Leadership and Business Management Skills Coach

What you will own

• A caseload of Team Leader Level 3 and Operations Manager Level 5 apprentices, from the point they are allocated to you until the day their result comes through.
• The learner journey for every one of them: teaching, coaching, assessment, progress reviews, off the job training, gateway and end point assessment preparation.
• The employer relationship at line manager level, so that every apprentice has a line manager who turns up, contributes and understands what their part of the programme is.
• Your own diary, your own forward plan and your own compliance. You plan your visits, your teaching and your assessments, and you keep the record straight.
• The quality of the management development you deliver: real world leadership and business skills that hold up in the workplace, not just against a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours.

Key responsibilities

• Deliver one to one and group training and assessment for apprentices on the Team Leader and Operations Manager programmes, both online and on site.
• Visit apprentices in their workplace to assess progress and provide coaching.
• Develop and deliver sessions focused on real world leadership, people management and business skills that prepare apprentices for senior roles.
• Embed English and maths into your teaching, coaching and assessment throughout the programme. The functional skills qualifications themselves are delivered separately by the Functional Skills team.
• Complete inductions and deliver the First Day In Learning within four working weeks of learner allocation, and submit accurate induction paperwork by the Friday following induction.
• Plan learner visits, evidence collection, teaching activities and exams at least four weeks ahead, and three months ahead with each learner.
• Provide assessment feedback within five working days.
• Conduct detailed progress reviews with the apprentice and their line manager every ten weeks.
• Monitor and record off the job training monthly, so that every learner meets the requirements by the end of their programme.
• Identify and remove barriers to achievement, with a documented intervention plan for every at risk learner within five working days.
• Prepare learners for gateway and end point assessment, and hold a next steps conversation with every completer.
• Carry out a welfare check at every coaching session and record it on the system.
• Report every safeguarding concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead within 24 hours.
• Promote equality, diversity and inclusion, health and safety, quality assurance, safeguarding and continuous improvement in everything you deliver.
• Handle break in learning and withdrawal cases fully in line with the Funding Rules, recorded within five working days with signed evidence, correct dates, systems updated and the employer informed.
• Maintain a full CPD log of at least 30 hours a year, submitted quarterly, complete all mandatory training and attend standardisation sessions.
• Register learners with awarding organisations in good time, and cooperate fully with audits by Mercury, awarding bodies, funding partners, the DWP and Ofsted.
• Notify Mercury immediately of any absent learner or emerging issue, and act as the link between the apprentice, the employer and the business.
• Nominate an apprentice or line manager of the month, every month, with a written statement.

What you will bring

Essential

• A minimum of three years operational experience in a leadership, management or business services role.
• Proven experience of delivering apprenticeship standards, from induction through to end point assessment.
• Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET), or an equivalent teaching qualification.
• Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA).
• Level 2 English and maths, or an equivalent such as GCSEs.
• A genuine understanding of what first line and operational managers actually do, and the training needs that come with it.
• Excellent organisational skills, and the discipline to plan your own diary and visits with learners and their line managers.
• Self motivated and self reliant, able to use your own initiative and manage your own schedule.
• The ability to travel across the UK to meet your apprentices on site, and your own transport. Mileage is paid at 55 pence per mile.
• BPSS clearance and an enhanced DBS with barred list check.

Desirable

• Membership of a vocational institution such as CMI, IOSH, the Security Institute, IPSA or IWFM.
• A Level 5 qualification in your vocational sector.
• Experience of delivering the Team Leader or Operations Manager standards, or of coaching managers through an end point assessment.

About the fixed term

We would rather be straight with you than sell you something we cannot promise. This is a two year fixed term appointment because funding for new starts on these two standards closes on 17 March 2027, and the work is to carry the final cohorts through to completion. Mercury is not going anywhere. We are rebuilding our management portfolio around replacement standards for the same employers and the same learners, and the skills that make someone good at this job are the skills that portfolio will need. We cannot guarantee a permanent role at the end of the two years, and we will not pretend otherwise, but we will have that conversation early and openly rather than leaving you to find out.

Other requirements

• All appointments are subject to our safer recruitment process, including references, right to work checks, BPSS clearance and an enhanced DBS with barred list check.
• You will be expected to keep abreast of company developments and follow the monthly training plan.

This description is not intended to establish a total definition of the job, but an outline of the main duties. You will be expected to carry out other reasonable duties from time to time as the needs of the business require.

Document reference to be allocated. Version 1, August 2026.