Learning and Development Specialist Job Description (2026): Duties, Skills and Salary
A learning and development specialist designs and runs the training that helps employees do their jobs better: onboarding, skills workshops, compliance training, and leadership development. They work with managers to figure out what gap a training is supposed to close, then build content, run or coordinate sessions, and check whether it worked.
L&D specialists sit inside HR at companies large enough to invest in structured training, and the tools range from in-person workshops to e-learning platforms and LMS-hosted courses. The best ones resist requests for a training when the real problem is a process, a tool or a manager, not a skills gap.
Learning and Development Specialist job description template
Copy it, replace everything in [brackets] and cut what doesn't apply. Keep the requirements to what the job really needs.
Template · replace the [brackets]
Learning and Development Specialist
[Company] · [City and office days, or remote with the countries or time zones you hire in] · [Full-time]
About [Company]
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, who it serves and why this team matters now.]
About the role
[Company] is hiring a learning and development specialist to build and run training programs for [team or company]. You'll design onboarding and skills content, coordinate delivery, and measure whether training changes performance.
What you'll do
- Design onboarding programs for new hires in [department/role].
- Build training content: workshops, e-learning modules and job aids.
- Run or coordinate live training sessions and manage the training calendar.
- Partner with managers to identify skill gaps and recommend training solutions.
- Maintain and update courses in the [LMS, e.g. Workday Learning or Cornerstone].
- Track completion, feedback and performance impact of training programs.
- Support leadership development and manager training initiatives.
- Keep compliance training current with [policy/regulatory] requirements.
What you'll bring
- [X]+ years in training, L&D or instructional design.
- Experience designing training content for adult learners.
- Comfortable facilitating in-person or virtual sessions for groups.
- Working knowledge of an LMS and basic e-learning authoring tools.
- Ability to translate a business problem into a training solution, or push back when it isn't one.
- Clear written and verbal communication across levels of the organization.
Nice to have
- Instructional design certification or background (e.g. ADDIE, Cathy Moore's Action Mapping).
- Experience with authoring tools such as Articulate 360 or Camtasia.
- Background in [industry-specific compliance, e.g. healthcare or finance].
- Experience building leadership or management development programs.
What we offer
- [Pay range: e.g. $X–$Y base salary, plus bonus or equity if offered]
- [Professional development budget, flexible hours, access to conferences]
- [Health cover, retirement or pension plan, paid time off, parental leave]
- [Work authorization: whether you can sponsor a visa or hire through an employer of record]
[Our process: a recruiter call, a sample design exercise building a short training outline, an interview with HR and a hiring manager, and a short presentation of your design.]
[Your equal opportunity statement, and how candidates can ask for adjustments during the process]
Put the pay range in the ad. Several US states, including California, Colorado, New York and Washington, require it in job postings, and the EU Pay Transparency Directive gives applicants the right to know the starting pay or its range before the interview.
Learning and Development Specialist duties by seniority
What the job usually looks like at each level. Pitch the ad at one level and say which in the title.
Junior
- Builds training materials and runs sessions from an existing design.
- Coordinates logistics and tracks attendance and completion.
- Learns the business areas training supports.
Mid-level
- Owns design and delivery for a program area, such as onboarding or compliance.
- Partners directly with managers to scope training requests.
- Analyzes training feedback and iterates on content.
Senior
- Sets the L&D strategy and priorities for the company or a major function.
- Leads leadership development and succession-related training.
- Mentors other L&D specialists and manages vendor and LMS relationships.
Learning and Development Specialist career path
- Training Coordinator
- L&D Specialist
- Senior L&D Specialist
- L&D Manager or Director
People move into L&D from teaching, HR generalist roles, instructional design or subject-matter expert roles who started training others informally. From here the path leads to L&D management, instructional design leadership, or broader HR management.
Similar roles
- Instructional Designer job description
Focuses on building course content rather than facilitating and managing programs.
- HR Generalist job description
Covers the full range of HR duties, with training as one part of the role.
- HR Manager job description
Manages the HR function broadly rather than specializing in training.
- Teacher job description
Teaches a fixed curriculum to students rather than designing workplace training.
Learning and Development Specialist job description FAQ
What does a learning and development specialist do?
Designs and delivers training programs like onboarding, skills workshops and compliance courses, working with managers to identify what training should fix and checking afterward whether it worked.
What's the difference between L&D and instructional design?
Instructional designers focus mainly on building course content and e-learning. L&D specialists often do that plus facilitation, program coordination and working directly with managers on training needs; the roles overlap a lot in smaller companies.
What skills should an L&D job description ask for?
Experience designing training for adults, facilitation skills, comfort with an LMS, and the judgment to identify when a performance problem isn't actually a training problem. Instructional design certifications are useful but not always required.