Director of Regulation, Quality and Risk
Salary: £90,200 - £124,100 per annum
Location: Cambridge or Coventry, UK – Hybrid
Contract: Permanent
Hours: Full time - 35 hours per week / Part time - 0.8 FTE applications are welcome
Are you a strategic leader with the experience, expertise and influence to navigate complex regulatory environments
We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.
We are seeking an experienced and highly credible Director of Regulation, Quality and Risk to lead regulatory engagement across Cambridge OCR and Cambridge English, as well as quality and risk management for Cambridge OCR. This is a high-profile leadership role that directly supports our ability to deliver trusted qualifications and assessments while maintaining the confidence of regulators, customers and stakeholders.
About the role
Reporting to the Director of Regulation, Business Performance in Cambridge OCR, and working closely with senior leaders across Cambridge UK Education and Cambridge English, you will shape and deliver strategies that ensure regulatory compliance, strengthen quality management and embed effective risk management across the organisation.
You will provide expert leadership on regulatory policy and engagement, oversee compliance evaluation and reporting processes, and drive continuous improvement in the quality and resilience of assessment delivery. Acting as a trusted adviser to senior leadership, you will help inform strategic business planning and decision-making through the effective integration of compliance, quality and risk insights.
The role also deputises for the Responsible Officer for Cambridge OCR, is a key advisor to the Responsible Officer for Cambridge English, and includes significant engagement with UK regulators, government bodies and industry stakeholders.
Additional responsibilities and accountabilities include:
- Leading regulatory engagement strategies for Cambridge OCR and Cambridge English, anticipating future regulatory developments and influencing policy where appropriate.
- Overseeing robust compliance evaluation processes and reporting frameworks that provide clear visibility of regulatory risks and compliance performance.
- Developing and embedding best-practice quality management approaches across assessment design, delivery and business operations.
- Leading Cambridge UK Education's enterprise-wide risk management framework and driving its effective implementation.
- Building organisational capability through high-quality advice, guidance and training on regulation, quality and risk management.
- Managing and developing a specialist team of regulation, quality and risk professionals.
- Developing productive relationships with regulators, government departments, awarding organisations, educational stakeholders and industry bodies.
- Providing strategic insight and assurance to boards, committees and senior leadership teams.
- Deputising for the Responsible Officer in regulatory and governance matters when required.
This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the successful candidate to typically spend 40–60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location, or our other UK office. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including alternative arrangements where reasonable adjustments are required.
About you
You will be a strategic and influential leader with extensive experience operating at a senior level within a highly regulated environment. You will bring deep expertise in regulation, risk and quality management, coupled with the ability to engage confidently with senior stakeholders both internally and externally.
You will demonstrate:
- Significant experience leading regulation, risk, quality or compliance functions within a regulated industry.
- Exceptional strategic thinking and analytical capability, with the ability to translate complex information into practical business decisions.
- Strong understanding of enterprise risk management and quality assurance frameworks.
- Experience influencing senior leaders, external regulators and policy-makers.
- Outstanding communication, negotiation and relationship-management skills.
- Proven leadership experience, including building, motivating and developing high-performing teams.
- Experience of delivering organisational change, improvement programmes and strategic initiatives.
- Strong commercial awareness and an appreciation of balancing regulatory requirements with business priorities.
- The ability to make sound decisions under pressure and navigate complex, fast-moving environments.
If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate:
- Experience within the qualifications, assessment or wider education sector.
- Experience working with UK qualifications regulators or government departments.
- International regulatory experience.
- Legal, governance or public policy experience.
- Experience acting as a senior organisational representative in industry forums and external stakeholder groups.
For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site.
Disability Confident
We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.
Sponsorship
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is an approved UK employer for the sponsorship of eligible roles and applicants under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please refer to the UK Government website for guidance on eligibility requirements.
Rewards and benefits
We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to a competitive salary, we offer a world-class flexible rewards package, including:
- 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
- Private medical insurance and Permanent Health Insurance
- Discretionary annual bonus
- Group personal pension scheme
- Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
- Flexible and hybrid working options
Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.
We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent.
The closing date for all applications will be 20th July 2026. We will review applications on an ongoing basis, and shortlisted candidates can expect interviews to take place from week commencing 27th July, 3rd August, 10th August.
If you are shortlisted and progressed through the stages, you can expect:
- First stage virtual interview via MS Teams.
- Final stage interview: in-person at our offices in Cambridge.
If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process due to a disability or a long-term health condition, there will be an opportunity for you to inform us via the online application form. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.
Please note that successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory background checks including DBS due to working in a regulated industry.
Why join us?
Joining us is your opportunity to pursue potential. You will belong to a collaborative team that is exploring new and better ways to serve students, teachers and researchers across the globe – for the benefit of individuals, society and the world. Sharing our mission will inspire your own growth, development and progress, in an environment which embraces difference, change and aspiration.
Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background.
We believe better outcomes come through diversity of thought, background and approach. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and communities, actively seeking to employ people from a wide range of different communities.
