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.
Qualifications Product Manager
Permanent
Manchester: £55000- £63000
Milton Keynes / London / Guildford: £57000 - £65500
Hybrid working: 2 days per week in the office
Are you ready to use insight, curiosity and creativity to shape the qualifications of the future?
You could be one of 5 new Product Managers within our Portfolio of Qualifications team.
With assessment reform on the horizon, you will influence the future of education and make a national impact. Increased investment means the Product Management team is growing, and you will join a new group of Product Managers shaping qualification portfolios across a wide range of subjects. You will work across a portfolio of subjects that may evolve over time as the team grows.
Shape products that matter
You are someone who cares about improving the experience of teachers and learners. You are curious, analytical and comfortable working with information. You enjoy connecting ideas, working with a variety of colleagues and contributing recommendations that help qualifications and supporting products stay relevant and useful for schools and colleges. You will work with a diverse range of subject types, including those with digital, practical, project-based or post-16 considerations.
What you will do
Manage a portfolio of subject qualifications and use customer insight, market understanding and data to shape short, medium and longer term plans
Prioritise activity so it has the greatest impact for teachers, learners and schools.
Coordinate work across different teams and monitor progress against milestones to support delivery
Use your understanding of the education landscape to explore opportunities, strengthen products and improve supporting resources.
Engage with internal and external stakeholders to gather insight, test thinking and refine recommendations. You may spend time in schools to understand needs firsthand.
Contribute to events, meetings or visits where your product knowledge adds value.
You will thrive in this role if you have
Experience working in a strategic role within the education sector or a related field such as assessment, publishing, curriculum, subject associations, or similar evidence-led environments.
Experience applying insight to shape products, services or content in any customer-facing environment will be valuable.
The ability to interpret data and insight and apply this to decision-making.
Confidence in communicating and influencing a wide range of stakeholders.
A collaborative, open approach and comfortable working across different teams.
Demonstrable organisation and attention to detail to manage activity and keep others informed.
An interest in product management and a willingness to develop your expertise.
What you can look forward to
A significant opportunity to influence the future of education as qualifications change nationally.
The chance to build product management skills across diverse subjects.
Development opportunities through Product and Management training.
A strong benefits package including up to 11.5 percent pension contribution, healthcare support, wellbeing programmes and volunteering opportunities.
25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, increasing with service, along with discretionary Christmas closure days.
What happens next
To apply, please submit your CV and complete the application questions. The application deadline is 23:59 on 23 March 2026.
- If shortlisted, you will have a brief call with a recruiter and invited to complete a video interview based on preset questions Week Commencing 1st April 2026
- Final Stage Face to Face interviews for candidates progressing further will be held in AQAs Manchester or London offices week commencing 21st April 2026.
Your video interview responses will be reviewed by two independent AQA panel members. This approach helps us ensure a fair, balanced and consistent assessment for everyone. You will not be assessed via AI.
Onboarding expectations: The expected start date can align with teacher notice periods or earlier if required.
If applicable, successful candidates will be unable to maintain an Associate role with AQA or any other exam board.
#Pro22
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 DescriptionSummary
At AQA we focus on understanding customer needs deeply and translating them into high-quality qualifications and support services. As a Product Manager, you will bring strong commercial awareness, stakeholder engagement, and matrix management skills to help turn strategic vision into meaningful outcomes.This is a key role in setting and delivering strategic plans, and you will be accountable for managing and developing a portfolio of qualification products across a range of subject areas.
Using data and customer insights, you’ll uncover and evaluate market opportunities and innovations, liaising with internal and external stakeholders and influencers to capture and develop ideas. The Product Manager will also work closely with subject experts and stakeholders across AQA to ensure our products meet the changing educational demands and create real impact for learners and our customers.With curriculum and assessment reform on the horizon, the education landscape is evolving and there are opportunities at AQA to shape the future of learning in a growing Product Management team.
Led by the Director of Product Management, the team is divided into portfolios, including English, Science, Maths, two portfolio subject groups, development team along with Publishing, Content and Resource, Data Analyst and Performance Planning lead.
The Product Managers will report into the relevant Heads of Product for their portfolio and will collaborate frequently with colleagues from Subject Support and Assessment and regularly with colleagues across Sales, Marketing, Finance, Operations and external stakeholders and customers.
The Product Managers are individual contributors with no line reports, but do lead working groups and project teams in a matrix style of working. The role sets strategy at a product level, including raising business cases and taking accountability for project budgets.
Activities:
Defining, communicating and managing the delivery of the strategy and roadmap for a specified portfolio of products
Delivering quality products and outcome as recognised by the customer.
Analyse and interpret data and information from different sources to make recommendations and to inform sound strategic and operational decisions that drive change and improve our offer, in line with wider business goals
Leading and liaising with cross-functional teams to ensure the delivery of planned activities, tracking and reporting on delivery to ensure delivery of strategic projects on time and on budget
Collaborate with colleagues to develop evidence-based proposals and financial business cases, and monitor and update financial targets for products
Where appropriate represent AQA, attending conferences, exhibitions, and stakeholder visits, working closely with colleagues from the science Subject Support teams.
Where data is also a focus for the role the following will also apply:
Ensure that AQA’s regulatory product data on regulators’ portals is always compliant. You will be the expert in the business regarding regulatory product data, ensuring definitions are known and applied consistently and that implications on funding are understood.
Maintain the Qualifications Data Catalogue (QDC) and the Assessment Product Catalogue (APC) on Microsoft Dynamics to ensure accurate data is readily available to colleagues, customers and regulators.
Close collaboration with the Regulatory Relationships Team and a wide range of other teams and stakeholders is essential.
To be successful in this role, you will need to demonstrate:
Essential Criteria
Knowledge
Knowledge of Product Portfolio Management
An understanding of the educational landscape and AQA’s products, customers and the market in which it operates
Skills
Commercially astute with proven strategic planning and operational delivery expertise
Demonstrable interpersonal and communication skills: able to influence and build rapport with a diverse range of stakeholders internally and externally, including communicating commercial or technical expertise to non-specialists
Able to think strategically and understand the commercial context in which AQA operates and the likely impact on stakeholders of product design and management at a national level
Able to see the big picture and understand how different services, materials and activities relate to the delivery of a quality product as a whole
Able to think creatively to find solutions to complex and intangible problems
Able to negotiate effectively and balance competing priorities in complex situations
Able to understand and synthesise complex, diverse and incomplete information, including qualitative and quantitative information, and use it to support sound decision making.
Able to constructively challenge the thinking of others
Top Skills
AQA Guildford, England Office
Stag Hill House Guildford Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom, GU2 7XJ
AQA London, England Office
7-12 Tavistock Square, London, United Kingdom, WC1H 9LT
