Career Manager (Public Sector, Professional Services)

As a Career Manager, you will make a meaningful impact on our Public Sector Professional Services team, guiding Consultants’ careers while strengthening operational excellence within Customer Success. Career Managers partners closely with Regional Leaders to develop their consulting teams and collaborates with engagement managers to enhance the end-to-end consultant experience, including onboarding, professional development, performance management, and other key people processes. This is a coaching and performance management-focused role: this team does not currently focus on staffing.

This role is based at our HQ in McLean, VA. Appian was built on a culture of in-person collaboration, which we believe is a key driver of our mission to be the best. Employees hired for this position are expected to be in the office 4 - 5 days per week to foster that culture, ensure we thrive through shared ideas and teamwork, and maximize opportunities to connect with the exceptional people across Appian. While working in-person with our team is our main priority, we also believe the office environment enables more opportunities to celebrate wins, collaborate effectively, and build strong relationships across teams.

To be successful in this role, you will:

• Oversee and continuously improve systems and processes that support talent development, evaluation, feedback, and retention.
• Partner with top consultants to develop consulting career development frameworks.
• Contribute and enhance performance management processes, including feedback cycles, performance reviews, and promotion calibrations, in collaboration with Project Engagement Managers and Technical Advisors.
• Work closely with Customer Success global leaders to align talent development and retention initiatives with regional business objectives.
• Ensure career aspirations and business needs are aligned in support of consultants’ professional growth, skill development, and career progression.
• Serve as a trusted resource to consultants, fostering ongoing conversations around career growth and performance.
• Guide consultants through their learning and development journey, advising on training, skill-building, and engagement opportunities to advance their careers.
• Connect consultants with the most appropriate advisors to support their career ambitions.
• Drive strong engagement through frequent consultant interaction and alignment with key internal stakeholders.
• Support internal operational processes (e.g., feedback tracking, timesheets, compliance) to ensure efficiency without disrupting client-facing responsibilities.
• You’re a people person, capable of providing proactive 1-on-1 counsel to 50 consultants, promoting a positive and productive work environment.

Basic qualifications:

• You have a bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Psychology, Organization Development, or a related field.
• 5-7 years of experience in Human Resources, Talent Management, or Career Counseling within a consulting or professional services environment.
• You have proven experience in managing a pool of resources in a consulting and professional services organization, including strong experience in coaching individual consultants one-on-one.
• Ability to strategically align workforce capability development with short and long-term business objectives.
• Proven ability to develop talent in a way that directly supports business performance and growth.

Preferred experience:

• Detail-oriented, highly organized, and excel at setting up meetings, tracking goals, and managing processes.
• You’re adept at navigating challenging situations and driving conversations toward resolution.
• Facilitative working style; you excel working in a place characterized by ambiguity and unknowns. You lead with questions, not only answers.
• Passion for continuous improvement.
• Possess humility and continual drive for learning.
• Collaborative and support others; you do not view the world as a zero-sum game.