At AQA, we’re committed to advancing education and we’re committed to our people. As the largest provider of academic qualifications in the UK, we mark over 10 million exam papers each year and it’s our people who make this happen.

Qualification Quality Lead

2 Year Fixed Term Contract

Guildford or Milton Keynes: £57,000-£62,500
Manchester: £54,500-£60,000

Hybrid Working

Shape the future of qualification quality at AQA

Quality isn't just about checking what's already there. It's about defining standards, creating robust frameworks and building the processes that make excellence possible.

As a Qualification Quality Lead (known internally as a Quality & Accreditation Lead), you'll play a key role in shaping how quality is managed across AQA's qualification development programmes. You'll help create and embed the quality assurance approach that underpins qualification design, supports regulatory compliance and ensures materials are ready for accreditation.

This is a rare opportunity to influence how quality, governance and accreditation are managed across a major education organisation during a period of significant reform.

Purpose of the role

This isn't a role where you'll inherit mature processes and simply maintain them.

You'll help define what good looks like. 

Working closely with the newly appointed Head of Qualification Quality, you'll help establish and embed quality approaches, governance processes and assurance frameworks that will shape qualification development across AQA.

Working across qualification development, assessment design, regulation and compliance, you'll design and embed quality assurance frameworks, develop audit approaches, establish governance processes and support teams to consistently deliver high-quality qualification materials.

You'll also play an important role in accreditation activity, helping to ensure qualification materials are submission-ready, supporting regulatory engagement and helping coordinate responses to feedback throughout the accreditation process.

In this role, you'll be responsible for:

• Build and shape quality assurance processes from the ground up
• Design and embed quality frameworks, governance processes and audit approaches
• Support accreditation submissions and regulatory engagement activities
• Influence qualification development across multiple subject areas
• Work with senior stakeholders across the business to embed best practice
• Identify opportunities to improve quality, consistency and compliance
• Leave a lasting impact on how qualification quality is managed at AQA

What's in it for you?

The qualifications you support will directly influence the experience of learners across the UK. You'll have the opportunity to shape how quality is embedded across qualification development, helping to establish the standards, controls and governance processes that others rely upon. You'll be joining at a time when qualification reform is creating a rare opportunity to build and embed new approaches to quality assurance, accreditation readiness and continuous improvement across the organisation.

AQA are proud to offer a comprehensive benefits package including: a 35-hour working week with flexible, hybrid working; 25 days' annual leave rising to 30, plus Christmas closure days; up to 11.5 percent combined pension contribution, BUPA healthcare support, wellbeing programmes and volunteering opportunities and an inclusive, values-led culture with employee networks including LGBTQ+, neurodiversity, empowering women, wellbeing, ethnic diversity and Interfaith.

You'll thrive in this role if you have:

• Experience building or improving quality assurance frameworks
• Experience working within regulated environments
• Experience of audit, compliance, governance or assurance activities
• Experience managing complex documentation, audit trails or version control processes
• The ability to identify risks, inconsistencies and opportunities for improvement
• Experience influencing stakeholders and embedding new ways of working
• Experience working across complex, cross-organisational processes involving multiple stakeholders, dependencies and competing priorities, with the resilience to work through ambiguity and the confidence to challenge constructively when needed.

We're particularly interested in hearing from candidates who have brought structure to complex environments, introduced best practice and developed sustainable quality processes that others rely upon.

You may currently work in quality assurance, governance, audit, accreditation, compliance, process improvement or another regulated environment where attention to detail, quality oversight and continuous improvement are critical.

You'll be skilled at asking thoughtful questions, constructively challenging where needed and helping others adopt new approaches while maintaining independent quality judgement.

What's Next?

Join us and help define the future of qualification quality at AQA.

Apply today.

Application deadline

To apply, please submit your CV and a cover letter outlining your suitability for the role by 23:59 on Tuesday 29 September 2026.

Interview process

• First stage interviews will take place remotely during the week commencing 12 October 2026.
• Second stage interviews will take place in our Manchester, Milton Keynes or Guildford offices depending on candidates’ location preferences, during the week commencing 19 October 2026.

Diversity and Inclusion Statement

At AQA, we're committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels they belong and can do their best work. We value the different perspectives, experiences and backgrounds our people bring, knowing they strengthen our culture, decision-making and impact. We foster an inclusive environment where everyone is treated with respect, has access to opportunities to grow and contribute, and feels able to be themselves. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and lived experiences.

Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.

Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

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Recruitment Agencies

We have a preferred supplier list (PSL) in place.

Unsolicited CVs will be treated as a gift. We will not be subject to or liable under your terms and conditions for agency fees.

Full Job Description

Summary

Purpose:
The Quality & Accreditation Lead is responsible for assuring the quality, accuracy and regulatory compliance of the core qualification deliverables (specification, SAMs and assessment strategies) across a range of qualifications.
This role will ensure that all the relevant materials are aligned to one another throughout the development process and that they are fit for purpose and error-free prior to submission to Ofqual. They will ensure that the materials remain aligned with regulatory conditions and internal subject-specific development briefs and meet robust quality standards.
They will provide support to the Qualification Development Leads and Assessment Design & Principles Leads throughout the end-to-end development process and will be responsible for implementing any cross-subject alignment strategies, reviewing Ofqual feedback and making recommendations for improvements to materials at a subject and organisational level. They will also be responsible for flagging risks and issues in the development process in order to make recommendations for improvements.Landscape:
The Quality & Accreditation Lead reports to the Head of Qualification Quality and operates as a key component of the wider qualification development and assurance landscape.
The postholder will work closely with Qualification Development Leads, Assessment Design & Principles Leads, the Risk, Regulation and Compliance team and a range of internal stakeholders to support the end-to-end qualification development process. Through a collaborative approach, the Quality & Accreditation Lead will provide authoritative quality oversight and assurance at critical stages of development.
The role will be responsible for:
Quality assuring core qualification deliverables to ensure they are fit-for-purpose and compliant with regulatory conditions and internal quality standards.
Supporting with the collation and application of best-practice approaches to qualification design.
Implementing and embedding quality assurance frameworks, standards and approaches established by the Head of Qualification Quality.
Making informed recommendations for improvements to qualification and assessment materials and the development process, based on quality assurance findings and regulatory feedback.
Assuring cross-subject alignment, including matters such as the consistent assessment of mathematics across qualifications and the accessibility and inclusivity of assessment materials.

This role plays a critical part in ensuring that the materials submitted for accreditation are coherent and regulatory compliant, consistent across subject areas and aligned with the original development briefs.

Activities:
Quality assure qualification materials (specifications, SAMs and assessment strategies) by reviewing, comparing, and synthesising content across multiple documents to ensure consistency, coherence, and alignment.
Proofread assessment materials to ensure accuracy, clarity and completeness.
Ensure assessment materials align fully with regulatory requirements and internal design briefs and quality assurance frameworks, working closely with Risk, Regulation and Compliance colleagues.
Identify, track, and resolve discrepancies, risks, or misalignments across drafts and final materials, escalating significant regulatory or accreditation risks through agreed governance routes.
Support with the collation of best-practice approaches to qualification design (including assessment strategies), including continuous improvement of practice based on learnings that emerge from the accreditation process.
Act as an ‘internal consultant’ supporting Qualification Development Leads and other colleagues to apply best practice to qualification materials throughout the development process.
Provide clear, constructive, and evidence-based feedback to Qualification Development Leads and other colleagues to support improvements to materials.
Maintain appropriate quality records and audit trails to support internal governance, accreditation and regulatory scrutiny.
Maintain and oversee the document management for qualification development and quality assurance activities, including quality framework documentation, version control, folder structures, document accessibility and auditability, ensuring materials are appropriately stored, maintained and readily retrievable for governance, accreditation and regulatory purposes.  
Support accreditation readiness by ensuring qualification materials are complete, coherent, evidence-based and submission ready.
Manage regulatory submission portals and associated processes, including submissions, monitoring communications, coordinating responses to regulatory feedback and rejected submissions, tracking rework and resubmission activity, and maintaining accurate records and audit trails throughout.
Contribute to the development and continuous refinement of qualification development and quality assurance processes.
Review regulatory feedback and make recommendations for the improvement of subject specific submissions and more broadly across the organisation.
Have an awareness of regulatory feedback across multiple qualifications and phases of reform, flagging any inconsistencies in regulatory feedback making recommendations to challenge where required.
Ensure that standards are aligned across qualifications with regard to cross-subject design principles.

To be successful in this role, you will need to demonstrate:
Essential criteria:
·         Proven experience in quality assurance, regulatory compliance, or qualification and assessment development.
·         Ability to identify, develop and embed best practice in qualification development and regulatory compliance, sharing key skills and knowledge with the wider qualification development team.
·         Strong ability to analyse, compare, and align content across multiple documents and subject areas.
·         Exceptional attention to detail and proofreading skills.
·         Sound understanding of regulatory and quality assurance requirements within a qualification or assessment context.
·         Confidence in making and articulating recommendations for qualityimprovements and coordinating actions arising from regulatory feedback.
·         Strong interpersonal skills, with the ability to work collaboratively while maintaining independent quality judgement.