Learning & Development Training Manager
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Posted 6 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.