AQA
Head of Unit Award Scheme
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Head of Unit Award Scheme (UAS)
Permanent
Manchester
Salary: £63,000 - £69,000
Hybrid Working
About the Role
Shape the future of one of education's most impactful programmes. Lead something that genuinely changes lives.
The Unit Award Scheme (UAS) has been helping learners gain recognition for their achievements for over 40 years. Used by an ever broadening range of organisations such as prisons, alternative provision settings, charities, adult learning, schools, colleges and local authorities across the UK, the Unit Award Scheme celebrates learning in all its forms. Whether a learner is building confidence, developing life skills or taking the next step towards education or employment, UAS helps make achievement visible.
The current Head of UAS is retiring so we're looking for a strategic and commercially minded leader to take the scheme into its next phase of growth. As Head of UAS, you'll lead the overall direction, performance and success of the scheme. You'll bring together commercial thinking, customer insight, product development and people leadership to help even more organisations and learners benefit from what UAS has to offer.
This is a rare opportunity to lead an established, respected educational product while shaping its future growth and impact.
What you'll be doing
You'll be accountable for the overall performance and development of the Unit Award Scheme, ensuring it delivers for customers, learners and AQA.
You'll:
- Develop and deliver the long-term strategy for UAS
- Drive sustainable customer growth and retention
- Lead the commercial performance of the scheme, including budget and revenue targets
- Use customer insight and market intelligence to identify opportunities for growth
- Build and maintain strong relationships with customers, partners and stakeholders
- Lead and develop a multidisciplinary team, creating a culture of accountability, innovation and continuous improvement
- Influence product development and digital enhancements that improve the customer experience
- Represent UAS externally, acting as an ambassador for the scheme and the learners it supports
- Work closely with colleagues across Product, Operations, Technology and Customer teams to deliver successful outcomes
Why join us?
- Lead a nationally recognised programme - UAS supports thousands of learners every year and is used by organisations across the education and social impact sectors.
- Shape future growth - You'll have the opportunity to influence strategy, customer experience, product development and commercial performance.
- Make a meaningful difference - The work you'll do will help learners gain recognition for achievements that might otherwise go unnoticed.
- Lead a talented and committed team - You'll inherit a knowledgeable team with deep expertise and a strong commitment to supporting customers and learners.
What we offer
At AQA, we believe everyone should feel they belong and can thrive.
In return for your expertise, you'll enjoy:
- Generous pension scheme – up to 18.5% combined contributions
- 25 days' holiday, increasing with service, with additional closure days in December
- Flexible and hybrid working
- Access to learning and development opportunities
- Health and wellbeing support – Private Medical Insurance with BUPA and a comprehensive employee assistance programme
- Up to five paid volunteering days each year
- Electric Vehicle Leasing Scheme
- A collaborative and inclusive working environment
What we're looking for
You'll be an experienced senior leader who can combine strategic thinking with commercial focus and a genuine passion for improving educational outcomes.
You'll bring:
- Experience leading a business unit, product, service or customer-focused function
- A strong track record of delivering commercial growth and sustainable performance
- Experience leading and developing diverse teams through change and growth
- The ability to influence and build credibility with senior stakeholders
- Strong customer focus, with experience using insight and data to shape decisions
- Experience balancing strategic priorities with operational delivery
- Excellent communication skills, including presenting to and influencing a wide range of audiences
- The confidence to identify opportunities, challenge thinking and drive improvement
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
It would be helpful, though not essential, if you understand the wider education system and the barriers some learners face, including experience or knowledge of alternative education settings.
You might currently be working in education, assessment, qualifications, membership organisations, professional services, charities, learning services or another customer-focused environment where growth, innovation and stakeholder engagement are central to success.
Thinking about applying?
If you're excited by the opportunity to lead a respected educational scheme, drive future growth and make a lasting impact on learners across the UK, apply today and help shape the next chapter of the Unit Award Scheme.
Application and Selection Process
Please upload your most recent CV with a supporting statement outlining why you would be the best person for this job.
Applications will close at 23:59 on Sunday 16 August.
Interviews will take place in two stages at the end of August/beginning of September. The first stage will be an online interview via Teams, followed by a face-to-face interview at our Manchester office. You will also be asked to deliver a presentation.
#LI-FH1
#MCRE
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 Head of Unit Award Scheme leads the strategic direction, commercial performance and customer experience for UAS, ensuring the scheme delivers sustainable growth, strong customer engagement and meaningful value for learners and organisations.
The role translates organisational strategy into clear priorities for customer retention and acquisition, market growth, customer experience and future scheme development, working through the UAS team and cross-functional partners to deliver shared outcomes.
Landscape:
UAS operates as a distinct product offer within AQA, with defined customers, customer journeys and growth objectives. The role provides business-unit leadership for UAS performance, with a focus on customer retention, growth and acquisition; customer engagement; reach, participation and impact; and the development of digital and platform-enabled customer journeys.
The role leads a multi-functional UAS team, including Business Development and Developments and Training, and Unit Development, works in close partnership with other functions. The postholder is directly accountable for customer experience, commercial performance and growth outcomes; influences product and scheme development through insight, prioritisation and business requirements; and works with operational and product-quality owners to ensure delivery supports UAS customer needs.
The postholder operates with autonomy and is accountable for the commercial performance and customer outcomes of UAS, balancing growth and cost management to support sustainable development of the scheme.
The Unit Award Scheme team engages with a wide and diverse range of external customers including schools, colleges, alternative provision settings, pupil referral units, special schools, local authorities, training providers, charities, community organisations and other learning settings.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Activities
Leadership and organisational contribution
- Build, lead and develop a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team, setting clear expectations, driving accountability and developing capability through coaching, succession planning and effective resourcing.
- Act as the visible figurehead and ambassador for the Unit Award Scheme, representing UAS internally and externally and promoting its impact through customer engagement, conferences, events, sector networks, speaking engagements and strategic partnerships.
- Champion UAS across AQA, influencing decision-making, building strong internal and external partnerships and ensuring the scheme's priorities are understood and supported at all levels of the organisation.
- Provide leadership across complex matrix teams and programmes, driving collaboration and alignment across UAS, Hypercare, Product Management, Technology, Operations, Customer Success and other business functions to deliver shared outcomes, continuous improvements and customer experience.
Strategic and commercial leadership
- Define and deliver the Unit Award Scheme strategy, aligning commercial and customer experience priorities with scheme-development requirements, AQA priorities and measurable growth, engagement and financial outcomes.
- Own commercial performance, including customer growth, participation growth, cost management, pricing strategy and expansion into new markets, sectors and partnerships.
- Develop and maintain clear business plans, performance indicators and reporting routines to track growth, customer experience, participation, engagement, cost management and delivery progress.
- Prioritise investment, resources and activity across the scheme, using evidence and insight to focus effort on the areas with the greatest potential to improve growth, customer outcomes and impact.
- Act as business owner and lead for key third-party suppliers and strategic partners, ensuring effective supplier performance management.
Customer and market leadership
- Lead customer retention, growth and acquisition strategies, using market intelligence and insight to shape the scheme direction and deliver increased participation and engagement.
- Build strong, trusted relationships across diverse customer and stakeholder groups, including schools, colleges, alternative provision settings, pupil referral units, special schools, local authorities, training providers, charities, community organisations and other learning settings, acting as a senior representative of UAS and ensuring a consistently high-quality customer experience supported by effective training, guidance, communications and engagement activities.
- Represent UAS, identifying opportunities to raise awareness, strengthen reputation, influence thinking and extend the reach and impact of the scheme.
Product, quality and innovation
- Work with product colleagues to shape the development of a relevant and innovative unit offer, ensuring customer insight, market needs and business priorities inform product direction and quality considerations.
- Use insight to identify risks, gaps and opportunities in the UAS offer, working with specialist teams to enhance customer value, impact and effectiveness.
- Influence the future direction of UAS products and services, ensuring the scheme remains responsive to customer needs, educational developments and organisational priorities.
Operational performance and governance
- Oversee performance across customer, commercial and financial measures, using data and insight to drive decision-making and improved outcomes.
- Work with operational owners to ensure service performance, systems
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills