Training Manager - Premium Casual Dining Group

A new opportunity has arisen for an experienced Training Manager to join the head office of a leading multi brand premium casual dining group in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a full time, permanent head office appointment within the group's Training, Franchise and Operations Department, supporting restaurants across the region.

The group operates a portfolio of design led premium casual restaurants, cafes and bars across multiple countries, with a culture that is widely recognised as one of its strongest assets. Its brands are deliberately individual rather than cookie cutter, which makes training genuinely interesting work: you are carrying one set of standards and values into venues that each have their own personality, and into franchise partner businesses as well as company owned sites. The role carries real ownership, including the Group's annual training budget and a training team of your own.

Reporting to the Senior Training Manager, you will own brand training across the region: running training needs analyses, building the annual training plan and budget, designing and writing the programmes and content yourself, developing your team, and proving that what you deliver actually changes performance on the floor. We are looking for someone who genuinely enjoys people, brings energy into a room, and can create training material that teams want to engage with rather than sit through.

Responsibilities

• Manage and deliver a customer focused training function aligned to the company's Vision and Values.
• Conduct training needs analyses and engage the business to understand strategic and tactical up-skilling themes for current and future needs.
• Manage the development and delivery of training plans across the region, to deadline and within budget.
• Develop a clear training strategy for the brand and franchisee business, in close liaison with the Group Head of People and Culture and the brand management team.
• Identify and develop new training programmes and content to meet future business needs, and research and select outside consultants and trainers for specialist topics where required.
• Formulate training programmes based on identified training needs, company business processes, systems, and changes in products, procedures or services.
• Compile and manage the annual training budget for the Group and ensure compliance in relation to spend.
• Support the HR team on talent and personal appraisal processes, and provide up-skilling interventions that reinforce them.
• Develop training interventions that support talent development, in consultation with the Group Head of People and Culture.
• Monitor that learning and development interventions positively impact competency development across the business.
• Deliver programmes that build a coaching and mentoring culture, and support the creation of personal development plans and clear career paths.
• Take functional management of the training team, including interviewing, selecting and performance managing training employees.
• Develop the capability of the training team through regular coaching, mentoring and performance management.
• Train assigned Training Specialists and Executives in techniques covering new employee orientation, on the job training, sales techniques, health and safety practices and management development.
• Develop and run a system for evaluating training delivery and programme effectiveness across the region, maintaining high professional standards of delivery.
• Produce and communicate reports on training delivery versus plan, identifying issues that need resolving.
• Work with the Group Head of People and Culture on a communication strategy so the regional training function and its activities are clearly understood across the business.
• Regularly review the alignment of all training interventions to the company's Vision and Values.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of training programmes with franchisees across the region and drive continuous improvement.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a Training Manager or Learning and Development Manager within a multi site hospitality, restaurant or premium retail business.
• Demonstrable experience designing and writing training programmes and material from scratch, not only facilitating content created by others.
• Experience compiling and managing an annual training budget and holding delivery within it.
• Experience leading, coaching and performance managing a team of trainers or training specialists.
• Strong training needs analysis skills, with the ability to translate business needs into a costed, deadline driven training plan.
• Experience building and running evaluation methods that measure training effectiveness and behavioural change, and reporting results to senior management.
• Confident stakeholder management across operations, HR and franchise partners, with the ability to influence teams that do not report to you.
• Excellent written and spoken English, with the writing quality to author training material unaided.
• A degree or diploma in Human Resources, Learning and Development, Education or Hospitality Management, or an equivalent recognised training qualification.
• ETDP SETA accredited Assessor or Moderator status and Skills Development Facilitator experience are advantageous.
• Willing to work 5 days per week including two weekends and two night shifts per month, and longer hours during new store openings.
• Must hold the right to work in South Africa, or be eligible to obtain it with the client's support.

Benefits

• Salary: ZAR 38,000 gross per month, depending on experience.
• 13th cheque.
• 30 days annual leave.
• Uniform provided.
• Allowances paid on top of the salary: transport ZAR 5,000 per month, food ZAR 3,000 per month and cellphone ZAR 1,100 per month, giving a total cost to company of ZAR 47,100 per month.
• Further benefits to be confirmed during the recruitment process.

Additional Information

This is a full time, permanent head office position based in Johannesburg, working 5 days per week, which includes two weekends and two night shifts per month, with longer hours expected during new store openings. The role reports to the Senior Training Manager. The target start date is 1 October 2026, so candidates who are immediately available or on a short notice period are of particular interest, and the client is reviewing applications on a rolling basis.

Candidates must hold the right to work in South Africa, or be eligible to obtain it with the client's support. The role is based at the group's Johannesburg head office and includes regional travel to restaurants and to new store openings, so candidates should be able to work from Johannesburg and travel as required.

Disclaimer

We appreciate your interest in this vacancy. Due to the high number of applications we receive, only candidates selected to move to the next stage of the recruitment process can be contacted. Radiant does not charge any fee to

candidates.