Job Description

Director, Government Contract Delivery

Reports to: Managing Director, Pearson Qualifications

The Role

In this high-profile leadership role, you’ll own the end-to-end delivery of a major multi-year government contract, ensuring secure, scalable and high-performing operations across logistics, workforce, digital platforms, marking and data delivery. You’ll be the senior relationship owner with government stakeholders, building trust through clear governance, operational resilience and transparent issue resolution. This is a role for someone who can lead calmly through complexity, align teams around the successful delivery of a high-profile government contract, building confidence with stakeholders and strengthening Pearson’s reputation through delivery excellence.

What You'll Own

• Lead the full delivery lifecycle, from mobilisation and readiness through live test delivery, results release and post-cycle close-down.

• Own an integrated operating model spanning print, secure logistics, script collection, scanning, marking operations, quality assurance, customer support and results delivery.

• Set and execute the workforce strategy for large contingent teams, including the recruitment, onboarding, training and performance of thousands of temporary markers.

• Partner with technology, operational and supplier teams to strengthen platforms, automate processes, improve data confidence and build resilience across peak delivery windows.

About You

You’ll bring proven leadership of large-scale, complex operational programmes, ideally in high-stakes, regulated or public-service environments. You’re confident operating with executive and government stakeholders, leading supplier ecosystems, and turning complex programme objectives, operational flows, stakeholder expectations and data outputs into clear priorities and decisions.

• You have experience delivering multi-channel operations across physical logistics, digital platforms and people-led services.

• You can lead through ambiguity and pressure, creating the governance, controls and assurance needed for high-profile delivery.

• You are comfortable interrogating data outputs, identifying anomalies and insisting on evidence, controls and reporting integrity.

• You champion continuous improvement and modern tools, including AI, to raise quality, pace and resilience.

What You'll Get

This is a rare opportunity to lead nationally significant assessment delivery at scale, with high visibility across Pearson and with government stakeholders. You’ll shape an operating model that directly supports schools, pupils and the wider education system, while building organisational capability in complex programme delivery.

• Meaningful public-service impact through delivery that supports schools, pupils and national assessment confidence.

• Executive-level exposure and the chance to influence how Pearson delivers complex, high-stakes government programmes.

• The opportunity to lead transformation, automation and continuous improvement across a complex operational ecosystem.

• A leadership role where quality, accuracy, resilience and reputation genuinely matter.

Your rewards & benefits

We know you’ll do great work, so we give a lot back with some of the best benefits in the business. We know one size doesn’t fit all, so our workplace programmes meet the different needs of our diverse teams, and their families too. Please see our attractive UK benefits here: Pearson Jobs – Benefits

Ready to make an Impact?

Apply now and help shape the future of learning.