Chief Skilling Officer

Job description

Role Purpose Lead the organization's technical capability development agenda to build a future-ready engineering and manufacturing workforce aligned with business growth, technology evolution, and emerging skill requirements. The role is responsible for developing enterprise-wide technical learning strategies, strengthening technical competencies, designing capability-building frameworks, building industry-academia partnerships, and creating sustainable talent pipelines for current and future business needs. The position is envisaged as a key capability-building leadership role that will help establish the foundation for a future Engineering Academy and drive technical workforce readiness across the organization. Role Context • Leads enterprise-wide technical capability development initiatives. • Responsible for technical skilling, workforce readiness, competency development, curriculum architecture, and future-skills development. • Works closely with business leaders, engineering leaders, HRBPs, functional heads, and external academic partners. • Drives capability development for engineering, manufacturing, project management, quality, digital, and specialist functions. • Establishes technical learning frameworks, certification pathways, university partnerships, and talent development ecosystems. • Acts as the custodian of the organization's technical capability-building strategy.. Key Accountabilities Technical Capability Strategy & Workforce Readiness • Develop and execute enterprise-wide technical capability development strategy aligned with business and technology roadmaps. • Identify current and future capability requirements across engineering, manufacturing, project management, quality, and specialist functions. • Establish capability-development roadmaps to support workforce readiness and business growth. • Build competency frameworks and capability progression pathways for critical technical roles. Curriculum Architecture & Learning Frameworks • Design enterprise-wide technical learning architectures, curricula, and capability-development frameworks. • Develop role-based learning journeys and certification pathways for engineers, specialists, and technical professionals. • Create structured learning frameworks for campus trainees and early-career talent. • Benchmark best practices and continuously enhance technical learning methodologies. Campus Talent Development • Design and institutionalize structured development programs for Graduate Engineer Trainees (GETs) and other entry-level technical talent. • Ensure campus trainees are effectively prepared for deployment into business-critical roles. • Develop technical training pathways, assessments, and readiness frameworks aligned to organizational requirements. • Partner with business leaders to continuously refine trainee development programs. Learning Operations & Delivery • Manage internal and external training delivery programs. • Oversee learning calendars, learning platforms, and training infrastructure. • Ensure effective deployment of virtual and classroom learning solutions. • Monitor training quality and learning adoption. Employee Upskilling & Future Skills Development • Design and drive enterprise-wide technical upskilling initiatives in emerging technologies and future skills. • Develop programs to address niche capability requirements and critical skill gaps. • Establish specialist development pathways and certification-led learning interventions. • Support workforce transformation through continuous technical capability enhancement. Industry-Academia Partnerships & Talent Pipeline Development • Establish strategic partnerships with universities, engineering institutions, research centres, and industry bodies. • Engage with academic leaders, deans, faculty members, and researchers to co-create industry-relevant curricula and specialized programs. • Build strong talent pipelines for critical and niche technical skills. • Drive collaborative initiatives, industry-academia projects, internships, and future-skills programs. • Leverage academic partnerships to strengthen organizational capability and workforce readiness. Capability Analytics & Effectiveness • Monitor technical capability KPIs and workforce readiness measures. • Assess effectiveness and impact of capability-development initiatives. • Develop dashboards and analytics to track capability maturity and skill development outcomes. • Identify capability gaps and recommend improvement interventions. Team Leadership • Lead teams responsible for technical capability development and workforce readiness initiatives. • Build internal expertise in curriculum design, competency frameworks, and capability-building methodologies. • Foster a culture of continuous technical learning and professional growth. Key Interfaces Internal Business & Functional Leaders (Business Heads, Functional Heads, HRBPs/Location HR Heads) – Capability requirements, Workforce development priorities, Future skills and talent planning. Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality & Project Functions - Technical competency requirements, Capability-building interventions, Workforce readiness programs External Universities, Institutes & Certification Bodies – Curriculum co-creation, Industry-academia partnerships, Talent pipeline development Industry Bodies & Certification Organizations – Technical certifications, Future-skills development, Specialist capability-building initiatives Critical Competencies Functional Competencies Technical Capability Development, Curriculum Design & Architecture, Competency Framework Development, Engineering Talent Development, Workforce Capability Planning, Industry-Academia Collaboration, Technical Learning Strategy, Future Skills Development, Certification Framework Design, University Partnership Management, Learning Analytics & Capabi