Talent & Development Manager (Retail Programmes)

(Part of the People Team – supporting all Chemist Warehouse Ireland stores)

Position Summary

This role owns the design, delivery, and continuous improvement of all talent and capability programmes within Chemist Warehouse Ireland. You will build and run programmes that grow our people at every stage: emerging talent, supervisors, retail managers, and leaders.

You’ll be hands-on: designing content, delivering training, evaluating impact, and strengthening our leadership bench across all stores. You’ll work closely with our Australian counterparts to coordinate existing leadership programmes and localise them for the Irish market.

Your work directly supports our ambition to be Ireland’s number one pharmacy and an employer of choice by building strong, confident, capable managers at every level.

Key Responsibilities

1. Programme Ownership & Design

• Design, implement, and continuously improve key capability programmes:
  • Emerging Talent Programme
  • Retail Supervisors Programme
  • Retail Management Programme
  • Leadership Development Programme (localising AU programme where appropriate)
• Conduct training needs analyses across stores and head office teams.
• Build practical, retail-ready learning content (modules, e-learning, toolkits, facilitator guides).
• Create assessments, reflection tools, and skills matrices to track development.

2. Training Delivery

• Deliver engaging, practical workshops (in-person & online).
• Coach supervisors and managers on people leadership fundamentals.
• Facilitate development sessions, skills training, and follow-up clinics.
• Support Retail Coordinators and Store Managers with on-the-floor coaching where needed.

3. Talent Development & Succession

• Build and maintain talent pipelines for supervisors, assistant managers, and store managers.
• Collaborate with HR Business Partners to identify high-potential employees and map their development paths.
• Support ongoing performance development and progression frameworks.

4. Leadership Programme Coordination

• Partner with Australian L&D to adopt and adapt leadership modules for the Irish context.
• Manage scheduling, communications, attendance tracking, and pre-work.
• Ensure a consistent leadership standard across our stores.

5. Evaluation & Continuous Improvement

• Measure programme impact through feedback, progression rates, store metrics, and manager capability indicators.
• Report on readiness, capability gaps, and programme effectiveness.
• Iterate programmes quickly based on feedback from store leaders and the People Team.

6. Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with the Retail Operations team, Store Managers, and Retail Coordinators.
• Support the People Team on store openings, onboarding enhancements, and people development initiatives.
• Champion the Chemist Warehouse culture by role-modelling our values and leadership expectations.

Experience & Qualifications

Essential

• 5–8 years’ L&D experience
• AND ideally 2–3 years in retail (either operational or L&D for retail).
• Strong retail experience — ideally multi-site or high-volume retail.
• Proven experience designing and facilitating training programmes.
• Comfortable training large groups and working directly in-store environments.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and coaching skills.
• Ability to create practical, simple, high-impact learning content.
• Strong planning, organisation, and evaluation skills.

Desirable

• Experience building talent or management development programmes.
• Familiarity with leadership models, learning methodologies, or L&D certifications.
• Experience working with or coordinating large-scale training rollouts.
• Ability to travel nationwide to support stores.

What This Role Delivers for Chemist Warehouse

• A consistent, high-quality pipeline of supervisors, managers, and future leaders
• Reduced turnover in critical roles (supervisors and store management)
• Stronger people leadership capability in stores
• Operational uplift through better trained, confident managers
• A clear development framework that supports retention and engagement