Learning & Development Training Manager
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Posted 13 days ago
About the role
About the Role
At COMO Lifestyle, we believe exceptional guest experiences begin with exceptional people. We are looking for an experienced Learning & Development Manager to drive learning, leadership capability, and service excellence across our lifestyle and dining concepts.
This role partners closely with business leaders to build a high-performing workforce by designing impactful learning solutions, developing future leaders, and embedding a culture of continuous improvement. The ideal candidate has a strong background in the food & beverage or hospitality industry , understands operational excellence, and excels at influencing stakeholders across multiple business functions.
Key Responsibilities:
Learning Strategy & Capability Development
- Design and execute the Learning & Development strategy to support COMO Lifestyle's business objectives and brand standards.
- Develop and facilitate engaging learning programmes covering service excellence, guest engagement, product knowledge, food safety, operational standards, and compliance.
- Lead leadership development initiatives for supervisors, managers, and high-potential talent to strengthen people management and coaching capabilities.
- Conduct training needs analysis through business performance, guest feedback, operational audits, and stakeholder consultation to identify capability gaps.
- Create blended learning solutions, including classroom training, on-the-job coaching, digital learning modules, and learning resources to enhance employee development.
Service Excellence & Operational Standards
- Champion a culture of service excellence by ensuring training programmes consistently reinforce COMO Lifestyle's luxury hospitality standards.
- Develop, review, and maintain operational Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across all F&B concepts to ensure consistency and operational excellence.
- Conduct regular outlet visits, service observations, training audits, and mystery assessments to evaluate service delivery and identify improvement opportunities.
- Lead learning initiatives for new outlet openings, menu launches, seasonal campaigns, and operational change management.
Business Partnership & Stakeholder Management
- Partner closely with Operations, HR, Culinary, Outlet Leaders, and cross-functional stakeholders to align learning initiatives with business priorities.
- Build strong relationships with key stakeholders to influence learning strategies and drive employee performance across multiple locations.
- Coach leaders on performance management, coaching conversations, and people development to strengthen internal leadership capability.
- Support onboarding programmes and talent development initiatives that improve employee engagement, retention, and succession planning.
Training Operations & Analytics
- Manage training calendars, learning records, competency assessments, and compliance documentation.
- Track learning effectiveness through KPIs, operational metrics, guest satisfaction scores, and post-training evaluations.
- Present regular training reports, insights, and recommendations to senior leadership to drive continuous improvement and business performance.
- Ensure all training content complies with food safety, workplace safety, and regulatory requirements.
Requirements:
- Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Learning & Development, Hospitality Management, Business, or a related discipline.
- Minimum 5 years' experience in Learning & Development, Training, or Organisational Development within the Food & Beverage, hospitality, restaurant, or premium lifestyle industry.
- Proven experience developing leadership programmes and coaching managers across operational teams.
- Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence and collaborate effectively across multiple departments and leadership levels.
- Experience supporting multi-site or multi-brand operations is highly preferred.
- Strong understanding of food & beverage operations, guest experience, luxury service standards, and operational excellence.
- Skilled facilitator with excellent presentation, coaching, communication, and relationship-building abilities.
- Experience developing digital learning content and blended learning programmes.
- Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret operational data and translate insights into actionable learning solutions.
- Proficient in Microsoft Office and Learning Management Systems (LMS) or other digital learning platforms.
- Passionate about people development, leadership capability, continuous improvement, and delivering exceptional guest experiences.