Solution Delivery Lead

Would you like to help enrich the lives of learners around the world? At RM, we’ve been pioneers of education technology since 1973. We provide technology and resources to the education sector, supporting over 10 million students worldwide. We work with over 28,000 schools, nurseries, and education trusts in 115 countries to deliver customer-centric solutions that improve education outcomes.

What we do helps learners at all stages of their lives, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification; we partner with schools, examination boards, central governments and other professional institutions to enrich the lives of learners. RM Group operates through three businesses: Technology (Managed Services, Software and Infrastructure for Schools), Assessment (Software and Services) and TTS (Educational Resources).

Within the assessment market we are experts in providing solutions for online exam testing and marking and the management and analysis of educational data. We work with government ministries, exam boards and professional awarding bodies for high stakes assessment such as GCSEs, A Levels, and professional qualifications. Each year, our software is used globally to conduct hundreds of thousands of on-screen tests and to mark millions of paper-based scripts. For over a decade we have been partnering with the world’s leading awarding bodies to deliver intuitive, secure, and reliable e-marking solutions.

We require a Solution Lead to lead the definition and delivery of high-stakes assessment solutions for large, complex awarding organisations. RM offers a range of services to our assessment customers from providing services to customers adopting on-screen marking of paper-based exams to genuine end-to-end on-screen authoring, testing and marking. We offer services such as customisation and support for our in-house developed assessment platforms and integration with third-party and client systems.

As a Solution Lead in RM, you will work with customers, sales staff and delivery teams to define and deliver solutions to customer problems. These solutions may include processes, services, and a technical solution which together deliver to the customer’s needs. The Solution Lead will define solutions across the product range and not focus on a single product or component. In this role, you will lead the solution design and implementation on projects covering the range of products and services in the RM e-Assessment portfolio.

The Solution Lead leads the solution delivery team including Solution Owners and provides an interface between the customer and the RM product, development and technical operations teams. They will work with the customer and lead other members of the solutions team to gather and analyse business requirements and determine the fit with the RM product portfolio, using existing product functionality where possible.

Where new product development is required, the Solution Lead will be responsible for analysing business requirements and working with the product and development teams to identify and agree new product functionality or changes to existing functionality. They will represent the customer during solution scoping and sizing, to ensure that the solutions that are defined will meet the customer requirements. They will continue to act as the customer-interface during development and implementation, undertaking functional demonstrations during development as required.

Solution Owners, led by the Solution Lead will be extensively involved during User Acceptance Testing, ensuring that the customer’s expectations are set appropriately, and that they are equipped to conduct acceptance testing. They will work with the customer and development teams to triage defects and issues that are raised, and work with all parties to agree a resolution plan.

The Solution Lead will be knowledgeable about the breadth of products within the RM e-Assessment portfolio. They will work with the Product and Proposition teams to influence product roadmaps to enable the portfolio to continue to align with market trends and customer needs.

Working as part of a larger group of Solution Owners and Pre-Sales Solution Consultants, the Solution Lead will work alongside a network of peers working on similar projects internationally. The majority of projects will be led by a Solution Owner but larger, more complex transformation projects may be delivered by one or more Solution Owners led by a Solution Lead. These roles will also work as part of functional project teams, with responsibility for specific customer projects. They will work within the RM governance framework, to ensure that product developments and commitments are tracked and managed effectively and efficiently. They will also work closely with the Account Directors and customer management teams to enable the successful transition of the customer to business-as-usual operations.

Ultimately, the Solution Lead will be comfortable engaging with and influencing stakeholders at all levels of the customer organisation and within RM, able to tailor their communications to the audience concerned.

Responsibilities

• Acts as the Solution Authority for large scale digital transformation projects.
• Understands in detail how their clients use our platforms to meet their business needs including functional and non-functional and technical and business requirements.
• Builds trusted relationships as an expert with client stakeholders.
• Documents solution specifics for client solutions.
• Works with customers to understand and support their evolving business needs to ensure that clients get the best value out of RM’s Assessment platforms.
• Client engagement may support the use of new product features and embedding customer adoption of our platforms and may lead to chargeable change.
• Responsible for detailed solution design and specification for project requirements and customer-driven change based on customer requirements and product strategic directions.
• Works with internal teams to support high quality implementation and delivery of product and solution change to meet customers’ expectations.
• Leads a team of Solution Owners acting as the interface between customer and internal teams to support customer acceptance testing of change and maintenance releases. Manages and minimises the impact of any software releases to clients.
• Provides advice and guidance to support, operations and development teams on issue resolution and workarounds acting as the Solution Authority on the customer solution and customer modes of use.
• This role is likely to include travel to client offices.

Experience

We are looking for an experienced Solution Lead, to lead a major multi-year digital transformation project with an international awarding organisation. It is critical that the Solution Lead can quickly develop a detailed understanding of the RM e-Assessment product portfolio and can influence the customer so that development work is aligned to our product strategies and bespoke change is minimised, and expectations set appropriately.

Candidates should have excellent communication skills and the ability to communicate and influence both internally and externally with key stakeholders at all levels. A strong technical background is required given the technical nature of our solutions.

In Addition, Candidates Will Have

• Extensive experience as a delivery lead for cross-functional software implementation projects.
• Experience of working in an Agile software development environment.
• Knowledge and experience of working in the full Software Delivery Lifecycle.
• Excellent customer focus and experience of working with decision makers within customer organisations.
• Excellent communication skills to effectively communicate requirements to internal and external stakeholders with the ability to translate business requirements into development user stories and acceptance criteria and the ability to communicate complex technical details to a range of audiences.
• The ability to influence internal and external stakeholders at all levels adapting their approach appropriately.
• Demonstrable ability to motivate teams to work together in the most efficient manner.
• Flexibility and adaptability.

What’s in it for you?

At RM we have My Work Blend @RM which provides office-based colleagues with multi location and hybrid working options. As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move. We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process.

RM is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and expects all permanent and temporary staff to share this commitment. This role is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and all successful candidates will be subject to Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks along with other relevant employment checks.

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, some roles are also eligible for a performance-related bonus. There are lots of voluntary benefits too. You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign up for a health assessment, or take part in our cycle to work scheme. You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

To better reflect the society that we serve, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all. To achieve this, we create teams of talented people from different backgrounds and experiences and strive to be a business where our people can bring their whole selves to work, we also want to make the recruitment process as inclusive as possible for everyone. Should you require additional support with your application or through the interview process, please contact us at recruitment@rm.com.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.