Director, IP Development

This remote position sits within the Korn Ferry Institute (KFI), an innovation center for Korn Ferry focused on illuminating key trends and drivers of human and organizational performance. KFI develops robust scientific research, cutting-edge intellectual property, and state-of-the-art analytics that are infused into Korn Ferry solutions. We provide unparalleled insights, thought leadership, research, data, and expertise. Our work enables individuals, teams, and organizations to make better-informed decisions to thrive in the new economy and to exceed their potential on their journey to greatness.

The Director, IP Development is integral to creating foundational content and intellectual property (IP) in support of all Korn Ferry solutions including assessment and succession, leadership and professional development, and talent acquisition. Leveraging scientific research, data, and intellectual property, this role will also support the development of new and innovative capabilities that add value to our clients and maintain our competitive advantage.

Collaborating with other KFI professionals from diverse disciplines (including industrial/organizational, quantitative, and educational psychology; sociology; neuroscience; and data science), this position will research, ideate, develop, improve and align relevant core content and IP. The position is also expected to lead and/or support initiatives that modernize and future-proof our ability to develop IP and achieve optimal organizational performance.

Key Responsibilities

The Director, IP Development is responsible for developing core content and foundational IP appropriate for Korn Ferry’s digital platforms which enable further revenue growth. Examples include workplace assessment-related item development; reports/outputs for the purposes of selection, potential identification, coaching and development; and business simulation IP for the purposes of assessment or development centers, including readiness and succession planning. This role also supports the expansion of Korn Ferry IP through assisting with quantitative and qualitative research, including advancing the scalability and automation of our IP and related content development efforts. Supporting KFI to integrate innovative, research-driven outcomes, enable various channels, and promote Korn Ferry IP within Korn Ferry and in support of our clients is also expected in this role.

KFI is a highly agile, matrixed organization with dozens of projects active at any one time, many of which are strategic and high priority. It is expected that the person in this role will develop into one of the senior members of KFI who will lead and/or support multiple complex projects at one time. This may involve collaboration across the research, thought leadership, data analytics, IP, and measurement areas, and the projects may involve multiple cross-functional stakeholders. It is expected this role will:

• Support and/or lead projects to design and develop new and innovative IP in the assessment and succession, leadership and professional development, and talent acquisition domains, bridging traditional and more modern techniques. Examples of IP include assessment content (e.g., items, instructions, rating scales), client-facing reports, simulation-based leadership assessment materials, development resources, and enablement materials such as interpretation guides, and technical briefs/manuals.
• Project lead and execute core content and IP design and development for strategic priorities across KF solutions including at the individual and team level, and for KF’s lines of business: Advisory, Search, RPO, Digital, and KF Advance.
• Partner closely with colleagues and stakeholders to support the ongoing enablement, enhancement, and migration of our assessments and collective IP assets that are consumed by our clients. This includes supporting communication and enablement efforts to ensure adoption of relevant IP including technical documentation and reports, and processes and practices to support appropriate and most effective use of KF IP.
• Identify opportunities to enhance existing IP to support a variety of organizational and talent applications including standardized and scalable practices.
• Collaborate closely with other members of KFI focused on innovation, new developments, and technologies within relevant domain expertise.
• Provide subject matter expertise and scientific support for Korn Ferry solutions business development efforts and marquee accounts, including assessment and succession, learning and professional development, talent acquisition, Digital KF Assess, and KF Advance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including product managers, solution architects, business analysts, UX professionals, and quality assurance to build scalable systems, solutions, and outputs.
• Stay up-to-date and participate in relevant thought leadership, innovation and strategies, new trends and directions, disruptive technologies, and science.
• Carry out other duties as assigned.

Professional Experience

• Experience with talent assessments, selection methodologies, talent/leadership development, and career lifecycles and management, particularly in applied settings.
• Experience developing and enhancing a variety of talent development and/or assessment content, including reports and simulation-based assessment materials.
• Broad understanding of the talent management, assessment, and selection industries.
• Knowledge of new/emerging talent selection, development, assessment or reporting technologies, and innovation, such as mobile-first design, gamification, applied neuroscience, avatars, advancements in cognitive ability assessments.
• Internal or external consulting/professional services experience.
• High level of adaptability and resilience with the ability to handle change requests and rapid project iterations.
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, including the ability to make decision in ambiguous situations.
• Ability to integrate data, insights, and information from multiple sources.
• Excellent communication, including writing and presentation skills (leveraging video/AI technologies a bonus).
• Balance of big picture thinking and attention to detail.
• Experience with business outcome / performance studies or other methods of demonstrable impact preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge, experience and/or accreditation in a variety of globally recognized talent management or assessment suites, tools, and products including simulations, multi-rater assessments and/or psychometrics.
• Advanced Microsoft Office skills, especially Word, Excel (e.g., formulas, pivot tables), PowerPoint, Teams and SharePoint (Power BI, Access, SPSS and R a bonus).

Education

• Graduate degree in industrial/organizational psychology, sociology, business, education, research, psychometrics, and/or measurement or related field (PhD or BPS certification a bonus; experienced candidates with a Master’s degree will be considered).