Director Learning & Development

Job Description

Are you an entrepreneurial leader passionate about building high-performing teams and shaping the future of corporate learning? Join us to launch and lead a new, state-of-the-art learning creation hub that will deliver impactful solutions to our global workforce.

Purpose of the Position

As the Leader of our new L&D Regional Capability Center in Prague, you will be the architect and operator of a vital new function. You will build, lead, and scale a center of excellence responsible for producing high-quality learning content for our employees worldwide. This is a unique opportunity to establish a "business within a business," driving operational excellence, fostering a vibrant team culture, and making a tangible impact on our company's growth and our employees' development.

Welcome to Our Team

You will be joining Global Learning & Development (GLD), a dynamic and forward-thinking organization committed to creating a culture of continuous learning. You will report to the Executive Director of Learning Creation & Portfolio and serve as a key member of their leadership team. While you will build your own team in Prague, you will be an integral part of a collaborative global ecosystem, partnering with learning experts, HR leaders, and business stakeholders across the company to deliver learning at scale.

Main Responsibilities

• Build & Lead the Organization: Recruit, develop, and lead a multi-disciplinary team of learning designers, developers, project managers, and localization experts, fostering a culture of high engagement and performance.

• Establish the Capability: Design and execute a phased strategy to stand up and scale the center's operations, services, and impact from the ground up.

• Drive Operational Excellence: Own the center's end-to-end delivery performance, ensuring all projects meet targets for quality, timeliness, and budget.

• Manage Stakeholder Relationships: Serve as the primary point of contact for the center, partnering with global leaders to align on priorities, manage expectations, and report on performance.

• Oversee Financial Performance: Manage the center's budget, track key financial metrics, and drive cost efficiency through process improvement and standardization.

• Champion Quality & Standards: Ensure all work produced adheres to our global standards for learning design, accessibility, and brand compliance.

• Implement Governance & Workflow: Establish and manage the intake, allocation, and tracking of all production work, ensuring intelligent resource management and clear capacity planning.

• Serve as a Local HR Leader: Act as the primary HR-facing leader for the team in Prague, overseeing compliance, career development, and employee support in partnership with our HR division.

Your Profile

• Proven Leadership: Extensive experience leading, coaching, and developing multi-disciplinary teams, including managing other leaders.

• Operational & Financial Acumen: A strong background in managing budgets, driving operational efficiency, and using data to make informed business decisions.

• Experience Scaling Operations: Demonstrated success in building and scaling new functions, such as delivery hubs, shared service centers, or centers of excellence.

• Strategic & Execution Mindset: The ability to balance high-level strategic planning with hands-on operational management to both launch and sustain the center.

• Program Management Expertise: Exceptional organizational and project management skills, with a proven ability to manage complex projects and competing priorities.

• Collaborative Partner: A talent for building strong relationships and navigating a complex, global matrixed organization with a diverse set of stakeholders.

• Learning & Development Background: Experience in L&D operations, learning creation, or a related delivery-focused environment is highly beneficial, but we welcome transferable experience from backgrounds like PMO or IT delivery.

• Educational Foundation: A Bachelor’s degree is required; an advanced degree is a plus.

What We Offer

• Exciting work in a great team, global projects, international environment

• Opportunity to learn and grow professionally within the company globally

• Hybrid working model, flexible role pattern

• Pension and health insurance contributions

• Internal reward system plus referral program

• 5 weeks annual leave, 5 sick days, 15 days of certified sick leave paid above statutory requirements annually, 40 paid hours annually for volunteering activities, 12 weeks of parental contribution

• Cafeteria for tax free benefits according to your choice (meal vouchers, sport, culture, health, travel, etc.), Multisport Card

• Vodafone, Raiffeisen Bank, Foodora, and other discount programs

• Up-to-date laptop and iPhone

• Parking in the garage for drivers or showers for bikers

• Competitive salary, incentive pay, and many more

Required Skills:

Adult Learning Methodologies, Adult Learning Methodologies, Business Acumen, Change Management, Coaching, Curriculum Development, Decision Making, Digital Learning, Financial Education, Financial Performance, Financial Performance Management, Innovation, Instructional Design, Knowledge Transfer, Learning Operations, Organizational Performance Management, People Leadership, Process Improvements, Role Design, Stakeholder Management, Strategic Leadership, Strategic Planning, Strategic Thinking, Succession Planning, Talent Development {+ 2 more}

Preferred Skills:

Current Employees apply HERE

Current Contingent Workers apply HERE

Search Firm Representatives Please Read Carefully 
Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA, also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC, Rahway, NJ, USA, does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities. All CVs / resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at our company without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of our company.  No fee will be paid in the event a candidate is hired by our company as a result of an agency referral where no pre-existing agreement is in place. Where agency agreements are in place, introductions are position specific. Please, no phone calls or emails. 

Employee Status:

Regular

Relocation:

VISA Sponsorship:

Travel Requirements:

Flexible Work Arrangements:

Hybrid

Shift:

Valid Driving License:

Hazardous Material(s):

Job Posting End Date:

06/16/2026

*A job posting is effective until 11:59:59PM on the day BEFORE the listed job posting end date. Please ensure you apply to a job posting no later than the day BEFORE the job posting end date.