Head of Subject

PURPOSE

As the Head of Subject, you will provide technical assessment expertise within the Assessment division, as well as across UK Schools and Pearson UK as appropriate, while ensuring the strategic, timely, cost-effective, and error-free delivery of high stakes UK and international qualifications.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Being accountable for the delivery of a group of high stakes qualifications to time, quality, and budget.
• Ensuring delivery team adheres to all regulatory and internal procedures at all times.
• Actively manage risks and issues, including contingency plans.
• Manage the deployment of resources within the team to mitigate risks or achieve delivery priorities.
• Collaborate with key stakeholders and strategic partners to develop robust delivery plans.
• Ensuring delivery team meets or exceeds all deadlines within the business calendar, establishing a reputation for always delivering on time.
• Partner with the content team in evaluating and approving the quality and content of assessment instruments within area of responsibility, ensuring all assessment instruments are valid, accurate, accessible, inclusive, and can withstand public scrutiny.
• Being accountable for maintaining standards for all qualifications within area of responsibility, including delivering secure grade boundaries that can withstand internal and external scrutiny.

Customer Expertise

• Being an expert in knowing, servicing, and retaining our customers by developing a deep understanding of qualifications within area of responsibility, our customers, and the markets in which we operate.
• Developing effective relationships with stakeholders across UK Schools to identify and solve customer problems for qualifications within area of responsibility.
• Being the voice of the customer in decisions relating to assessment instruments and qualifications within area of responsibility.
• Being accountable to customers through delivering the measures outlined in the Customer Pledge for Assessment, including ensuring delivery team executes first-class customer service within Pearson UK service level agreements.

Leadership & People Management

• Be recognised as a leader within Assessment, as well as across UK Schools, and deliver best-in-class line management experience.
• Be accountable for ensuring direct reports have effective training and development opportunities to enable them to succeed, including creating opportunities for high performance as well as actively managing and supporting poor performance.
• Being a positive advocate for Assessment within the division, as well as across UK Schools, modelling Pearson behaviours and leading by example.
• Actively contribute to, and deliver, the UK Schools people strategy, driving people initiatives within Assessment as appropriate.
• Accountable for identifying and developing talent within Assessment, including recruitment and retention.
• Be responsible for managing processes and teams based in different locations as appropriate.

Technical Assessment Expertise

• Being the assessment expert for area of responsibility and continually developing expertise in light of changes to the education landscape.
• Represent the Assessment division as a technical assessment expert for area of responsibility, advising teams across UK Schools on assessment issues and influencing future changes to qualifications and regulatory landscape as a thought leader.
• Owning personal development in relation to building technical assessment expertise, including identifying training and development needs and opportunities, and being responsible for continuous professional development of self and team.

Quality Assurance & Improvements

• Be accountable for the integrity by which assessment processes are devised, followed, reviewed, and amended, including driving improvements in the methodology for assuring quality of our processes and assessment instruments.
• Be accountable for the accuracy of results and assessment materials for area of responsibility, including monitoring, managing, and taking appropriate action to improve the quality of marking and confidence in results.
• Be able to articulate the quality assurance and improvement programme, including owning and delivering the assessment monitoring actions, for area of responsibility.

Innovation

• Understand, and be an advocate for, innovation in assessment instruments and processes, and develop expertise as a thought leader for future assessments.
• Deliver on innovation for test making, taking, and processing – Influence innovation in other business areas as appropriate by utilizing technical assessment expertise and knowledge of stakeholders, including our customers, Assessment Associates, and the regulator.

Cost Management

• Be accountable for a delivery budget, including providing focus on and visibility of budget planning, management, and tracking – visibility that enables efficiency driving.
• Take responsibility for ensuring the delivery budget includes all areas of expenditure, is cost-effective, and is achievable.
• Drive cost efficiencies within area of responsibility and across the Assessment division as appropriate by scrutinizing ways of working and providing appropriate challenge.

Strategic Relationships

• Build an Assessment Associate population for the future by developing strategic relationships with education experts.
• Evaluate the success of the Assessment Associate population for area of responsibility and be accountable for the structure and makeup of the teams, as well as identifying and nurturing talent, to ensure the delivery of our qualifications to time, quality, and budget.
• Develop and utilise strategic relationships across the UK Schools and Pearson UK business.
• Be directly accountable to matrix managers within Assessment in addition to the Head of Assessment.

Data

• Make strategic use of management information (MI) and reporting, providing visibility, driving improvement, and building confidence and trust in Assessment.
• Maximise the use of our marking technology to provide deep insight into how our assessment instruments perform and develop this into straightforward, informative messages for stakeholders, including by producing reports following delivery of examination series.
• Be accountable for reporting accurate and timely data and information to the Assessment management team and wider business, escalating issues (with proposed solutions) as appropriate.

Experience:

• Assessment experience and technical expertise.
• Proven ability to lead and collaborate in virtual teams.
• Appreciation of customer insight and commitment to delivering exceptional customer experience.
• Experience coordinating resources, tasks, managing deadlines, and status reporting.
• Strong team building capability and outcomes-oriented approach.
• Strong strategic thinking and decision-making skills.
• Responds confidently and resolves all conflicts positively.
• High level of data literacy and digital proficiency.

Competency

• Building a Successful Team
• Communication
• Customer Focus
• Decision Making
• Developing Others
• Planning and Organizing
• Quality Orientation
• Strategic Decision Making
• Technical/Professional Knowledge and Skill

This role requires commuting to one of our offices in London, Manchester, or Hellaby at least once a week.

What to expect from Pearson

Did you know Pearson is one of the 10 most innovative education companies of 2022?

At Pearson, we add life to a lifetime of learning so everyone can realize the life they imagine. We do this by creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact. We are on a journey to be 100 percent digital to meet the changing needs of the global population by developing a new strategy with ambitious targets. To deliver on our strategic vision, we have five business divisions that are the foundation for the long-term growth of the company: Assessment & Qualifications, Virtual Learning, English Language Learning, Workforce Skills, and Higher Education.

Pearson is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E-Verify. We want a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need.

If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing

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