Assessment Manager in Guildford

At AQA, we’re committed to advancing education and we’re committed to our people. As the largest provider of academic qualifications in the UK, we mark over 10 million exam papers each year and it’s our people who make this happen.

Own the Standard. Shape the Future. You know assessment isn’t just about questions and mark schemes. It’s about fairness, accuracy, and impact. It’s about getting it right—because getting it wrong affects real lives.

If you’ve ever looked at an exam paper and thought, “I could make this better”—this is your chance to prove it. At AQA, we produce over 2,000 exam papers and assessment materials every year. That’s 10 million individual items sat by hundreds of thousands of students. And behind every one of them is an Assessment Manager making sure it’s valid, reliable, and fair.

What’s in it for you? There are lots of company benefits, including a fantastic pension (up to 11.5% employer contributions), a 35 hour working week, 25 days annual leave with additional office closure in December and bank holidays on top, the opportunity to join lots of network groups (LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, disAbility, Empowering Women, Wellbeing, Ethnic Diversity and more), an extensive online learning platform, days for volunteering and more.

AQA is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workplace where everyone—regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, age, disability, sexual orientation, or background—is valued, respected, and supported to thrive.

In this role you:

• Will manage a portfolio of specifications, lead the creation and approval of assessment materials, and ensure everything we produce meets the highest standards—regulatory, academic, and ethical.
• Will work with senior associates, regulators, and internal teams to make sure our assessments don’t just meet expectations—they set them.
• You may line manage a small group of Assessment Coordinators.
• You’ll need to be fluent in assessment design, confident with data, and comfortable making decisions that carry weight.
• You’ll need to be a communicator, a collaborator, and a calm presence when things get complex (because they will).
• You’ll also need to care. About quality. About fairness. About doing the right thing, even when it’s the hard thing.

This isn’t a role for someone who wants to tweak around the edges. It’s for someone who wants to lead from the centre.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement: At AQA, we are committed to fostering a workplace that celebrates diversity and promotes equity and inclusion. We believe that a diverse team brings richer perspectives and drives better outcomes. Our ED&I strategy ensures that everyone, regardless of religion, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, age, disability, sexual orientation or background, is valued, respected and empowered to thrive. We actively promote inclusive language, avoid stereotypes and strive for representation across all dimensions of diversity. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences.

If you’re ready to take ownership of assessments that shape futures, we want to hear from you.

What’s Next? Apply now with your most recent CV and a cover letter to explain how your skills and experience match the job description. Applications will close at 23:59 on Sunday 2 August. Interviews will be over two stages: a video interview in the week beginning 13 August followed by a face-to-face interview including a presentation and values and experience based questions in either the Manchester or Guildford office, whichever is closest to you, in the week beginning 24 August. We are hoping for you to join us as soon as you are available.

To be successful in this role, you will need to:

• Demonstrate good assessment expertise and knowledge of delivery best practice.
• Have a keen interest in assessment knowledge and development.
• Be a good communicator, both in person and in writing, with ability to ensure complex assessment issues are synthesised, understood, shared and managed.
• Be confident in working with, influencing and managing internal and external stakeholders, to manage the delivery of valid and reliable assessments that meet customer needs, quality standards and regulatory requirements.
• Be self-motivated and able to work well on their own and in a team, with a willingness to share ideas and best practice and learn from others.
• Have experience of coordinating activities across colleagues, managing performance effectively and proactively driving improvements in performance.
• Have good understanding of data analysis, including statistical data, and can turn this into high quality insight.
• Understand the regulatory environment in which AQA works and the importance of compliance.
• Understand continuous improvement and quality management principles, with the ability to put these into practice in relation to the creation of assessments.
• Decide and deliver at pace and make courageous decisions about what we will and won’t do.
• ‘Step up’ by thinking for themselves, using sound judgement and holding themselves to account.
• ‘Shape tomorrow’ by looking up, out and ahead, question what we do and take considered risks to improve and innovate.