Pearson
Principal, Program Management
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Principal, Program Management
Description
Drive strategic alignment, portfolio governance, executive reporting and operational excellence across Pearson's Platform Engineering organisation, acting as the operational engine behind one of Pearson's largest technology functions. Known in the market as: Chief of Staff, Technology Chief of Staff, Portfolio Management Lead, PMO Lead, Delivery Management Lead, Portfolio Office Manager, Business Operations Lead, Programme Portfolio Manager or Technology Strategy & Operations Lead. This role combines business operations, portfolio leadership, governance, strategy and executive engagement to bring structure, visibility and execution discipline to a complex global technology environment.
About the Role
Pearson, the world's leading learning company, is seeking a Principal, Program Management professional to drive strategic, operational and business alignment across the Platform Engineering organisation within the Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO).
Platform Engineering is the technical backbone of Pearson, providing cloud services, infrastructure, enterprise tooling, digital workplace technology, networking, database services and operational governance capabilities that support Pearson's products, colleagues and learners globally. Platform Engineering partners closely with development teams and business technology leaders across Pearson to deliver secure, reliable and scalable services.
This newly created role will establish and lead the Platform Engineering Business Office, helping to drive organisational alignment, portfolio governance, executive reporting, strategic planning, communications, business operations and continuous improvement across a large global technology function.
Success in this position will come from bringing structure, visibility and operational rigour to a fast-moving environment while building trusted relationships with senior stakeholders across OCTO and the wider business.
What You'll Do
Cross-Functional Alignment & Business Operations
- Partner with leaders across Cloud, SRE, Networks, Digital Workplace Services and Enterprise Operations to drive organisational alignment.
- Coordinate strategic planning, operational reviews and cross-functional initiatives.
- Establish business office operating mechanisms, governance processes and delivery frameworks.
- Drive follow-through on leadership priorities, actions and commitments.
- Support finance, compliance, people and operational planning activities across the organisation.
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Enterprise Portfolio & Demand Management
- Own and govern the portfolio demand intake process across Platform Engineering.
- Build and maintain a consolidated portfolio view aligned to business priorities.
- Facilitate governance forums, portfolio reviews and leadership reporting activities.
- Monitor programme health, risks, dependencies and delivery outcomes.
- Support prioritisation decisions using business value, capacity and strategic objectives.
Performance Metrics & Executive Reporting
- Design and maintain KPI, OKR and performance measurement frameworks.
- Create dashboards and reporting mechanisms that provide a single source of truth for leadership.
- Translate technical and operational data into clear executive-level insights.
- Identify trends, risks and opportunities that support data-driven decision making.
- Coordinate organisational reporting for senior leadership audiences.
Communications & Organisational Engagement
- Own executive presentations, leadership updates and strategic communications.
- Maintain service catalogues, knowledge repositories and business office content.
- Support preparation of leadership reviews, board updates and executive meetings.
- Coordinate and standardise outward-facing communications across the function.
- Ensure Platform Engineering's priorities, achievements and value are effectively communicated across Pearson.
Strategic Partnership
- Act as a trusted partner across Platform Engineering leadership.
- Help drive transformation initiatives and organisational improvements.
- Coordinate activities across multiple programmes, stakeholders and workstreams.
- Bring structure, governance and operational rigour to a fast-moving environment.
- Influence senior stakeholders and help remove barriers to execution.
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What You'll Bring
- 8+ years' experience within technology organisations.
- 4+ years within PMO, Portfolio Management, Business Operations, Chief of Staff, Delivery Management or Business Office leadership roles.
- Experience managing portfolios containing multiple programmes, projects and workstreams simultaneously.
- Strong governance, planning and stakeholder management expertise.
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders within complex matrix organisations.
- Experience producing executive-level reporting, dashboards and performance insights.
- Exceptional communication, facilitation and presentation skills.
- Experience with Jira, Jira Product Discovery, Confluence, ServiceNow and related enterprise platforms.
- A highly organised, structured and pragmatic approach to problem solving.
- Ability to thrive in fast-paced environments with competing priorities and changing demands.
Desirable
- Experience supporting infrastructure, platform engineering, cloud or technology operations functions.
- PMO, Portfolio Office, Governance or Consultancy background.
- Prince2, MSP, Agile or related programme management certifications.
- Experience establishing business office or strategic operations functions within large enterprises.
Location & Working Pattern
Hybrid - London (The Strand)
This role is expected to spend approximately 2-3 days per week in Pearson's London office, working closely with senior technology leaders and stakeholders across Platform Engineering and OCTO.
Why Pearson?
This is more than a programme management role. It is an opportunity to build and shape a brand-new business office within one of Pearson's most critical technology organisations.
You will influence strategic decisions, establish new operating models, drive operational excellence and help define how Platform Engineering demonstrates business value across Pearson. As platform capabilities, cloud services and AI-driven technologies continue to evolve, this role offers a unique opportunity to make a significant impact at enterprise scale.
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