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.
Job title: Associate Management Delivery Lead
Locations available: Guildford
Salary: £36,600 to £40,800
Contract type: Permanent
Working arrangements: Hybrid working - minimum 2 days a week in office
Are you ready to take the lead when the pressure is on and help keep one of AQA’s most critical operations on track? This role is more than supervising administrators; this is where planning turns into delivery. You’ll be understanding the examiner resource we need, spotting the gaps and leading the action to make it happen.
Our Associate Management team plays a vital role in making sure we have the right people in place to deliver each exam series successfully. As an Associate Management Delivery Lead, you’ll lead and support a team of administrators responsible for a portfolio of subjects, making sure we have enough suitably skilled examiners and associates in place when they’re needed. You’ll use data to understand demand, monitor resourcing levels and spot potential issues early. When things don’t go to plan, you’ll help the team develop practical contingency plans and make sure risks are managed effectively. You’ll also build strong relationships with senior examiners and teams across AQA, acting as a point of escalation and helping everyone work together to deliver the exam series successfully.
What you’ll do
Own operational resourcing for a portfolio of subjects, ensuring delivery against key milestones.
Lead, coach and support a team of administrators across your portfolio.
Use data and management information to monitor resourcing, identify risks early and put effective contingency plans in place.
Work collaboratively with Recruitment and other teams to ensure the right associate resource is available when needed.
Build strong relationships with senior examiners, providing clear updates and working together to resolve resourcing challenges.
Act as a point of escalation, resolving issues and driving improvements to processes, service and ways of working.
Maintain high standards of quality and compliance, while identifying opportunities for continuous improvement.
Lead your team to deliver a positive, high-quality experience for examiners.
You’ll thrive in this role if you have:
Experience in a senior or supervisory role, including coaching colleagues and dealing with escalated issues.
Experience working with data, systems and spreadsheets and identifying issues, risks and opportunities.
Organisation and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage competing demands and deadlines.
Customer and stakeholder management skills, including working collaboratively across teams and with senior stakeholders.
A curious, improvement-focused approach and an interest in making processes simpler and more effective.
Why this role matters
AQA works with around 39,000 Associates who help design, produce, mark and award qualifications for more than one million young people in the UK and overseas .
The Associate Management team makes sure this community is appropriately resourced, contracted, onboarded and supported.
As a Delivery Lead, you’ll be at the centre of that work, combining people leadership, data analysis, problem-solving and stakeholder management to help make sure we have the right expertise in place to deliver each exam series successfully.
What's in it for you?
Alongside the opportunity to lead a key part of exam series delivery, support a vital community of Associates and make a real impact on how we resource our assessments , you’ll benefit from:
A 35-hour working week with flexible, hybrid working.
25 days' annual leave, rising to 30 days with service, plus additional Christmas closure days.
A comprehensive benefits package including pension contributions, BUPA healthcare support, wellbeing programmes and volunteering opportunities.
Free on-site parking.
Diversity and Inclusion Statement
At AQA, we're committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and can do their best work. We value the different perspectives, experiences and backgrounds our people bring, knowing they strengthen our culture, decision-making and impact. We foster an inclusive environment where everyone is treated with respect, has access to opportunities to grow and contribute, and feels able to be themselves. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and lived experiences.
Application process
To apply, please submit your CV and a cover letter outlining your suitability for the role by 23.59 on Sunday 08 November.
First stage interviews will take place remotely on the week of 16 November, second stage interviews will take place in our Guildford office on the week of 23 November.
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
Purpose: The Associate Management Delivery Lead plays a critical role in ensuring we have the right resource in place to deliver our exam series activity. Reporting to an Associate Manager, and managing a team focused on a portfolio of subjects, the Delivery Lead provides management and coaching for the team’s administrators and colleagues in other departments around understanding required demand, resourcing, and on-boarding of associates across the portfolio. The Delivery Lead acts as a point of escalation for Associates and Associate Management Administrators, as well as building and managing relationships of their own with stakeholders including the senior Examiners.Landscape:
Each year AQA works with a community of around 39,000 Associates to design, produce, mark and award high-stakes qualifications for more than 1 million young people both in the UK and overseas. The majority of these examiners are qualified teachers and academics; responsible for marking student exam scripts to set mark schemes, enabling us to deliver results including GCSEs and A-Levels. Some use their expertise in curriculum design, assessment writing, and pedagogy to design and develop our specifications, our assessments, our CPD offering, and supporting our customer.
Our Associate Management team are responsible for the resourcing, contracting, on-boarding, and relationship management with this vital community. Working alongside internal departments such as Scheduling Assessment Design, Assessment Production, Marking, Preparation, Moderations and Post-Results, our team ensures that requirements are captured, demand is forecasted, resource is made available, and that our Associates have a positive experience working with AQA.
Our team comprises of around 30 core colleagues, (which increases at times of peak activity) and is part of a wider department of around 50 including colleagues focused on Contracting & Fees, Associate Training, Process Development, and Associate Experience.
Activities:
• Across the portfolio, managing administrators and analysing data and reports to ensure that sufficient and suitably skilled examiners are invited and appointed to meet demand
• Working with our Recruitment team to communicate the forecast, changes of demand, and activity to ensure that the right priorities are set, and that recruitment outcomes are optimised.
• Encourage high levels of response to invitations, ensuring we are following up by email, by SMS, and by telephone as required.
• Design, enact, and monitor the effectiveness of contingency plans in areas where resourcing levels do not meet requirements at a component and portfolio level
• Analyse Management Information effectively to understand portfolio performance against agreed milestones for resourcing
• Oversee the team email inboxes and incoming phone calls from associates and other internal teams, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction and that all queries or issues are dealt with appropriately
• Report on results of the annual Expression of Interest survey, analysing the data to understand indicative resource levels for the upcoming year across the portfolio
• In visiting, moderated and non-examined components, overseeing appropriate allocations are made in line with regulatory and procedural requirement to agreed deadlines
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with the Chief and Lead Examiners within the allocated portfolio, enabling a free flow of communication and feedback that leads to positive outcomes
• Work directly with senior Examiners, and support the Administrators in advance of the series to agree panel and quota sizes, and then through the campaign to provide status updates and build contingency plans if required
• Participate in the selection process for new Team Leaders and support the recruitment process for some Senior / Lead Examiner vacancies.
• Oversee and support with the approval of payments to Examiners, ensuring that defined processes are followed, and any issues are resolved in a timely and accurate manner
• Work with other teams such as marking to identify how to incentivise marking progress while balancing the need for quality of marking and retention of associates
• Act as a point of escalation for the Associate Management Administrators and for the Associates in your portfolio, resolving issues or escalating to the Associate Manager as appropriate
• Maintain and analyse the databases and records to generating management information to assess performance of the portfolio team’s activities
• Analyse data relating to quality of marking, contract withdrawals and rescinded contracts to identify emerging trends and patterns.
• Contribute to and attend the post series reviews, focusing on lessons learned and improvements to make for the next series.
• Support new team members with training and induction, ensuring that policies are well-documented, shared and consistently applied to our work.
• Actively contribute to the refinement and enhancement of our processes, including roll out of new technology solutions to ensure we are consistently producing high quality work as efficiently as possible.
• Ensure that risks are identified, documented, and mitigated against
• Ensure that regulatory requirements are met, and AQA Quality Management processes are consistently followed
• Other duties as required commensurate with the role
To be successful in this role, you will need to know:
• Previous experience in a senior or supervisory role in a team environment, acting as a point of escalation, providing support and training to more junior members, and able to step up as needed
• Experience in a customer-facing role; able to identify and address the needs of our customers and build positive relationships with them
• Experience of working with systems, data, and spreadsheets – able to analyse a number of data sources and identify performance issues, process gaps, or opportunities for improvement
• The ability to prioritise tasks and to juggle multiple demands on your time
• Experience of collaborative working with other teams and communicating to senior stakeholders
• Curiosity, and a desire to make things work better, go quicker, be simpler – some exposure to or understanding of Continuous Improvement, Lean, or Six Sigma
• Experience of working in a team to deliver a successful outcome – taking ownership for your part of delivery, and still offering and receiving support as needed.