Recruitment Data Policies Research & Early Development Digital Academy Lead

About the role

You will lead the Research & Early Development Academy portfolio as a key capability-building pillar of UCB's digital transformation. Working in partnership with the Digital Transformation programme and Talent organisation, translate strategic priorities, future workforce needs and emerging digital capabilities into scalable learning experiences, communities and development pathways that accelerate adoption, strengthen digital behaviours and prepare the organisation for new ways of working. Drive governance, engagement and continuous improvement to ensure the Academy delivers measurable capability growth and business value. 

Who you'll work with

Working with Digital, Talent and early Research and Development.

What you'll do

• Define and evolve the learning strategy for Research & Early Development, translating capability and workforce needs into role-based learning pathways and development experiences. 

• Lead and grow a portfolio of academies, ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and expanding offerings to address emerging capability requirements. 

• Design engaging learner journeys that progress learners from awareness through application, delivering practical and impactful capability development. 

• Build and lead a community of Academy Champions, leveraging peer networks to enhance learning, mentoring, adoption, and content quality. 

• Oversee content strategy and curation, ensuring learning resources are relevant, high quality, and organised into coherent learning experiences. 

• Drive Academy engagement, communications, and brand visibility, establishing a compelling value proposition and fostering a culture of continuous learning. 


• Own Academy governance, platform experience, and impact measurement, ensuring effective operations, strong learner experiences, and continuous improvement through adoption, feedback, and capability outcomes.

Interested?  For this role you'll need the following education, experience and skills

• Strong experience in learning experience design, capability development, product management, platform ownership or change enablement 

• Ability to translate capability frameworks and workforce needs into practical learning experiences and development pathways 

• Strong understanding of scientific roles, workflows and capability needs within a research environment 

• Excellent communication, branding, and stakeholder management skills 

• Comfortable owning complex, cross-cutting initiatives end-to-end 

• Experience working across learning, transformation, talent or organisational development initiatives