Director of Delivery

AQA is the largest provider of academic qualifications taught in schools and colleges in England. With a team of circa 900 employees, we help young people realise their potential, empowering them to realise life opportunities. Our UK qualifications are highly valued by employers and universities around the world. They are taught mainly in schools and colleges and include GCSEs, AS and A-levels, the Extended Project Qualification, the AQA Baccalaureate, Tech-levels and Technical Awards.

We set and mark the papers for around half of all GCSEs and A-levels taken every year and our UK qualifications are internationally recognised and taught in some 30 countries. With nearly 40,000 teachers, lecturers, subject experts and academics helping to set and mark our exams, AQA’s qualifications are highly valued by employers and universities alike, enabling young people to progress to the next stage of their lives. Our turnover is in excess of £170 million and as an independent charity, we reinvest any financial surplus back into education.

We mark more than 7 million exam scripts every year and it is difficult to overstate how important our new Director of Delivery is to our continuing success. Reporting to the Chief Executive, and as a key member of the Executive Team, the Director plays a pivotal role by providing strategic oversight and accountability for the delivery of each examination series; is the main link between the organisation and AQA’s council of trustees and the regulator; and delivering on multi-million pound strategic projects, including with a Director of Operations working for you, working with our CIO to deliver our largest ever investment in technology, ensuring we remain pioneering market leaders. 

Ambitious and commercially minded, you will bring the insight and knowledge to quickly grasp the many logistical and operational complexities of a unique business such as ours. Whilst knowledge of the examination or education sectors is desirable, but not essential, you will have empathy with our goals and continually strive for operational and programme management improvement. With the personal gravitas and credibility to engage with a wide range of senior stakeholders, you will be a strategic, visible and inspiring senior leader.

For an informal, confidential discussion about the role please contact our advising consultants at GatenbySanderson: Nick Roberts (07393 013697) or Hilda Gjika (07809 195 386).