Senior Director, Talent, Performance & Development

About us

One team. Global challenges. Infinite opportunities. At Viasat, we're on a mission to deliver connections with the capacity to change the world. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the globe communicate. We're looking for people who think big, act fearlessly, and create an inclusive environment that drives positive impact to join our team.

What you'll do

The Sr Director, Talent & Performance Development will shape and deliver the enterprise-wide approach to talent management, leadership development, performance and development. This individual will ensure the organization has sustainable pipelines of critical talent, effective and efficient performance processes, and impactful development programs. Operating with a high degree of project management rigor and stakeholder engagement, the leader will drive alignment of talent and learning practices to business strategy and implement large-scale Talent programs across the company, enabling leaders and employees to grow and perform at their best.

The Senior Director, Talent, Performance & Development is responsible for shaping and delivering the enterprise-wide strategy for talent management, performance management, leadership development, and employee growth. This leader ensures the organization has sustainable pipelines of critical talent, effective and efficient performance processes, and impactful development experiences that enable business success and organizational capability growth.

Operating through and with their team, this role brings strong project management discipline, stakeholder engagement, and change leadership to drive the design, implementation, and continuous improvement of enterprise talent programs. The leader partners closely with business and HR stakeholders to align talent practices with strategic priorities, ensuring leaders and employees have the tools, insights, and experiences needed to perform and grow at their best.

As the product owner, this role is responsible for defining and executing the talent technology and AI roadmap. The leader proactively identifies emerging technologies and opportunities to leverage artificial intelligence, automation, and data-driven insights to modernize talent products, simplify processes, improve decision-making, and enhance the employee and manager experience. By focusing human effort on high-value activities and automating transactional and administrative work where appropriate, this role ensures talent programs remain scalable, efficient, innovative, and future-ready while delivering measurable business value.

Key areas of accountability include talent management, succession planning, performance management, leadership development, learning strategy, and the continuous evolution of AI-enabled talent products and processes.

The day-to-day

• Talent Portfolio Management
• Ensure the development and execution of the Talent Roadmap, including acting as the product owner for the Performance, Development and Reward (PDR) cycle, working to continuously improve and embed the process globally - partnering with Reward colleagues for their input and expertise.
• Oversee the Talent Review process, succession planning, high-potential and critical roles identification, and individual development planning.
• Define, implement and embed career pathing and pipeline strategies.
• Management of a matrix relationship with the Talent Partners (who report to PCBPs), maintaining a relationship with them to drive consistency of approach to Talent Management activity.
• Partner closely with Executive Talent COE as an extension of the overall Talent Portfolio strategy and processes.
• Leadership Development Programs
• Design and deliver leadership development initiatives and online resource libraries, including Role of the People Leader and cohort programs.
• Maintain and evolve the Leader Competency Framework, whereby it initially serves as an aspirational standard, evolving to become a standard against which leaders are developed, recruited and performance managed.
• Create development experiences to accelerate the growth of current and future leaders, prioritizing the areas with biggest opportunity to optimize performance against organizational priorities.
• Learning and Development Programs
• Lead enterprise learning demand planning to identify organizational priorities (as relates to buy, build, borrow strategies and capabilities needed to support business execution and growth)
• Develop and maintain an enterprise skills and capabilities framework that defines critical future-ready skills, supports career growth and internal mobility, and informs talent, development, and succession strategies.
• Ensure alignment of leadership and management content to the leadership competency framework.
• Oversee creation and delivery of learning content, required learning, and capability bootcamps.
• Embed frameworks for career development, IDPs, mentoring, and self-directed learning.
• Ensure learning investments deliver measurable business outcomes.
• AI & Talent Technology Leadership
• Own the talent technology and AI roadmap, ensuring solutions align with business and talent priorities.
• Identify and implement AI and automation opportunities to improve talent, performance, learning, and development processes.
• Redesign talent programs with an AI-first mindset, streamlining workflows and enhancing employee and leader experiences.
• Partner with HR, IT, and business leaders to deliver scalable, data-driven talent solutions.
• Establish governance and adoption strategies to ensure responsible, effective use of AI across talent practices.
• Leverage analytics and emerging technologies to improve decision-making, program effectiveness, and operational efficiency.

What you'll need

• 10+ years experience leading enterprise talent management and/or learning & development strategies in complex, high-tech environments.
• Master's degree or higher in business, psychology or a related field
• Deep background in Industrial-Organizational (I-O) psychology principles, psychometrics, behavioral analytics, or data-validated evaluation methodologies.
• Proven success designing and implementing talent, performance, and leadership development frameworks.
• Strong expertise in organizational effectiveness, career architecture, talent assessment, and leadership competency models.
• Experience leveraging talent technologies, people analytics, and AI-enabled solutions to enhance talent products, processes, and employee experiences.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing, and relationship-building skills with senior executives.
• Strategic thinker with strong analytical, program management, and execution capabilities.
• Proven ability to lead, develop, and coach high-performing teams.
• Demonstrated ability to drive transformation, innovation, and adoption of new technologies and ways of working.
• US Citizenship is required for this position

What will help you on the job

• Prior exposure to global and complex organizational environments.
• Knowledge of best practices in talent management, including automated succession planning and pipeline management.
• Formal training or certification in I-O psychology concepts, leadership development, or learning methodologies

Salary range

$191,000.00 - $301,000.00 / annually. For specific work locations within San Jose, the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, the base pay range for this role is $237,000.00- $355,000.00/ annually

At Viasat, we consider many factors when it comes to compensation, including the scope of the position as well as your background and experience. Base pay may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Additional cash or stock incentives may be provided as part of the compensation package, in addition to a range of medical, financial, and/or other benefits, dependent on the position offered. Learn more about Viasat's comprehensive benefit offerings that are focused on your holistic health and wellness at https://careers.viasat.com/benefits.

EEO Statement

Viasat is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, seeking to create a welcoming and diverse environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, genetics, age, or veteran status or any other applicable legally protected status or characteristic. If you would like to request an accommodation on the basis of disability for completing this on-line application, please click here.