Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Organizational Development Director

🎯 Role Definition

The Organizational Development Director is a strategic HR leader responsible for designing, implementing, and measuring organization-wide interventions that improve effectiveness, accelerate change, and develop leadership and talent across the enterprise. This role partners with executive stakeholders to translate business strategy into organization design, leadership and capability-building programs, and measurable culture initiatives. The ideal candidate blends deep OD expertise, data-driven diagnostics, program management discipline, and strong coaching and influence skills.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Talent Management Manager
Learning & Development Director / Manager
HR Business Partner (Senior)

Advancement To:

VP of People & Organization Development
Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO)
Head of Global Organizational Effectiveness

Lateral Moves:

Director, Leadership Development
Director, Change Management
Director, Talent & Succession Planning

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead the development and execution of a multi-year Organizational Development strategy aligned to corporate priorities, articulating clear objectives, milestones, ROI metrics and governance to senior leadership.
Partner with the executive team and HR business partners to diagnose structural, capability and culture gaps using quantitative and qualitative diagnostics (org design, role clarity, workflows, engagement surveys, focus groups, interviews).
Design and implement major organization design and redesign initiatives—defining operating models, span of control, reporting relationships, job families and role profiles—to support strategic growth, M&A or transformation.
Own enterprise change management programs for strategic initiatives, including stakeholder mapping, change impact assessments, communications plans, sponsor coalitions and adoption metrics.
Build and scale leadership development programs (from frontline to executive) including high-potential programs, succession planning, executive coaching, assessment centers and custom curricula to accelerate capability maturity.
Create and implement a consistent competency model and performance framework used across talent processes (recruitment, performance management, development planning and succession).
Lead the design and execution of talent review and succession planning cycles, advising leaders on talent moves, development plans, and critical role readiness.
Design and manage organization effectiveness metrics and dashboards (turnover, engagement, performance distribution, learning ROI) and present insights and recommendations to the C-suite.
Develop and operationalize employee engagement and cultural change initiatives, partnering with communications, equity & inclusion, and HR operations teams to drive sustainable behavior change.
Direct the selection, implementation and optimization of learning technology and HR tools supporting OD work (LMS, talent assessment platforms, survey tools and HRIS integrations).
Oversee complex cross-functional OD projects end-to-end—setting scope, timelines, budgets, vendor selection, partner alignment and risk mitigation—to ensure on-time, on-budget delivery with measurable outcomes.
Provide strategic coaching and facilitation to senior leaders and teams on topics such as leading change, performance conversations, team effectiveness and conflict resolution.
Lead diagnostic interventions such as working sessions, design sprints and pulse surveys to rapidly surface root causes and design targeted interventions.
Establish and manage strategic relationships with external OD consultants, assessment vendors, coaching networks and universities to bring best practices and scalable solutions into the organization.
Build and grow a high-performing OD team: hire, mentor, set performance objectives, and create career pathways to scale internal capability.
Translate organizational strategy into practical talent and people enablement roadmaps—defining priorities, resource needs and phased implementation plans to maximize business impact.
Ensure compliance with employment regulations and ethical standards in all OD processes and maintain documentation for major organizational changes and restructures.
Drive cost-benefit analyses to evaluate program investments (leadership programs, talent platforms, change management spend) and recommend funding priorities based on strategic ROI.
Champion diversity, equity and inclusion within OD initiatives by designing inclusive leadership curricula, diverse talent pipelines and bias-free assessment processes.
Standardize and scale onboarding and team-formation programs for new business units, mergers or large reorganizations, reducing time-to-productivity and building alignment.
Conduct post-implementation reviews to capture lessons learned, codify best practices and continuously improve OD playbooks and toolkits.
Act as a key decision advisor in workforce planning exercises—balancing skills forecasting, hiring, redeployment and offboarding strategies to support business agility.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc senior leadership requests for organizational diagnostics, scenario planning and rapid redesign recommendations.
Develop and maintain a centralized OD knowledge base, templates, toolkits, and training materials to enable HR partners and business leaders.
Collaborate with HR operations on role taxonomy, job leveling and compensation alignment as part of major design changes.
Facilitate cross-functional working groups to test and refine new team structures and governance models before enterprise rollouts.
Serve as an internal change agent and OD evangelist—running roadshows, brown-bags and leader roundtables to promote adoption and sustainment.
Provide oversight for vendor and consultant engagements—drafting RFPs, evaluating proposals, negotiating contracts and managing delivery quality.
Monitor industry trends in organizational design, future of work, and talent analytics to recommend innovative approaches and pilot programs.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Organizational design and operating model development (large-scale redesigns and start-ups).
Change management frameworks (Prosci, ADKAR, Kotter) and practical application across complex programs.
Talent assessment and succession planning tools (assessment centers, 360s, psychometric instruments).
Learning design and curriculum development for leadership and capability-building programs.
HRIS and talent technology proficiency (Workday, SuccessFactors, Cornerstone, LMS, engagement survey platforms).
People analytics and data visualization (experience with HR metrics, dashboards, Tableau, Power BI, Excel advanced).
Project and program management skills (agile delivery, stakeholder governance, budget management).
Competency modeling and job architecture design.
Vendor selection, contracting and vendor performance management.
Regulatory and HR compliance knowledge relevant to organizational restructuring and workforce changes.

Soft Skills

Strategic thinking and business acumen—translating business strategy into people and organization interventions.
Executive presence and credibility when advising CEO and senior leadership.
High-impact stakeholder management and influencing across matrixed environments.
Powerful facilitation and group process skills for workshops, offsites and design sprints.
Coaching and mentoring aptitude—supporting leaders through behavior change.
Exceptional communication skills—clear, persuasive storytelling with data and narrative.
Collaborative mindset with ability to build cross-functional partnerships.
Resilience and adaptability in ambiguous, high-pressure change environments.
Critical thinking and problem-solving with a bias for action.
Cultural sensitivity and inclusive leadership orientation.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Human Resources, Organizational Psychology, Business Administration, Industrial/Organizational Psychology or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Organizational Development, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, MBA, or related advanced degree.
Professional certifications such as Prosci, SHRM-SCP, CIPD, or ACC/ICF coaching credentials are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Organizational Development / Industrial-Organizational Psychology
Human Resources Management / Business Administration
Leadership Development / Adult Education

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 8 – 15+ years of progressive HR/OD experience with at least 5+ years in a senior leadership role leading enterprise-wide OD or change programs.

Preferred:

Proven track record leading organization redesigns, enterprise change initiatives, and leadership development programs in mid-to-large scale organizations (500–5,000+ employees).
Experience advising executive teams and operating as an HR strategic partner.
Demonstrated success using people analytics to drive decision-making and measure program impact.
Experience managing budgets, external consultants and cross-functional project teams.