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Role snapshot

Training and Development Managers create the strategy, systems, and programs that upskill employees and leaders. Think of the role as building a learning engine that helps an organization meet its goals. You will assess capability gaps, set priorities with executives, lead designers and facilitators, manage budgets and vendors, and prove impact with data. Typical portfolios include onboarding, leadership development, compliance, safety, sales enablement, product and customer education, and talent mobility initiatives.

Fast facts, United States

• Median pay 2024: $127,090
• Employment growth 2024 to 2034: +6 percent which is faster than average
• Annual openings: about 3,800
• Top employing and paying sectors: professional and technical services, management of companies, finance, healthcare, education
  Figures reflect the latest Occupational Outlook Handbook update using 2024 wages and 2024 to 2034 projections.

What you actually do

• Set learning strategy. Translate business plans and skill frameworks into a clear learning roadmap with budget, milestones, and KPIs.
• Diagnose needs. Use interviews, surveys, performance data, and skills taxonomies to pinpoint gaps worth closing.
• Design and deliver programs. Build curricula for managers, sales, technical, and frontline roles. Blend classroom, virtual, coaching, microlearning, and on-the-job practice.
• Run operations. Govern the LMS and LXP, manage calendars and cohorts, track completion and compliance, and standardize content lifecycles.
• Manage vendors and platforms. Select content libraries, authoring tools, virtual classroom tech, and external facilitators. Negotiate contracts and SLAs.
• Measure impact. Track coverage and completion, knowledge gains, behavior change on the job, and business outcomes such as time to productivity, quality, safety, and revenue metrics.
  BLS and O*NET both emphasize planning, directing, budgeting, vendor selection, and evaluation as core duties for this role.

Where they work

• Corporate headquarters in tech, finance, life sciences, manufacturing, consumer brands
• Professional and technical services firms, including consultancies and agencies
• Healthcare systems and insurers
• Education systems and large nonprofits
• Federal, state, and local government
  The Occupational Outlook Handbook highlights the cross-industry nature of these roles and their concentration in professional services and corporate management settings.

Skills and competencies

Business and leadership

• Strategic planning, stakeholder alignment, executive communication
• Team leadership, coaching, and performance management for designers and facilitators

Learning science and program design

• Adult learning theory, instructional design models, assessment design, experiential learning
• Facilitation skills for in-person and virtual environments

Technology and data

• LMS and LXP governance, virtual classroom platforms, content authoring tools
• KPI design, dashboarding, and basic statistics to quantify ROI and risk reduction

Operations and compliance

• Budgeting, vendor management, procurement
• Audit readiness for safety, privacy, and regulated training content
  O*NET details these knowledge areas and task clusters for the current code 11-3131.00.

Typical requirements

Education

• Bachelor’s degree is common. Business, communications, education, HR, psychology, or related fields work well.
• Master’s degree preferred for many leadership tracks: training and development, organizational development, HR management, I/O psychology, or MBA.

Experience

• Five or more years of related work, often progressing from training specialist or instructional designer to senior specialist or program owner, then into management.

Helpful credentials

• ATD CPTD or APTD
• SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP, or HRCI PHR or SPHR
• Kirkpatrick or Phillips ROI evaluation training
• Agile or project management certifications for large deployments

Compensation and earning potential

National picture

• Median pay: $127,090 in May 2024
• 10th to 90th percentile: about $75,810 to $219,990
• Industry medians: professional and technical services $145,610, management of companies $133,770, finance $128,700, healthcare $114,990, education $106,630
  The Occupational Outlook Handbook provides these figures and notes roughly 46,400 jobs in 2024.

Local variation
Compensation depends heavily on region and industry. Use OEWS and CareerOneStop to check state and metro wages and percentiles for 11-3131.00.

What increases pay

• Running an enterprise portfolio or multiple business units
• Leading leadership development or sales enablement tied to revenue
• Platform and vendor ecosystem ownership at scale
• Clear track record linking programs to financial or risk outcomes

Employment outlook

• Growth 2024 to 2034: +6 percent
• Annual openings: about 3,800
  Drivers include reskilling for digital transformation, regulatory training, faster product cycles, distributed work, and modern learning tech adoption. The related occupation Training and Development Specialists is projected to grow 11 percent, strengthening the talent pipeline into manager roles.

Career pathways and promotion routes

Stage 1: Training Specialist or Instructional Designer, years 0 to 2

• Build core skills in design, facilitation, and LMS operations
• Deliver classes, create microlearning, and run evaluations

Stage 2: Senior Specialist or Program Owner, years 2 to 5

• Own onboarding, leadership basics, or sales enablement
• Manage vendors and a budget line, coordinate cohorts, report outcomes

Stage 3: Manager, years 4 to 7

• Lead a small team of designers and facilitators
• Set program roadmaps, define KPIs, align with HR partners and business unit leaders

Stage 4: Senior Manager or Learning Business Partner, years 6 to 10

• Translate strategy into capability roadmaps across functions
• Oversee platform decisions, credentialing, and portfolio governance

Stage 5: Director, Head of Learning, or VP Talent Development, years 8 to 15 plus

• Own enterprise learning strategy, budget, ecosystem, and leadership programs
• Integrate learning with talent acquisition, performance management, and workforce planning

Lateral options

• HR Business Partner, Organizational Development, People Analytics
• Sales or Customer Education, Enablement, Corporate Communications

Day in the life by KPI

• Coverage and participation. Percent of target audience enrolled and completing
• Time to proficiency. New hire or new role ramp to on-target performance
• Quality and effectiveness. Reaction scores, knowledge gains, job application, business outcomes
• Completion rates and audit readiness
• Cost per learner, development hours per finished hour, content reuse
• Platform health. Uptime, search success, recommendation engagement, mobile usage

How to stand out

Resume tips

• Quantify outcomes, not activities
  • Reduced time to quota for new sales reps by 22 percent within two quarters
  • Cut safety incidents by 18 percent with targeted refreshers
  • Achieved 96 percent product launch readiness by go live date
• Name platforms and your governance scope, including budget and vendor list
• Show leadership metrics such as team size and internal promotions

Interview preparation

• Bring a two page brief: business need, learning solution, rollout plan, before and after metrics
• Be ready to whiteboard a capability map and an evaluation plan across Kirkpatrick levels
• Expect scenarios on influencing skeptical leaders, improving transfer to the job, and launching under tight timelines

First 90 days playbook

1. Listen and map. Meet business leaders and learners, review strategy and pipeline, audit catalog and metrics
2. Stabilize the core. Clarify governance, simplify the catalog, fix LMS data hygiene
3. Quick wins. Pilot two high value interventions and publish a simple dashboard of outcomes
4. Budget clarity. Consolidate duplicative contracts and set service levels
5. People and rituals. Create a monthly learning council and weekly standups tied to KPIs

Education planner

Good bachelor’s majors
Business, communications, psychology, education, human resources

Graduate programs that accelerate advancement
Master’s in training and development, organizational development, industrial and organizational psychology, or an MBA with leadership or operations focus. BLS notes that some employers require a master’s and many prefer it.

Short form upskilling

• Instructional design and authoring tool certificates
• ATD CPTD or APTD exam prep
• Data analysis for learning leaders, including statistics and dashboard design
• Change management and advanced facilitation
• Coaching skills for managers and leaders

Tools and tech you will use

• Learning systems. Enterprise LMS and LXP, virtual classroom tools, badging
• Authoring tools. Common e-learning and microlearning creators, screen capture, video editors
• Assessment and analytics. Item banks, A/B testing, survey tools, BI dashboards
• Workflow integrations. HRIS, talent marketplaces, CRM for customer education
  OOH notes the increasing use of digital and collaborative training methods that make these tools central to the role.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Direct, measurable impact on performance and retention
• Highly transferable across industries and company sizes
• Strategic exposure and regular executive interaction

Cons

• Constant pressure to prove ROI without direct line authority
• Change fatigue in fast moving environments
• Budget cycles and vendor complexity

Risk management
Define a measurement strategy up front, maintain a backlog of quick wins, and run a cross functional learning council that keeps priorities aligned.

Is this career a good fit for you

Choose this path if you enjoy solving real business problems through people and process, designing experiences, and leading teams while managing budgets and vendors. You will likely thrive if your motivations include teaching, building systems, analyzing data, and coaching leaders.

Still unsure
Take the free MAPP career assessment at Assessment.com. If your MAPP profile shows strong preferences for leadership, structure, communication, and practical problem solving with people, Training and Development Management is likely to fit you very well.

Sample job descriptions by level

Manager, single program
Own onboarding or leadership 101, manage two specialists, administer the LMS for a business unit, and report outcomes monthly.

Manager, portfolio
Lead designers and facilitators across several programs, manage vendor contracts and content libraries, and partner with HR business partners.

Director or Head of Learning
Own enterprise learning strategy, budget, platforms, and leadership development. Align learning with talent acquisition, performance management, and workforce planning.

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