Learning & Development Leader I

BTD is a fast-growing metalworking company. We provide custom metalwork services for some of the world’s top brands. Our 1100 employees work from four facilities throughout the Midwest and Southeast. We invest in our people, our equipment, and our facilities to offer our clients the best value possible. We are also a wholly owned subsidiary of Otter Tail Corporation, a publicly traded company on NASDAQ.

Summary: With direction from the Director of Learning & Development, the Learning & Development Leader I, serves as a learning facilitator, program leader, and advisor to operational leadership in the planning, development, delivery, and evaluation of learning and talent development initiatives. This role facilitates and evaluates learning and talent development initiatives that improve employee performance, support career growth, strengthen leadership pipelines, and advance business objectives. The Learning & Development Leader I partners with operational leaders to identify capability gaps, develop talent solutions and supports workforce development strategies focused primarily on hourly employees. 

Safety is #1 at BTD: Our expectation is that every employee: 1) Strictly follows safety policies, rules and safe work methods. 2) Promptly corrects or reports safety hazards or unsafe conditions. Promptly reports injuries for prompt diagnosis and treatment. 3) Makes regular suggestions for safety process improvements to support continuous improvement in safety.

Essential Functions:

Facilitation 

• Facilitate talent development experiences that support employee growth, leadership readiness, and career advancement.  
• Deliver engaging learning experiences that promote knowledge transfer, skill development, and learner participation. 
• Adapt facilitation approaches to meet the needs of diverse audiences, including frontline manufacturing employees and leaders. 
• Coach individuals and teams to reinforce learning application and performance improvement. 
• Serve as a subject matter resource for learning best practices and adult learning principles.

Program Management 

• Manage learning and development programs from planning through evaluation. 
• Identify skill and performance gaps and implement effective development solutions. 
• Support onboarding, technical skills training, leadership development, career progression, succession initiatives and workforce capability programs. 
• Monitor program effectiveness and use data, feedback, and business results to drive continuous improvement. 
• Ensure consistent learning experiences and standards across locations.

Administrative 

• Maintain training records, certifications, compliance documentation, learning rosters, and reporting requirements. 
• Coordinate program logistics including scheduling, participant communication, materials, and learning resources. 
• Monitor required certifications and recertifications and ensures timely completion. 
• Generate, analyze and distribute learning and development metrics, dashboards, and reports to support business decisions and workforce planning. 
• Ensure training documentation, learning content, and records are current and accurate.

Stakeholder Management 

• Partner with operations, safety, HR, quality, and site leadership to identify learning and capability needs. 
• Build strong relationships with leaders to align development solutions with business priorities. 
• Consult with supervisors and managers regarding employee development, onboarding, skill progression, and career pathways. 
• Gather feedback from stakeholders and learners to continuously improve learning programs and services. 
• Influence and support the adoption of learning initiatives across the organization.

Required Qualifications

• 3 years of experience in Learning & Development, Training, Workforce Development, Human Resources, or a related field. 
• Experience facilitating instructor-led, virtual, or blended learning programs. 
• Experience coordinating projects, programs, or organizational initiatives. 
• Experience partnering with leaders to identify performance, training, and development needs. 
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities, timelines, and stakeholders. 
• Strong presentation, facilitation, communication, and relationship-building skills. 
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and learning-related systems, reporting tools and databases.
• Ability to travel up to 40% 

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in a manufacturing, industrial, skilled trades, or frontline workforce environment. 
• Experience supporting career development, succession planning, and leadership pipelines. 
• Experience leading or mentoring trainers, facilitators, or learning professionals. 
• Experience supporting multi-site or multi-shift operations.

Physical Demands: 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. While performing the duties of the job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use of hands and fingers to handle or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; taste or smell. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

Work Environment: The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of the job, the employee may be exposed to weather conditions. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Compensation Salary Range: OTC10 $74,759 - $112,172. The range for this position is being displayed in compliance with all state and local regulations. Salaries are set based on a number of factors to include an individual's job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and education. This means that no two candidates are alike. Please keep in mind that the range mentioned above is the full base salary range for the role. Hiring at the maximum of the range would not be typical in order to allow for future & continued salary growth. The range provided above does not include additional compensation such as bonus, health benefits, vacation, 401(K) match, etc.