IHG
Head of Talent and Culture - Hotels
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Shape the leaders, performance and culture that power hotel success
At IHG Hotels & Resorts, our hotels bring our brands to life. They are where leadership choices become colleague experience, guest experience and owner value. We are looking for an exceptional global talent leader to make those connections stronger, faster and more consistent across our managed and franchised hotel estate.
This role will set the global Hotels agenda for talent, performance and culture. It will build the leadership capability and succession strength needed for growth; create a compelling proposition for General Managers and other critical hotel talent; and turn IHG’s high-performance ambition into practical, simple and scalable ways of working.
Why this role, why now
IHG’s refreshed Global HR Plan supports Elevate the IHG Business Strategy through three connected priorities: creating a high-performance culture that enables sustainable profitable growth; driving owner value and employee experience; and building a digital-first, AI-powered HR function.
For Hotels, that means strengthening the quality and diversity of GM and critical-role pipelines; accelerating readiness for new hotel openings and conversions; building deeper leadership strength, including in Luxury & Lifestyle; modernising performance and talent practices; and ensuring that global solutions work in the reality of different regions, markets, ownership models and hotel operations.
The Head of Talent, Performance and Culture – IHG Hotels will bring those priorities together into a clear strategy, an executable roadmap and a disciplined operating rhythm.
Your mandate
You will create a coherent, evidence-led talent ecosystem for Hotels: from future capability and success profiles, through assessment, succession, development and deployment, to performance, reward, learning and culture. You will align with IHG’s enterprise frameworks while ensuring that the distinctive needs of managed and franchised hotels, owners, General Managers and frontline colleagues shape the design.
You will be a trusted adviser to senior business and HR leaders, a constructive challenger when decisions need sharpening, and a practical partner who converts strategy into adoption and measurable impact.
What you will make happen
- Set and deliver a global Hotels talent, performance and culture strategy that is visibly connected to growth, service, loyalty, productivity, retention and owner economics.
- Strengthen diverse, ready-now pipelines for General Managers and other critical hotel leadership roles, with clear readiness standards, rigorous talent reviews, purposeful development and external benchmarking.
- Build a compelling GM and hotel-leadership proposition that helps IHG attract, develop, deploy and retain exceptional leaders in priority markets and segments.
- Translate IHG’s high-performance principles into straightforward, light-touch practices: clear priorities, leadership accountability, continuous feedback, honest performance conversations, intelligent resource choices and recognition of impact rather than effort alone.
- Use data, technology and AI to improve talent decisions, personalise development, simplify the colleague and owner experience, and demonstrate the return on talent investment.
- Mobilise a complex global matrix—business leaders, owners, regional HR, Talent Acquisition, Learning, Reward, Inclusion, HR technology and external partners—around shared choices, governance and outcomes.
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What you will bring
- Senior talent leadership experience in a large, global and highly matrixed organisation, with accountable ownership of strategies that moved beyond design into sustained adoption and measurable business outcomes.
- Deep expertise across talent management, succession, leadership development, performance, culture and organisational effectiveness.
- Strong commercial judgement and the ability to connect people choices to hotel, owner, guest and colleague outcomes.
- Experience designing robust, inclusive assessment and talent methodologies using multiple sources of evidence—not relying on psychometrics alone—and translating insight into real talent decisions.
- A track record of leading complex transformation with clear priorities, decision rights, milestones, governance, adoption measures and corrective action.
- Credibility with executives and the courage to challenge, combined with empathy, cultural intelligence and the political judgement to preserve trust and build a coalition for delivery.
- Practical fluency in workforce analytics, talent technology and AI-enabled solutions, including responsible use, data quality and human oversight.
- Experience in hospitality is valuable. We also welcome leaders from global, customer-led, multi-site sectors such as retail, travel, leisure and consumer services.
Professional background
A relevant degree or professional qualification may be helpful, but demonstrated expertise and impact matter more. Where assessment tools are used, the role will ensure appropriate accreditation, governance, validity, inclusion and expert support. A deep track record of translating customer requirements into practical, actionable products, tools and services is a must.
The leadership style that will thrive here
You will combine enterprise ambition with low ego; pace with control; candour with empathy; and global standards with respect for local insight. You will be curious, commercially grounded and comfortable in ambiguity, while bringing the discipline to sequence work, follow through and make change stick. Above all, you will create clarity and energy around a small number of outcomes that matter.
Why join IHG
This is an opportunity to influence leadership quality and hotel performance at truly global scale. Your work will help strengthen careers, hotel teams and owner confidence, while shaping how IHG develops and deploys talent in an AI-enabled world.
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If you are energised by the intersection of talent, performance, culture and commercial value—and want to build something that can travel globally and work locally—we would like to hear from you.
Windsor, Berkshire | Hybrid: three days in the office, two days from home | Reporting to VP, Talent Solutions
Closing Date for applications: 25th August 2026
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At IHG, we’ve made a promise. As one of the world’s leading hotel groups, we’re here to deliver True Hospitality for Good. Making our guests and colleagues feel welcome, cared for, recognised and respected – wherever they are in the world. Want to be part of the journey?
Who we are
At IHG Hotels & Resorts, we work together to deliver True Hospitality for Good on a global scale. With corporate offices and over 6,000 hotel destinations worldwide, a career at IHG is the perfect way to broaden your horizons. You’ll experience our unique culture and brilliant colleagues who will support and inspire you. With a host of corporate opportunities to choose from, wherever you are on your career journey, and whatever you want to achieve there’s Room for You at IHG.
Over recent years, we’ve transformed our company. We have bold ambitions to drive performance and maintain our relentless focus on growth in order to be the hotel company of choice that guests & owners love.
We are a hospitality business at our core and value connections and being together helps us foster a unique sense of belonging that also supports productivity. That’s why here at IHG, we give our colleagues flexibility and balance – working in a hybrid way, blending office and remote working collectively. We recognise that every role is different, that’s why leaders work with teams to determine how and when they collaborate.
We provide a wide range of benefits designed to help you live your best work life. These include impressive room discounts across our many properties, recharge days and volunteering days throughout the year. Through our myWellbeing framework, we are committed to supporting wellbeing in your health, lifestyle, and workplace. We offer a unique and inclusive culture, where there is always Room for You to belong, grow and make a difference.
Our mission is to welcome everyone and create inclusive teams where we celebrate difference and encourage colleagues to bring their whole selves to work. IHG Hotels & Resorts provides equal employment opportunities to applicants and employees without regards to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other category protected by applicable laws. We promote a culture of trust, support, and acceptance. Always welcoming different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives.
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