Head of Data in London

About us

At Up Learn, we've built one of the world's most effective learning experiences by combining cognitive science, instructional theory, and artificial intelligence. Our mission is to give every learner the most effective path to success, and vision a world where every learner achieves more, faster, through adaptive, mastery-based learning. We're the market-leading platform for A Levels, with seven courses on offer and 1 in 3 A Level students using Up Learn. Over the next year, we're launching GCSE Science and accelerating growth, expanding our impact to millions more students. Our results speak for themselves: 97% of students who complete our courses achieve an A*/A, even those who started with lower grades. And a large-scale evaluation of Up Learn in schools found usage is associated with 9 months additional progress, with grade improvements across whole year groups. And for every paying student, we provide a full scholarship to a student in need - ensuring high-quality education is accessible to all.

About the role

The Head of Data will be a key senior leader at Up Learn, responsible for leading and overseeing the entire Data function, and reporting into the CEO. This role requires a strategic and practical individual who can level up Data at Up Learn and deliver new Data capabilities as needed to achieve the company's growth goals this year and beyond. You should be fluent in using AI and data to automate and re-engineer processes, and have the technical expertise to build data foundations in the right way to scale effectively long term. The Head of Data will set data strategy and own Data team OKRs, improve product analytics and use of KPIs across the company, improve learning metrics and impact evaluations, continue to build on our high quality data and analytics infrastructure, and lead a small high performing Data team.

What you'll do in the first 12 months

• Own the Data roadmap and deliver it: Set a clear quarterly plan aligned to our biggest company goals (GCSE expansion, impact evidence, responsible AI), and ship meaningful improvements every month with a small, AI-powered team.
• Strengthen use of measurement in product processes: Embed "instrumentation before shipping" so every major release launches with the right KPIs, tracking, dashboards, and alerts - enabling fast learning, quick diagnosis, and confident iteration.
• Level up our metric system and decision-making: Build on our use of KPIs so teams (and leadership) have an accurate view of performance across Product, Commercial, and Operations.
• Lead our next 'Measuring Learning' impact evaluation: Design and run a credible evaluation of learning impact, and translate findings into clear product/content priorities and school-ready evidence.
• Own responsible AI for learner data: Put in place pragmatic governance and monitoring for AI features that touch learner responses and scoring - so we can innovate and keep trust high.
• Take ownership of data privacy & school assurance: Become our day-to-day lead for data privacy and school-facing data assurance - supporting data sharing agreements and DPIAs, and ensuring our practices around children's data are robust and consistently applied.
• Improve GTM and business insight: Build clearer visibility into funnel performance and ROI (channel → conversion → retention) so we can double down on what works and stop what doesn't.
• Build a high-performance, pragmatic team: Coach and develop our data team, raise quality where it matters, and keep our warehouse/dbt/Lightdash stack reliable and scalable - without slowing the business down.

Requirements

You should have:

• Hands-on experience working on data modelling and analytics engineering using the dbt ecosystem.
• Experience owning a data roadmap and delivering meaningful outcomes for an organisation that's growing.
• Strong product analytics capability: defining KPIs, measuring feature impact, and embedding measurement into product development.
• Experience designing or leading statistical tests or experiments, understanding different methodologies, ideally with experience of evaluation/impact measurement.
• Practical experience implementing data governance: accurate/consistent metrics, access controls, retention, auditing, and privacy-by-design.
• Strong ability to interact cross-functionally, getting into the detail of the different departments, their needs, and points of view.
• Have an entrepreneurial mindset and can-do attitude.

You're likely to thrive here if you have:

• A get-things-done operator who ships quickly, iterates, and focuses on the highest-leverage work.
• AI-fluent and excited to automate/re-engineer workflows rather than add headcount.
• Clear-eyed about tradeoffs: you value high quality, but you don't gold-plate - except where safety/privacy demands it.
• Excited to work in an organisation that directly improves students' lives, and to join us in our mission to solve education.

Nice to have (but not required):

• Experience with or connection to edtech/education or learning analytics.
• Experience with B2B SaaS and/or AI companies.

We know that great candidates don't always tick every box. If you're excited about the role and feel you could make an impact at Up Learn, we'd love to hear from you.

Benefits

We provide a great set of benefits that all focus on helping Up Learn team members lead healthy and fulfilling lives. Working at Up Learn gives you:

• Awesome colleagues: We've put together a cracking team, and you'll be a part of it and shape its future.
• Meaningful, fulfilling and engaging work that has an immediate positive impact on tens of thousands of students and the potential to impact millions of students.
• The opportunity to build the future of education and accelerate humanity's ability to learn.
• Tons of opportunities to learn and develop a wide range of skills.
• Up Learn supports a hybrid working environment with a minimum of two days in the office per week (one team day and one company day) and the rest is up to you.

Key benefits:

• A competitive salary.
• Meaningful stake in the company's growth and success (equity share options).
• ~35 days of paid holiday per year made up of: 26 days of bookable holiday, plus bank holidays, plus unlimited 'extra days' (i.e. if you need a few more days, no problem).
• Significantly enhanced parental leave.
• Level 6 (highest level) dental insurance.
• Paid-for coffee breaks (a great chance to get to know the team).
• Monthly & quarterly paid-for socials and quality time with your work colleagues as well as an in-office shower room to make sporting activities easier to join.
• A spacious and bright private office in Old Street, with delicious coffee, a selection of teas and unlimited snacks and drinks.
• Cycle-to-Work: we are registered so you can buy a bike and accessories tax-free.
• Unlimited budget for any work-related books you need.
• Family access to Up Learn: your family and close relatives get unlimited access to any Up Learn course for free.

Our core values

• CARE: Put people and mission first. Celebrate success together.
• OWN: Take responsibility. Step up. Transparently own outcomes.
• LEARN: Live for learning. Seek feedback. Turn challenges into opportunities.
• ACT: Prioritise progress. Challenge what's possible. Move the needle.

How to apply

If this sounds like it's for you, we can't wait to hear from you. Send us your CV & tell us in 150 words why you'd be great for this role.