Global Talent Development Leader

About the organisation

Van Leeuwen Buizen was founded almost one hundred years ago in 1924 when Piet van Leeuwen started trading iron and steel pipes. Nowadays, it is the number one pipe and tube specialist and has grown into a globally operating trading company. Delivering high-quality, sincerely caring about customers and employees and being entrepreneurial are in the DNA of Van Leeuwen. This is also noted by others, as Van Leeuwen is on the 14th place on the MT500 list of business with the best reputation in 2021 and on the first place in the category family businesses. Also, Van Leeuwen is continuously working on ways to make their supply chain more sustainable and building on social responsibility.

In 2019, Van Leeuwen acquired the Benteler Distribution Group. This has doubled their revenue and now 85% of their revenue is generated outside the Netherlands. This merger has made it a truly international company with over 2,500 employees in more than thirty- three countries in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Asia and North and South America. This network allows Van Leeuwen to provide customers around the world with the right pipes, tubes, and components at exactly the right moment.

After this acquisition, Van Leeuwen felt the urge to improve their business processes to be as effective and efficient as possible. Also, they are aware that at the end their people are the most important asset in creating value and growing as an organisation. This is well captured in their three strategic axes for 2023 - 2027 which are the best value creation by connecting with their customer, the most effective network by optimizing their business processes and their people as the key to creating the best value creation and effective network.

About the team

To lead this professionalization for HR, Caroline van Nieuwkerk (CHRO), joined the organisation end of 2020. She defined a people strategy in line with the organisational strategy and gather a team of HR experts to work together on implementing this. The HR team focusses on five points which are digitalising HR, develop leaders and invest in culture, manage, and develop their talents, reward, and recognize employees and pay attention to the well-being of employees. In the coming years, the Global HR team will focus on modernising and professionalizing HR on all these topics.

The team is led by the CHRO and consists of a Corporate HR Manager, a Global Talent & Development Manager (this role), a Global Compensation & Benefits Manager, a Workday Specialist and a Recruitment Manager. Furthermore, you are directly connected to the HR Leaders of the regions where Van Leeuwen operates with whom you meet regularly online and in person.

Your role

The aim of this role is to develop, manage and lead the global Talent Development function for the business in support of the realization of the strategic People Priorities. This role focusses on cascading the global HR strategy into a Talent Development framework and executing this framework across a matrix business around the world.

You will work hand in hand with the CHRO and other global HR team members, in addition you will lead the Recruitment function for the Netherlands and Group HQ functions. Finally,  you will align with Group leadership, Regional or Managing Directors, and regional HR leaders to guide and challenge them on all related Talent Development topics.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• For the Global business, approximately 2,500 employees:
  • As part of the global HR team, provide input to the formulation of the global HR strategy and policies from own expertise area and collaborate closely for success.
  • Translate the HR strategy into a Talent Development plan for Van Leeuwen consisting of new and on-going projects and initiatives.
  • Maintain a pulse on international trends in the area of talent, learning and development, and investigate the applicability and feasibility of these for Van Leeuwen and advise senior management in this regard in order to remain an attractive employer.
  • Lead the continued build and deployment of a Global Leadership Development Program to accelerate global leadership capabilities. Furthermore, cascade this initiative through to a bespoke Manager Development Program to ensure capability building for different target groups in the organization.
  • Through Talent Reviews gather insight in the talent pipeline and development and succession needs of the leadership layer of the organization and work closely with the HQ and Regions to identify talent plans and initiatives.
  • Organize, plan and conduct the yearly employee engagement survey in order to monitor employee engagement and foster a feedback culture.
  • Enable and support effective use of the implemented systematic people performance approach with the aim to create constructive motivational dialogues between manager and employees.
  • Identify (proactively and on demand) development needs within the organization and translate these into possible talent development programs and trainings meetings the needs of the business.
  • Consult and negotiate with external vendors for the provision of talent development services where required.
  • Design and deliver your own portfolio of learning & development programs to support the business in strategic growth areas.
  • Lead the development of a continuous learning and innovation culture within the Van Leeuwen group.
• For the HQ and Netherlands business, approximately 400 employees:
  • Define recruitment & selection policies in order to ensure a consistent process throughout the entire organization.
  • Ensure we use consistent ways of working to attract, retain and develop a pipeline of outstanding talent with the skills we need for the future by clearly defining the recruitment and selection processes