Vocational Reform Assurance Manager

• locations
• Manchester
• London
• Milton Keynes

• time type
• Full time

• posted on
• Posted Yesterday

• job requisition id
• R7712

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.

Vocational Reform Assurance Manager 

Permanent London / Milton Keynes: £72,800 - £81,600 Manchester: £69,900 - £78,400 Hybrid – typically 2 days per week in the office

Introduction 

You’ll join AQA at a pivotal point as we expand our vocational portfolio in response to major national reform. There are now several organisations within AQA Group, including TQUK, that are delivering and supporting high-quality vocational education, which gives us a strong foundation to develop new qualifications and apprenticeships. This is a high judgement role operating across the Group in a fastmoving and still evolving landscape, where clarity is often emerging rather than settled.

You’ll bring strong understanding of vocational, FE and skills contexts, alongside the confidence to work through ambiguity and reform. Your focus will be on assurance, challenge and alignment — helping AQA Group take well judged decisions as we design and deliver new vocational qualifications and apprenticeships.

You’ll provide expert oversight across AQA’s vocational reform programme at a time when expectations from government, regulators, employers and sector bodies are increasing. Delivery will involve close working with vocational specialists across the Group, including in TQUK.

You’ll sit at the centre of the vocational reform programme, providing hands-on programme level assurance — bringing together planning, risk, governance and quality insight to support confident senior decision making in a complex reform environment.

This role is not about owning policy design in isolation, nor about running operational delivery. It sits deliberately between those worlds — bringing vocational expertise, strong stakeholder judgement and an assurance mindset to help the organisation navigate reform well.

In this role, you’ll be responsible for: 

• Providing expert assurance and constructive challenge on vocational reform activity, ensuring assessment design, quality processes and delivery plans are robust and credible in a post16 context.

• Providing programme level assurance across vocational reform activity, with a particular focus on risk, interdependencies and delivery readiness.

• Exercising sound judgement in conditions of uncertainty, helping teams test assumptions, surface trade-offs and make proportionate, evidence based decisions.

• Tracking progress, identifying risks early and escalating issues where clarity, pace or alignment are at risk.

• Maintaining oversight across assessment methodology, compliance and cross team working to ensure a coherent end-to-end approach.

• Supporting effective governance and senior decision making across a complex and evolving programme.

You’ll thrive in this role if you bring: 

• Strong experience of vocational, post16, FE or skills qualifications — including assessment, quality assurance, regulation or delivery.

• Comfort working in ambiguity and reform, where direction is developing and judgement matters as much as process.

• The credibility and confidence to challenge constructively, particularly with senior stakeholders.

• Strong stakeholder judgement — building trusted relationships while knowing when to probe, when to escalate and when to enable progress.

• Experience of programme, project or assurance environments, without being tied to a single policy or operational lens.

You’ll make a meaningful impact while benefiting from: 

• The opportunity to shape a high profile, nationally significant vocational reform programme.

• A role that builds visibility and influence across AQA’s vocational strategy and leadership community.

• 25 days’ annual leave, rising to 30 with service, plus bank holidays and additional closure days at Christmas.

• A 35hour working week with flexible working arrangements.

• An excellent contributory pension scheme (6%–11.5% depending on your contribution).

At AQA, we are committed to fostering a workplace that celebrates diversity and promotes equity and inclusion. We believe that diverse teams bring richer perspectives and better judgement. We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and lived experiences.

Application process 

To apply, please submit your CV and cover letter. Applications close on Wednesday 8 April.

First stage will be held via MS Teams w/c 13th April.

Second stage interviews will be held in-person w/c 20th April

Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.

Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

Full Job Description

Summary

The Vocational Reform Delivery Assurance Lead will be responsible for overseeing AQA Group’s vocational reform programme, providing assurance that all elements are co-ordinated and coherent across the group, and that delivery is on track. Working with colleagues across AQA and our subsidiaries, the role-holder will provide authoritative oversight and reporting to ensure the approach to reform delivery is strategically aligned across the group, high quality, in line with regulatory expectations, operationally ready and competitively marketed.

The postholder will bring strong programme assurance capability — enabling tight governance, risk control and cross AQA alignment during an exceptionally compressed reform cycle – and the knowledge and experience to apply it to a vocational qualifications and assessment reform context.Landscape:

This role sits at the centre of the vocational reform programme, reporting to the Head of Strategic Planning. They will be able to work autonomously across the vocational reform programme, and develop a deep understanding of how the different elements fit together, working sensitively with a variety of senior strategic and operational stakeholders.

The postholder will work closely with the Senior Assessment Adviser, to help secure full alignment between strategic intent (including for vocational growth), policy interpretation, qualification standards, assessment models and the regulatory landscape.

They work closely with AQA's vocational subsidiaries, to provide assurance, challenge and support across the qualification development process, making sure development work aligns with:

regulatory and policy expectations;

evidence and analysis;

marketing and communications;

internal and external delivery planning;

and AQA’s wider vocational ambitions and charitable purpose.

Activities:

Developing, owning and reviewing vocational reform programme plans to deliver AQA Group’s vocational strategy, owning the Project Initiation Document and putting in place and managing governance arrangements to support the work (workstreams, risk reviews). They need to understand and reflect AQA Group programme quality requirements.

Putting in place a quality management process to set out how key programme products will be specified and reviewed.

Working both informally and formally with people across AQA Group to gather intelligence, assess progress and identify emerging issues. In particular, engage with and support TQUK on its delivery planning and monitoring processes.

Contributing to reports on progress and issues including to the AQA exec and Trustee Board and subsidiary boards.

Working with analytical colleagues on evidence and data to inform the design, monitoring and evaluation of the programme, including KPIs, internal audit processes and vocational growth ambitions.

Identifying and managing risks, issues and interdependencies within and beyond the vocational reform programme

Understanding and managing interdependencies with other programmes and pieces of work, such as general qualifications reform, ongoing vocational delivery and AQA’s commercial work and opportunities.

Being ready to replan or change programme direction if necessary, when external factors (eg policy, regulation or the market) or strategy change

Help design and implement processes to manage key programme review and decision points, bringing together expertise from across the programme, for example reviewing new regulatory and policy requirements or assessing accreditation readiness.

Intervening to help resolve, unblock and if necessary escalate issues and challenges across the programme, including tech enablers.

Lead the Group level vocational risk register, ensuring assessment related risks (spec quality, model viability, sampling, compliance) are identified early and managed.

Work with the Senior Assessment Adviser to manage and report on AQA’s strategic risk on vocational growth.

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

Essential Criteria

Strong experience in programme or delivery assurance, including governance, risk, planning, quality management, interdependency management, reporting and evaluation.

Proven ability to identify and manage strategic risks and issues, and to lead and drive outcomes that reflect strategic objectives.

Ability to build strong relationships with people at all levels across a programme, including leaders and technical specialists, and provide authoritative challenge and support to help resolve delivery problems.

Experience of working in an educational context, such as an awarding body, FE/skills provider or a regulatory body.

Desirable Criteria

A programme management qualification, such as MSP.

Understanding of vocational qualifications, assessment design, accreditation processes and/or regulatory frameworks (Ofqual, Skills England, EQA models).

Expertise in assessment principles and/or practice.