Team Manager- Training Lead

Role Overview

Cognizant is seeking an experienced Team Manager – Training Lead to own and elevate the training function for the Waymo Rider Support program in Mesa, Arizona. Waymo's fully autonomous ride-hailing service depends on a support team that is fast, empathetic, and precise — and that excellence starts with world-class training. In this role you will lead a team of trainers and take end-to-end ownership of new hire onboarding, speed to proficiency, and training throughput.

Key Responsibilities

• Training Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a team of trainers; set clear performance goals, conduct reviews, and build individual development plans.
• Run Train-the-Trainer (TTT) and trainer certification programs; calibrate delivery consistency and quality across all trainers.
• Manage trainer capacity, scheduling, and utilization to align with hiring plans and production demand.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous learning within the training team.
• Training Throughput & Speed to Proficiency
• Own the end-to-end new hire journey — induction, classroom/virtual training, assessments, nesting/OJT, and transition to production.
• Drive speed to proficiency across defined 30/60/90-day milestones, ensuring new hires reach performance benchmarks on schedule.
• Deliver the required volume of certified, production-ready agents on time and in full to meet hiring and ramp commitments.
• Minimize training-to-production ramp loss and early-tenure attrition through effective bridging, grad-bay support, and structured handoffs to operations.
• Client SLAs, KPIs & Performance Accountability
• Own training's contribution to key client SLAs and KPIs — Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Quality of Interactions, and Average Handle Time (AHT).
• Track training-specific metrics: assessment pass rates, certification rates, throughput/batch fill rates, and 30/60/90-day performance.
• Correlate training effectiveness to downstream operational outcomes; conduct root-cause analysis on performance gaps and implement corrective action plans.
• Present training performance, insights, and improvement roadmaps in client WBRs, MBRs, and QBRs.
• Curriculum Design & Content Development
• Design, develop, and maintain training curricula, facilitator guides, participant materials, job aids, knowledge articles, assessments, and simulations.
• Apply instructional design and adult-learning principles (e.g., ADDIE/SAM) to build engaging, outcome-driven learning experiences.
• Create blended learning — instructor-led, virtual ILT, e-learning, and self-paced modules — suited to a fast-ramp contact-center environment.
• Create role-play and scenario-based exercises reflecting real Waymo Rider Support situations: empathy, de-escalation, AV-safety communication, and policy compliance.
• Develop refresher and up-skilling programmers tied to process changes, product updates, and agent performance trends.
• Quality Partnership & Continuous Improvement
• Partner with the QA function to identify recurring defects and knowledge gaps and feed insights into ongoing Training Needs Analysis (TNA).
• Establish tight feedback loops between Training, Quality, and Operations to close performance gaps at root cause.
• Drive continuous improvement and efficiency initiatives (Lean / Six Sigma principles) to make training faster, more effective, and more scalable.
• Conduct regular training effectiveness evaluations using Kirkpatrick or similar frameworks and act on findings.
• Process Custodianship & Change Management
• Serve as custodian of all training processes, documentation, and content — maintain version control, audit readiness, and a single source of truth.
• Keep training content continuously aligned with evolving client processes, product/feature updates, and policy changes.
• Manage requests end-to-end: assess impact, update materials, and roll out timely refresher training across the floor.
• Translate complex or ambiguous process changes into clear, learner-friendly training content quickly and accurately.
• Client & Offshore Collaboration
• Collaborate closely with Waymo stakeholders and Cognizant's offshore/global delivery teams to standardize, strengthen, and scale the training function.
• Align all training to the client's brand voice, tone, and rider-experience standards to ensure a consistent CX across sites and geographies.
• Drive joint calibration sessions with offshore trainers to harmonize content, delivery quality, and performance standards globally.
• Champion training best practices and knowledge sharing across Cognizant's delivery network.
• Reporting, Governance & LMS Administration
• Build and maintain training dashboards and MIS/reporting for leadership and the client — clear visibility into training health, throughput, and outcomes.
• Administer and continuously optimize the LMS and associated training tools; drive adoption of digital learning technologies.
• Ensure completion of mandatory, compliance, data-privacy, and confidentiality training and maintain audit readiness at all times.
• Support budget planning for training resources, materials, and technology.