Advanced Associate, Administrative Support – HE&I
Business Area overview:
Are you interested in professional development? Would you like to learn how Pearson helps our customers grow their skills through ongoing training so they're ready to teach Vocational Qualifications?
Pearson’s Business Development UK & International Professional Development Team works within the Vocational Qualifications section of Enterprise Learning & Skills. They create and run professional development programs for teachers, focusing on BTEC qualifications and TVET initiatives.
Besides teacher training for qualifications, this team also develops and delivers commercial professional development projects. Recently, they've rolled out Government level programmes in Uzbekistan and Jordan, started an Early Years Teacher Training program in China, and provided vocational TVET solutions to education groups.
Advanced Associate, Administrative Support
Role purpose: Reporting to the Senior Professional Development Manager – BDUKI, you will provide high-quality administrative and operational support that enables Pearson Professional Development programmes to run smoothly and deliver an excellent customer experience.
What you’ll do
What you’ll bring
- Strong administrative coordination skills, with excellent attention to detail and a commitment to getting things right first time.
- Confident written communication and stakeholder service skills, with the ability to manage multiple requests calmly and professionally.
- Ability to prioritise effectively, work to tight deadlines and adapt during peak periods.
- Comfort working with data and systems (e.g., Microsoft Office/Teams) and learning new platforms quickly.
- A collaborative, proactive approach and willingness to take ownership of tasks and follow-through.
Key relationships and scope
Key relationships: Senior Professional Development Manager (line manager); Professional Development team (UK & International); Strategic Lead – Training and International/Customised Qualifications (Department Lead), Product/Qualifications teams; Sales/BD stakeholders; Quality/Compliance stakeholders; suppliers and trainers/facilitators; customers/centres and learners; Finance/Procurement support (purchase orders/invoices); platform/support teams (e.g., event platform, collaboration tools).
Scope of the role:
- Supports the operational delivery of qualifications training and commercial Professional Development programmes, ensuring consistent administration and a smooth learner/customer experience.
- Coordinates multiple activities in parallel (enquiries, scheduling, communications, records and follow-ups), often to tight deadlines and across different time zones.
- No people management responsibility.
Success measures (KPIs and service levels)
You will be successful in this role when you consistently deliver:
- Timely customer support: learner and stakeholder enquiries are responded to promptly and tracked to resolutions, with clear escalation when needed.
- Operational accuracy: high-quality written communications, accurate attendance/registration records, and reliable document control (right version, right place, audit-ready).
- On-time delivery readiness: sessions are set up on schedule with joining instructions and materials shared in advance where requested/required, and post-session follow-up completed.
- Quality and compliance: training event materials are used and managed in line with Pearson requirements; only approved/authorised materials are used; training events are appropriately recorded/monitored where required; audit trails are maintained.
- Continuous improvement: feedback is captured, summarised and logged; recurring operational issues are identified and improvements are implemented.
Internal governance expectations (examples from internal Pearson documentation):
- Training events are subject to governance and quality checks; for example, internal reporting notes that BD UK&I PD (UK) audits 25% of events each quarter.
- Training governance includes requirements such as use of authorised materials, and monitoring of recordings by relevant teams, in line with Pearson’s training-for-qualifications events policy.
Key accountabilities:
Programme Management
- Assisting in the development and delivery of qualifications training, alongside the roll out of commercial projects
- Support the HE&I PD team to meeting commercial revenue targets
- Support delivery of the Professional Development plan by coordinating programme administration, communications and tracking to help the team meet customer and commercial outcomes.
- Assist in the rollout of New Centre approval training.
- Assist in the rollout of regional specific trainings where required.
- Coordinating the periodic review of content, including identifying and managing risks, using data and (where appropriate) AI-assisted analysis to spot trends, gaps and recurring issues
- Reviewing feedback and following up on actions, including AI-assisted thematic analysis of learner feedback and operational data to prioritise improvements
- Support programme communications by maintaining accurate session information and helping coordinate approved promotional/admin communications (e.g., event reminders, joining instructions, follow-ups).
- Flag operational insights and recurring customer needs to the team (e.g., common questions, trend themes) to inform future programme planning.
- Assist in the management of asynchronous programme, assisting in customer queries and order requests, using approved tools (including AI-assisted drafting) to improve response quality and speed while ensuring accuracy, tone and data handling requirements are met
- Monitor Professional Development trends, developments, and best practices, using data and AI-enabled research/ summarisation to capture insights and share recommendations with the team
Performance Management
- Assist in the performance management and quality assurance of our training provision
- Auditing training sessions using approved tools (including AI-assisted review of recordings, transcripts and feedback), identifying points for improvement and corrective actions in line with Pearson’s regulatory requirements, with appropriate human validation and sign-off
Stakeholder Management
- Liaising with key external and internal stakeholders regarding training operations and planning
- Carrying out the administrative elements of the QA (Quality Assure) and assessment processes, preparing accurate minutes of meetings and maintaining follow-up actions, using approved digital tools (including AI-assisted drafting and summarisation) with checks for accuracy and completeness.
Supplier Management
- vendors on content production review and sign-off content produced
- Process any supplier related purchase orders or Invoice requests
- Distribute digital badges using Credly platform
Liaise with
Key Challenges of role:
- Working to tight deadlines
- Attention to detail required even with repetitive tasks
- Flexibility of working patterns during peak period
- Reacting positively to change
- Adapting to the unforeseen challenges
- Simultaneously managing different tasks at peak periods.
- Take responsibility and manage own Personal Development Plan, with a clear vision for learning and development against the expectations of the role.
Education/Qualifications (minimum):
- Degree level education (or equivalent)
- At least 1 - 2 years of experince in Administrative roles or Customer Service roles.
Essential experience for the role:
- Proven administrative coordination experience (e.g., programme support, operations coordination, project support or events administration) in a fast-paced environment
- Experience supporting learning/training activity (e.g., scheduling sessions, managing attendance, handling learner enquiries, supporting virtual delivery platforms, issuing joining instructions and post-session communications)
- Experience working with stakeholders and customers (internal and/or external), including triaging queries and maintaining a professional, service-focused approach
- Excellent written English and proofreading skills, with strong attention to detail
- Strong planning and time-management skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple deadlines
- Strong problem-solving skills and ability to use initiative to resolve issues as they arise
- Confident user of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and digital systems; able to learn new platforms quickly
- Experience handling data accurately (e.g., maintaining learner records, reporting trackers, operational logs) with appropriate confidentiality and care
Desirable experience and qualifications:
- Experience working in training, learning & development (L&D), professional development, education operations or programme coordination function
- Experience supporting end-to-end training administration (enrolments, attendance tracking, evaluations/feedback collection, certificates/badges, post-session communications)
- Experience supporting quality assurance processes for training (e.g., audits, checklists, compliance tracking, action logs)
- Confidence in using collaboration and workflow tools (e.g., Teams, SharePoint, learning platforms/LMS) and using approved AI features to draft, summarise and quality-check written communications
- Experience producing or maintaining management information (MI) for training operations (e.g., dashboards, trends, recurring issues, root-cause themes)
- Advanced Excel skills (e.g., pivot tables, lookups) and/or experience with reporting tools such as Power BI (or similar)
- Customer engagement experience in a service environment (e.g., handling enquiries, resolving issues, managing expectations)
- Experience working in a large, multinational organisation and/or with international stakeholders across time zones
- Additional language capability (e.g., Arabic, Spanish, Mandarin) to support regional stakeholders
- CPD-linked qualifications or training: certificate or diploma in Learning & Development, Training Administration, Education Administration, or Project Management (e.g., PRINCE2 Foundation) or equivalent recognised CPD; evidence of ongoing CPD through relevant short courses
Candidate profile:
Personal Style and Behaviour
You will be accurate, flexible, and responsive; hard-working, organised, enthusiastic; and able to juggle multiple priorities. You will feel confident managing your own workload whilst working as part of a team and be capable of learning quickly and tackling any challenge with energy and commitment. You will be able to communicate effectively with a range of stakeholders.
