Subject Lead History and Politics in Manchester

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.

Guildford

Guildford: £49,900-£57,300 Working arrangements: Hybrid - at least one day a week in the office, regular customer visits with national travel and occasional overnight stays

Ready to lead with impact? This is your opportunity to take History and Politics beyond the classroom and shape how thousands of teachers and students experience the subjects.

With assessment reform on the horizon, you will influence the future of education and make a national impact with AQA.

Be part of a subject area that’s expected to be at the forefront of curriculum reform, where your passion for History and Politics can shape how over 100,000 GCSE and 20,000 A-level students experience the subject — and help AQA maintain its leading position in the GCSE and A Level market.

Purpose of the role

You will lead the History and Politics subject area, combining subject expertise with strategic leadership to strengthen customer engagement and retention, influence product growth and deliver clear, measurable outcomes that demonstrate impact on engagement and growth in a competitive market.

You’ll be a visible ambassador for AQA History and Politics, building trust and confidence with diverse stakeholders.

Key responsibilities

• Setting and delivering measurable plans for the History and Politics that align with AQA's strategy and reform priorities, with defined targets for customer engagement, retention and growth.
• Leading and developing a small team of History and Politics specialists to build capability, foster collaboration and drive continuous improvement.
• Designing and executing customer engagement strategies using insight and data, and representing AQA externally at conferences and customer and stakeholder events.
• Building long-term relationships with schools and stakeholders.

You’ll thrive in this role if you have

• Recent experience leading a department delivering one or more of the History and Politics specifications, with a strong understanding and deep knowledge of the History and Politics specifications, assessment practice and NEA.
• Proven leadership experience, and credibility amongst teachers, including coaching and building team capability at scale.
• Commercial awareness and a customer-centric mindset, with examples of turning insight into action that delivers measurable outcomes.
• Excellent verbal communication and presentation skills, adapting your style under pressure and in ambiguous situations.
• Confidence in using data and metrics to define success, monitor progress and adjust plans at pace.
• Ability to engage and inspire stakeholders, building confidence with diverse audiences.
• What’s in it for you
• A platform to influence education nationally and represent AQA at key events
• Career development and professional growth in a leading education charity
• Hybrid working and flexibility to support work-life balance
• Comprehensive benefits including Bupa Health Insurance, Health Care Cash Plan, Life Assurance and an Electric Vehicle Leasing scheme, generous pension contributions up to 11.5% and 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and extra closure days at Christmas
• A culture that values culture and, inviting new perspectives and innovative approaches to improve how we support teachers and students
• 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.

Full Job Description Summary

Supporting customers retaining and growing market share through subject expertise.

You will also be responsible for using your subject expertise to provide internal consultancy, providing customer insight plus building and managing relationships with external stakeholders where needed.

In addition to subject expertise, leadership will be a key part of this role.

You will be part of the leadership of the Subject Support Team.

Your role will be to ensure all activities for your subject(s) are planned, monitored and managed effectively to deliver to customers and achieve Customer and Product and organisational objectives.

Where relevant you will line manage the subject delivery support team for your subject area and will be responsible for the performance of this team and ensuring effective deployment of this resource to deliver key priorities.

Landscape: To understand the educational landscape particularly within your subject area. To understand and engage with the strategic priorities of AQA and its evolving structure.

Activities

• Responsible for setting and meeting challenging goals and milestones for delivery of your subject(s).
• Responsible for planning, monitoring and delivering Customer and Product priorities within your subject(s).
• Responsible for the creation, monitoring and delivery of subject focused annual plans.
• Where appropriate, be responsible for managing and monitoring performance of a small team e. g. including talent spotting, development opportunities and driving high performance.
• Use relevant systems, reports and dashboards to plan and record delivery for your subject to meet delivery targets.
• Lead and support projects or workstreams within Customer and Product which are of a commensurate level to your role, maximising development opportunities.
• Engage with key stakeholders to support effective planning and delivery of priorities e. g., Product Management, Marketing, Sales, Customer Training and Events and Customer & Product Planning Manager.
• Responsible for effective identification and management of risks and dependencies.
• Ensure your work supports continuous improvement in process and delivery, to drive customer experience and satisfaction levels.
• Responsible for working with other teams to reduce failure demand from customers in your subject(s) e. g improve first contact resolution of customer enquiries.
• Promote customer centricity, be an advocate for the customer across the business and provide subject based customer insight.
• Be a brand advocate for AQA with customers and associates.
• Represent the team, subject(s) and Customer & Product as part of wider organisational projects and priorities.
• Contribute to business wide processes where needed to support customer facing activity eg) incident management and awarding.
• Responsible for the recruitment and management of associates to support delivery to customers within your subject(s) in line with the AQA associate strategy.
• Engage with and influence subject level stakeholders such as subject associations and learned societies to build advocacy and support and to provide both stakeholder and customer insight to inform current and future developments e. g, At times of reform.
• Present at stakeholder events in collaboration with the Product Management team, in line with the product growth strategy, in order to influence stakeholder views and decisions to ensure AQA is seen as the board of choice for the subject.
• Required qualifications and skills
• An excellent understanding of the subject, specifications and current pedagogy
• People leadership skills
• Former teaching experience or ability to demonstrate credibility with teachers
• Excellent communication, presentation and training skills in line with AQA brand and tone of voice
• Basic project leadership skills
• Operational Management skills
• Stakeholder management and collaborative working
• Influencing and brand advocacy
• Organisation, planning and prioritisation skills
• A continuous improvement mindset
• A big picture mindset
• The ability to have robust conversations with customers and stakeholders, own and deliver corporate messages
• The ability to interpret data to inform decision making, monitor delivery and impact to customers
• Modelling of organisational leadership habits and values and behaviours
• An understanding of AQA’s assessment products, processes and practices relevant to your subject(s)
• About AQA

AQA is an independent charity that sets and marks over half of all GCSEs and A-levels in the UK every year.

Our purpose is to advance education by helping students and teachers to realise their potential.

As part of AQA, you’ll very quickly appreciate the determination and unwavering passion to deliver this goal in everything we do.

To help drive these ambitions, AQA invests in the development of its people by offering a range of professional development and learning opportunities leading to over 50% of our permanent roles being filled internally.

Reasonable Adjustments

If you have any requirements for reasonable adjustments in relation to the application, interview or the prospective job, please contact Faye Harrison (she/her) at fharrison@aqa. org. uk or on 07813 724161.

Smart Working

We’re operating a smart working model. This allows for our colleagues to work from two days a week in one of our offices across England.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

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.

Conflict of Interest

Please note that due to the confidential nature of our work, we are unable to employ people for our temporary roles who are currently a candidate for Key Stage 4 and 5 public examinations.

Safeguarding

AQA is committed to the safeguarding of children and adults at risk.

We’re dedicated to reducing the risk of employing or contracting any person intent on abusing their position of trust, along with identifying and responding to any incident of alleged abuse from its employees or associates fairly and swiftly.

For more information on safeguarding at AQA please visit the AQA website here.

Contact

Contact Temporary roles: temprecruit@aqa. org. uk Permanent and Fixed Term roles: opportunities@aqa. org. uk Privacy Policy

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