A couple of years back, I wrote a post talking about how much you can earn as an L&D consultant. I didn’t realise, but apparently it helped people and it got shared widely. I stopped tracking my blog stats and anything to do with reach a long time ago, so I couldn’t even tell you any engagement stats.
It makes sense to also talk about how much you can earn in an L&D role. Now, before I start, there is a lot of variance in role titles. A Head of Learning for a charity, a hospital, a financial services firm, a pharmaceutical, a manufacturer, a tech start up, will all have different definitions, and very different levels of responsibility.
Confusingly, a Head of Learning in Company A, may be the same as Senior Learning Consultant in Company B, the same as Director of Learning in Company C, Learning Manager in Company D, or Learning Business Partner in Company E. There is no consistency in titles of learning roles, and that doesn’t help when it comes to finding roles. So, if anything, don’t discount roles based on their titles. Look at the JD, which will give you a better sense of the work.
Even more confusingly, and very unhelpfully, is the lack of appreciation for transferable skills. Bias is strong in hiring managers and from recruiters. If you’ve developed a career in local government, the roles you’re likely to be recommended are with other local government organisations. The same is true if you’ve been in legal, financial services, tech companies, vendor side, etc, etc. Any time I’ve been searching for my next career move, I’ve made a personal choice to keep moving sector and industry. Personally, I think that’s made me a better L&Der. But, it’s hard to break the mould of recruitment.
Ok, those are the caveats.
If you’re in an entry level role, you’re looking at £18,000-£22,000. Entry levels equals:
- administrative work
- LMS management
- content management
If you’re doing design work, you’re looking between £25,000-£45,000. Design work equals:
- actual design of learning solutions
- using authoring tools
- maybe some consultancy about possible alternatives to e-learning or workshops
If you’re in a consultant type role, you’re looking between £30,000 and £50,000. Consulting work includes:
- design of learning solutions
- acting as a consultant to define learning needs and learning solutions
- using a variety of tools to deliver learning solutions
- training and or facilitation experience
If you’re in a manager role it could be anything from £35,000-£65,000. Manager roles are incredibly varied:
- design, delivery and management of learning programmes
- management of an LMS
- budget control
- team management
- responsible for learning strategy
If you’re in a leadership role, money starts to get big. We’re talking from £60,000-£100,000. We’re talking:
- deciding on tools, innovation and delivery
- ownership of learning strategy and learning programmes
- leadership of team of experts
- part of a leadership team
- probably part of a HR leadership team
If you’re in a director / VP / head of role, we’re talking £90,000-£150,000:
- definitely on a leadership team
- leading other leaders
- involved in enterprise/cross-organisational work
- responsibility for all learning and development
- probably responsible for inclusion and diversity, engagement, culture and talent development
The above is all broad brush strokes. Don’t take it as gospel. I’ve missed many many lines of description. Obvs this is all UK salary, so if you’re in another country, make your best adjustments. I’ve also missed a plethora of roles and niche work.
The above is my own observations, and experiences. It is not evidence-based with any kind of market research. I could be way off in my estimations. If you don’t agree with what I’ve written, that’s fine.
The more open and transparent we can be when talking about money, the more we help people make good career decisions that is right for them.
