowledge and skills through continuous learning. Applies knowledge effectively to meet and exceed work objectives.
• Strong knowledge of instructional design methodologies and adult learning principles.
• Proven ability to mentor and coach team members.
• Excellent facilitation, communication, and relationship-building skills.
• Proficiency with learning management systems (LMS), authoring software programs, and training technology tools.

Travel Required: Ability to travel up to 10%.

Required education and/or work experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Education, Organizational Development, or related field; Master’s preferred.
• 5+ years of experience in training and talent development, with at least 2 years in a lead or supervisory role.

Description of physical working environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Ability to maintain a stationary position to be able to operate a computer and other office equipment, mostly indoor office environment.
• Must be able to clearly communicate, identify, analyze, and assess details.
• Ability to move around our facilities and lift, push or pull up to 20 lbs.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer:

Goodwill of South Central of Wisconsin provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.