Training and Development Manager

Location:

This position will be onsite at our corporate offices in Allen, Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth area).

Full-time W-2 ONSITE opportunity (not remote)!

Work Eligibility:

• Candidates must be legally authorized to work in the United States without requiring employer-sponsored visa sponsorship now or in the future.
• Candidates must have permanent work authorization in the United States. Sol-Ark does not provide visa sponsorship, including but not limited to F-1 CPT, F-1 OPT (including STEM OPT), H-1B, or any other employment-based visa requiring future sponsorship.

About the Position:

We are seeking a Training and Development Manager to partner closely with the HR Director to build and implement Sol-Ark's training and talent-development framework in a fast-growing manufacturing business with evolving learning infrastructure. Jointly set priorities, standards, resources, and a roadmap for onboarding, workforce skills, frontline leadership, professional growth, and high-potential talent. Within this shared direction, lead assigned program design, delivery, LMS administration, measurement, and improvement in collaboration with HR Business Partners, functional leaders, and subject-matter experts. Balance strategic planning with hands-on execution; the HR Director and business leaders share responsibility for direction, sponsorship, and adoption.

Responsibilities:

Learning strategy, framework, systems, and governance

• Partner with the HR Director and business leaders to assess skills and leadership gaps, set priorities, and develop a companywide learning plan with clear accountabilities.

• Build learning pathways for entry-level, manufacturing, technical and professional employees, frontline supervisors, emerging leaders, and high-potential talent.

• With the HR Director and functional owners, establish training standards, competency and skills matrices, curricula, learning records, and scalable procedures.

• Lead LMS setup, administration, and improvement with the HR Director, IT, HR Operations, and vendors; manage content, assignments, completion tracking, reporting, and data integrity.

Employee onboarding, workforce skills, and training delivery

• With hiring managers and HR Business Partners, design structured onboarding and role-readiness plans with 30-, 60-, and 90-day milestones, manager ownership, assessments, and documented proficiency checks.

• Coordinate job-specific instruction, cross-training, and process-change training with Operations, Engineering, Customer Support, Safety, Quality, and other subject-matter experts.

• Personally develop and facilitate classroom, small-group, virtual, and on-the-job training; create instructor guides, job aids, manager toolkits, and train-the-trainer programs for varied skill levels and shifts.

• Coordinate calendars, instructors, and training access across both facilities while limiting disruption to production and essential operations.

Frontline management, talent, and organizational development

• With the HR Director and HR Business Partners, develop and deliver frontline-supervisor training in communication, performance expectations, coaching, feedback, engagement, accountability, conflict resolution, and leadership.

• With HR Business Partners and operations leaders, identify recurring management challenges, reinforce learning through workplace coaching, and verify improvements in supervisory practices.

• With the HR Director and department leaders, develop learning for new managers, high potentials, and succession candidates; connect development plans to performance reviews, job skills, career growth, and business needs.

• Support organizational change by helping managers and employees adopt new processes and technologies through communication, training, pilots, reinforcement, and follow-up.

Measurement, continuous improvement, and business partnership

• With the HR Director and functional owners, define success measures and baselines; track completion, participation, time to proficiency, skills validation, supervisor coverage, and observable post-training results.

• Use Excel, LMS reporting, employee feedback, and operational data to evaluate training effectiveness; present concise findings, recommendations, and progress to technical and business leaders.

• Coordinate learning resources, materials, third-party providers, and assigned budgets within HR Director-agreed priorities; evaluate delivery options and recommend investments based on business impact.

• Maintain auditable training records and coordinate required or safety-related learning with department owners, preserving their technical and compliance accountability.

Scaling and startup-style operating environment

• Work effectively in a lean, entrepreneurial, high-growth environment with shifting priorities, incomplete processes, and disconnected systems; add practical structure without unnecessary bureaucracy.

• Own assigned programs from design through sustained implementation; collaborate with the HR Director, HR Business Partners, and functional owners to build infrastructure, develop content, deliver training, resolve adoption barriers, and refine practices.

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of five years of progressively responsible training, learning and development, talent development, or organizational development experience in a manufacturing, industrial, or similarly operations-intensive setting, including substantive ownership of program design and implementation.

• Proven ability to assess needs and build learning infrastructure from limited or inconsistent processes, with examples of successful program launches, management adoption, and measurable outcomes.

• Proficiency with LMS administration, learning records, and course management; strong Microsoft 365 skills, especially Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Teams, and Outlook.

• Strong instructional design, facilitation, presentation, and coaching skills across entry-level, technical, professional, and supervisory audiences; ability to turn complex topics into practical learning.

• Strong business acumen, analytical thinking, project execution, organization, and stakeholder influence; able to work independently amid competing priorities.

• High emotional intelligence, judgment, adaptability, and credibility; able to navigate ambiguity, feedback, and resistance to change.

• Ability to work primarily onsite and flex training hours to support operating shifts and time-sensitive business needs.

Preferred Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Adult Learning, Instructional Design, Business Administration, or a related field.

• Experience building an enterprise learning function in a startup-like, rapidly scaling, or transforming organization with immature or fragmented learning systems.

• Experience with manufacturing skills matrices, technical and safety-training coordination, supervisor academies, high-potential development, succession planning, and career paths.

• Experience with e-learning tools, blended learning, train-the-trainer methods, vendor evaluation, and training impact measurement; CPTD, APTD, or related certification a plus.

Benefits:

We offer a competitive salary and performance-based bonus program, medical, dental, vision, accidental, FSA, HSA, Paid Time Off (PTO), and 401(k). ­­