Products and Services Director

Job Title: Products and Services Director – Cambridge OCR

Salary: Competitive

Location: Cambridge or Coventry – Hybrid (a minimum of 40% of time on site)

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Shape the Future of UK Education

Are you a strategic product leader ready to drive the future direction of general and vocational qualifications in England as well as the digital, learning and professional development services that support them? This is a rare and high‑impact opportunity to join the Board for Cambridge OCR, guiding one of the UK's most trusted education organisations at a pivotal moment of reform, digital evolution and increasing market competition.

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment—a world‑leading assessment organisation and publisher, and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

About The Role

As a senior member of the Board for Cambridge OCR, you will set a bold and credible vision for our products and services and create the conditions for teams across the directorate to thrive. Working in close partnership with colleagues across Sales & Customer Support, Brand & Marketing and Assessment, you will lead the development and implementation of our commercial and product strategy — ensuring competitive advantage, exceptional customer experience and coordinated execution.

You will own the long‑term product roadmap across qualifications, teaching and learning support, digital services and professional development. This includes shaping our digital and AI‑enabled innovation agenda and ensuring our portfolio remains high‑quality, evidence‑based and sustainable.

This is a large‑scale, strategic leadership role with accountability for end‑to‑end product lifecycle decisions and investment prioritisation across a significant Cambridge portfolio.

In This Role, You Will

• Drive our product and services strategy — shaping a bold long‑term strategy for Cambridge OCR (including the role of technology and AI) and aligning teams behind it.
• Lead portfolio direction — guiding the future of GCSEs, A Levels, V Levels and Technical Awards etc to ensure the portfolio remains competitive, relevant and high‑
• Set a vision for our use of technology and AI — working with the Cambridge International Product Director and cross‑Cambridge partners to embed meaningful digital and technology‑enabled innovation across products and services.
• Oversee the product lifecycle — making evidence‑based investment decisions, ensuring smart prioritisation, strong return on investment and continuous improvement.
• Champion high standards — ensuring that qualifications, services and digital products are robust, sustainable and meet regulatory requirements.
• Strengthen functional excellence — improving processes, data quality and operating discipline within the directorate while fostering innovation.
• Lead with impact — inspiring and developing leaders, building capability across product functions, and deputising for the Managing Director when required.

Additional Responsibilities Include

• Making product decisions grounded in customer and teacher insight, educational evidence and strong commercial judgement.
• Setting KPIs and driving measurable performance improvement.
• Building trusted relationships across schools, colleges, regulators, government bodies, higher education and publishing partners.
• Role modelling Cambridge values, ethical standards, risk management and regulatory compliance.

This position is classified as hybrid, requiring a minimum of 40% on-site collaboration. Flexible working requests will be considered from day one, including adjustments for disability or long‑term health conditions.

About You

You are a strategic, forward thinking product leader who can operate confidently at Board level and guide Cambridge OCR through reform, transformation and growth. You will bring:

• Exceptional leadership – able to set a compelling vision, inspire large teams and lead effectively in a complex, fast-paced environment.
• Strong strategic judgement – able to navigate government policy change, market shifts and digital disruption with clarity.
• Deep qualifications and assessment expertise – with strong understanding of educational policy, pedagogy and regulatory requirements.
• Commercial and financial strength – experienced in full budget accountability, business case development and generating return on investment.
• Breadth of product experience – spanning digital, assessment and qualifications, grounded in customer insight and evidence.
• Resilience and adaptability – comfortable leading through ambiguity, policy change and evolving market dynamics.
• Collaborative influence – able to work effectively across functions, geographies, and senior stakeholder groups, building strong relationships and partnerships.

Desirable

• Working in education and/or assessment contexts.
• Strong insight into customer behaviour and market dynamics.
• Experience leading digital innovation in regulated environments.
• A continuous improvement mindset.

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.

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 gov.uk website for guidance to understand your own eligibility based on the role you are applying for.

Rewards And Benefits

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world‑class, flexible rewards package, featuring family‑friendly and planet‑friendly benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Group personal pension scheme
• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
• Green travel schemes

Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.

We are collaborating with Signium, our Recruitment Partner, on the appointment of this role. For further information, and to apply, please send a CV and covering letter to clive.sugars@signium.co.uk

We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent. Applications will be reviewed as they are received, with the closing date for all applications being Friday 1 May 2026.

If you are progressed through the stages, you can expect:

• A screening interview with our Recruitment Partner, Signium (from w/c 20th April)
• First stage competency-based interview via MS Teams (18th May)
• A Hogan Psychometric Assessment
• Final stage interview with presentation task: in-person at our offices in Cambridge. (9th June)

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.

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