Build the capability, careers and leadership pipeline behind one of New Zealand’s leading construction businesses.

Naylor Love is one of New Zealand’s largest and most respected national construction companies. With a proud history, strong values and a reputation built on long-term relationships, we are focused on becoming the best and most respected construction company in New Zealand, ever.

As our business continues to grow, our projects are becoming larger, more complex and more geographically diverse. That means the way we develop our people matters more than ever. We are looking for a practical, commercially minded and future-focused Group Learning and Talent Manager to help us build the skills, leadership depth, career pathways and internal talent pipelines we need for the future.

Based in Christchurch or Auckland, this is a newly shaped opportunity to make a real impact across the business. You will drive Naylor Love’s learning, talent and capability approach at a national level, working closely with our people to turn strategy into practical development that helps our people perform and progress.

About the role

In this blended strategic and operational hands-on role, you will develop and lead our company-wide learning and talent framework, ensuring our investment in learning is clearly aligned to business priorities, workforce needs and operational performance.

You will be responsible for building practical capability frameworks, leadership pathways, succession and talent processes, improving early career development programmes, career pathways and learning systems that support our people from site-based roles through to senior leadership.

You will also provide leadership to our National Training Coordinator and work closely with regional teams, subject matter experts, external providers, industry organisations and education partners to ensure training is practical, relevant and consistently delivered across the country.

This is not a role for someone who wants to design programmes from a distance. You will need to get close to the business, understand what good performance looks like in real construction environments, and translate that into clear, useful development solutions that leaders and teams can actually use.

Key responsibilities:

• Develop and drive Naylor Love’s national learning, talent and capability approach, aligned to our People & Culture strategy and five-year business plan

• Build a practical capability roadmap that supports future workforce needs, critical roles and priority business capabilities

• Work with operational, commercial, regional and functional leaders to define role competencies, leadership expectations and capability gaps

• Lead the implementation of leadership development programmes, in partnership with an external provider, across different levels of the business

• Strengthen talent, succession and PDP processes so high-potential people have clear development plans and future career pathways

• Build and improve early career pathways, including cadetships, apprenticeships and other future workforce pipelines

• Develop career pathways and competency frameworks for priority roles and functions across the business

• Own the learning systems, governance and reporting approach, including learning analytics and practical use of technology and AI where it adds value

• Ensure operational, commercial and Health & Safety training is linked to role competency, critical risk, compliance and business performance needs

• Partner with external training providers, industry bodies, education partners and professional organisations to strengthen Naylor Love’s capability pipeline

About you

You are an experienced learning, talent, organisational development or capability leader who knows how to turn strategy into practical action.

You will be confident working with senior leaders, regional teams and operational stakeholders, and you will be comfortable balancing big-picture thinking with hands-on delivery. You will bring structure, pace and credibility, while keeping solutions simple, useful and grounded in the realities of the business.

You will likely bring:

• eight to ten years’ experience in learning, capability, organisational development, talent or related roles

• experience leading enterprise-wide capability, learning or talent programmes

• strong knowledge of leadership development, succession, talent frameworks and career pathways

• experience developing capability frameworks, competency models or practical role-based development pathways

• confidence working with learning systems, governance, reporting and analytics

• strong stakeholder management, facilitation, coaching and influencing skills

• commercial acumen and the ability to link learning investment to business outcomes

• a relevant tertiary qualification in Human Resources, Organisational Development, Adult Education, Learning and Development, Psychology, Business or a related discipline

• experience in construction, infrastructure, engineering, project-based or operational environments would be highly valuable

• experience with apprenticeships, cadetships, vocational education or early career pathways would also be an advantage.

Why join Naylor Love?

At Naylor Love, our people are our ‘special sauce’. We are proud of our culture, our values and our commitment to developing people at every stage of their career.

This role gives you the opportunity to shape something meaningful: a national learning and talent approach that strengthens leadership, builds internal career pathways, supports succession, and helps our people deliver great work safely, consistently and confidently.

You will be joining a business with:

• a strong national footprint and a proud construction heritage

• a clear strategy and ambition to be New Zealand’s best and most respected construction company, ever

• a genuine commitment to developing people, careers and leadership

• national cadetship, apprenticeship and career development opportunities

• a practical, values-led culture where relationships, teamwork and doing the right thing matter

• a range of employee benefits, including health insurance for you and your family.

This is a chance to help build the people capability behind some of New Zealand’s most important construction projects - and to create learning and career pathways that make Naylor Love an even better place to work.

Apply now

If you are a practical, strategic and people-focused learning and talent leader who wants to build capability at scale, we would love to hear from you.

Join Naylor Love and help shape the future of learning, leadership and talent in one of New Zealand’s leading construction businesses.

Applications close on Friday, 7 August 2026.

To view a copy of the position description, please copy and paste the following link into your internet browser: https://expressonline.haineslink.co.nz/pdfs/806802_JobDesc.pdf

Naylor Love is an equal opportunities employer and committed to fostering, cultivating and preserving a culture of diversity and inclusion across all areas of our business

Building people, creating a sustainable future - He Whaihanga Tangata, He Waihanga Anamata Toitū.