Job Description

Life Unlimited. At Smith+Nephew we design and manufacture technology that takes the limits off living. To design, develop, and deliver a comprehensive, enterprise‑wide People Leader Impact Strategy that cultivates an environment where every People Leader inspires clarity, confidence, engagement and alignment—creating and empowering high‑performing teams to achieve exceptional results. This role will lead the needs assessment, implement leader capability measurement, guide the build of interventions aligned to identified gaps, and drive accountability, recognition, and consequences linked to leadership expectations via a clear, programmatic roadmap to align leadership to the execution of our business strategy.

What will you be doing?

1. Strategy Development & Alignment

• Translate the leadership vision statement into a clear, actionable, enterprise‑wide strategy.
• Define clear people‑leader expectations at every level aligned to Enterprise Strategy.
• Ensure leadership interventions are aligned to identified capability gaps and designed to drive measurable performance improvement.

2. Assessment & Insights

• Design and deploy assessment tools and frameworks to measure capability, effectiveness, and behavioural consistency.
• Lead a full needs assessment to understand current leader and manager capability gaps.
• Identify data requirements and build the foundation for richer insight into leader performance.

3. Leadership Development & Interventions

• Shape a roadmap for leadership development, future‑skills readiness, and ongoing capability building (in partnership with L&D, Culture, I+B, SWP).
• In conjunction with Talent & L&D develop a system of targeted leadership interventions based on gap analysis and enterprise priorities.

4. Performance, Accountability & Recognition

• Work with Global Rewards define and embed clear recognition, reward, and consequence mechanisms tied directly to people‑leader expectations.
• Ensure leaders are held accountable for the behaviours and performance outcomes expected of their level.

5. Governance, Controls & Organisational Enablers

• Partner with all initiative owners that have projects ascertaining to People Leader Impact programme to ensure a joined up and cohesive approach is in place and to avoid duplication of efforts.
• Partner with ExCo to ensure continuous review, sponsorship, and decision making.
• Establish a comprehensive RACI to clarify People Leader responsibilities across HR, SLT, ExCo, and People Leaders.
• Identify and recommend removal of barriers (controls, approvals, systems) that impede leader effectiveness.

6. Reporting & Measurement

• Implement a People Leader Dashboard to monitor status, progress, and identify when and where interventions are required.
• Track enterprise metrics such as engagement, retention, bottom quartile leader improvement, and business performance.

7. Stakeholder Leadership

• Co‑ordinate a multi‑disciplinary working group including SLT, HRBPs, Internal Comms, Talent Management, Rewards, Inclusion & Belonging, Change Management and others.
• Ensure clear communication, engagement, and adoption across all leader levels.

What will you need to be successful?

Leadership & Strategy

• Proven capability in leadership development strategy, organisational effectiveness, or enterprise culture transformation.
• Strong influencing skills, with experience operating at ExCo and SLT levels.

Technical Expertise

• Diagnostic and needs assessment expertise.
• Strong understanding of leader capability models, leadership development, and behavioural frameworks.
• Experience in designing or deploying leader assessment solutions and dashboards.

Delivery & Change

• Demonstrated ability to lead complex, multi‑stakeholder strategic programmes.
• Expertise in change management and communication strategies.

Mindset & Behaviour

• Enterprise‑wide thinking; able to align interventions to strategy and forward‑looking skills needs.
• Confident facilitator and communicator.
• Bias for action, clarity, and accountability—mirroring the desired leadership culture.

Success Measures

• A clear and established milestone plan outlining the full programme of work is in place and regularly reviewed and adhered to.
• Clear, embedded leader expectations understood and adopted globally.
• Operational People Leader Dashboard in place.
• Improved leader‑capability metrics year‑on‑year (including bottom quartile uplift).
• Evidence of stronger behaviour‑based accountability.
• Completion of needs assessment, deployment of interventions, and measurable impact on engagement and performance.
• Positive feedback from SLT, ExCo, and People Leaders.

Location: UK or Europe

You Unlimited.

• The anticipated base compensation range for this position is $136,000 -$223,188 USD annually. The actual base pay offered to the successful candidate will be based on multiple factors, including but not limited to job-related knowledge/skills, experience, and geographic location. Compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate. In addition to base pay, we offer competitive bonus and benefits, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, 401(k), tuition reimbursement, medical leave programs, parental leave, generous PTO, paid company holidays, 8 hours of volunteer time annually, and a variety of wellness offerings such as EAP.

• Inclusion & Belonging: Committed to Welcoming, Celebrating and Thriving on Inclusion and Belonging, Learn more about our Employee Inclusion Groups on our website

• Your Future: Generous annual bonus, life insurance, Save As You Earn share options.

• Work/Life Balance: Flexible Vacation and Time Off, Paid Holidays and Paid Volunteering Hours, so we can give back to our communities!

• Your Wellbeing: Private Health and Dental plans, multisport card/my benefit platform and much more.

• Flexibility: Hybrid Working Model (For most professional roles).

• Training: Hands-On, Team-Customised, Mentorship, subsidies for language classes, certifications and postgraduate studies

Smith+Nephew provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, or disability.

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