Job Description
Job Title: Quality & Assurance Director
Team: Programmes
Business Unit: UK
Contract Type: Permanent (Contingent on Contract Award)
Hours: 22.5 hours per week (0.6 FTE)
Salary: £65,000 GBP (Pro-rata / pa)
Location: Remote
Travel Requirements: Occasional UK based travel
Overview of the Role
The Quality Assurance Director will provide strategic leadership and accountability for quality assurance across one of our national scale education programmes with ownership for the CPD Quality Framework.
The role ensures that all CPD provision is underpinned by a rigorous, transparent, and independent QA system, covering the full lifecycle from framework design through to review, moderation, reporting, and continuous improvement. Ensuring alignment with national standards and sector-leading practice, resulting in high-quality learner experiences and outcomes. The Director will hold accountability for the quality assurance framework and processes, ensuring consistency, inclusion, safeguarding, and excellence across CPD provision. This role will work closely with Subject Councils and other sector partners, leading a high-performing team of Quality Assurance Leads and Associates.
Key Responsibilities
Your core responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Overall accountability for the QA Framework and end-to-end QA lifecycle, accountable for the delivery and integrity of the full QA processes including framework design, evidence review, moderation, validation, reporting, and continuous improvement ensuring all stages are consistent, evidence-based, and effectively coordinated
- Ensure the implementation of a robust, transparent, and independent QA framework, aligned to national standards, subject-specific pedagogy, and inclusion requirements
- Ensure effective moderation, calibration, and governance processes, including oversight of validation and appeals
- Maintain independence between QA, commissioning, and delivery activities
- Build strong relationships with the sector partners, Subject Councils and delivery organisations, ensuring confidence in QA processes and outcomes
- Develop and manage a high-performing QA workforce, including QA Leads and Associates ensuring consistent application of standards
- Maintain consistency in interpretation of frameworks and application of standards
- Ensure robust escalation and governance through Subject Councils and partners
- Ensure effective coordination of QA timelines, submission cycles, review and reporting deadlines
- Use QA insights to inform strategic decision-making, curriculum development, and commissioning priorities
- Drive continuous improvement cycles, including re-review, provider development, and decisions on retention or decommissioning of provision
Expected Behaviours and Working Style:
Make every day count - Delivers with focus and pace, prioritising high-impact activity and using evidence and insight to ensure consistently high-quality outcomes and CPD at national scale.
Lead the way - Provides confident, credible leadership through expertise and influence, setting clear direction, anticipating challenges, and driving quality across the centre’s CPD provision
Deliver with empathy - Builds trusted relationships grounded in a deep understanding of high-quality CPD and quality assurance frameworks, communicating with clarity, respect, and sensitivity to the realities of practice.
Role Deliverables:
- A fully operational QA system with consistent application across all provision
- A published, evidence-informed QA framework that is transparent, consistent, and aligned to national standards and subject-specific pedagogy, with clear version control and sector confidence
- Robust moderation and calibration processes in place, delivering high levels of consistency and credibility in QA decisions across all reviewers and programmes
- All provision quality assured against the CPD Quality Assurance Framework
- Delivery of clear, structured, and high-quality reports
- A well-trained, calibrated network of QA Leads, Associates, and reviewers, with clear standards of practice, strong performance management and quality control
- Strong confidence from stakeholders, demonstrated through transparent processes, fair decisions, and effective engagement
- QA processes delivered on time and at scale
Skills, Experience, and Qualifications:
Essential
- Substantial, successful and recent educational leadership experience
Proven track record of delivering high quality results through educational leadership at a senior level
- Proven track record of designing and/or delivering robust QA frameworks, review, and moderation systems
- Strong understanding of curriculum design, pedagogy, and professional learning frameworks
- Experience of external moderation, accreditation, or review processes
- Excellent analytical, evaluation, and reporting skills, with the ability to draw insights and drive improvement
- Outstanding leadership, influencing, and stakeholder management skills, including working with government or national partners
- Experience leading and developing high-performing teams
- Highly effective communication skills, both written and verbal
Desirable
- Knowledge or experience of arts education, cultural education, or creative disciplines
- Strong knowledge of safeguarding, inclusion (including SEND), and compliance requirements
- Experience working within national or government-funded education programmes
- Advanced qualifications in education leadership, quality assurance, or related fields
- Experience of working across complex partnerships and multi-provider delivery models
- Digital/data systems experience for QA tracking, reporting, and performance dashboards
Etio are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. We welcome applications from all groups, particularly those underrepresented in the workforce.
Note to all applicants - Etio reserve the right to close an advertisement to applications ahead of the advertised closure date. For this reason, shortlisting may take place prior to the closing date on some occasions. Therefore, please do not hesitate to apply early.
