Senior Delivery Manager 

Key Details

About Accelerate People

Accelerate People is a leading apprenticeship assessment organisation, helping providers, employers and learners navigate a rapidly changing assessment landscape. We combine deep assessment expertise, sector insight and innovative technology to deliver high-quality, compliant assessments that reflect real occupational competence and prepare apprentices for long-term success.

We are ambitious - for our business, our partners and the learners we serve. We are expanding our portfolio, leading the sector's transition to reformed apprenticeship assessment, and continuously investing in Apex, our assessment platform that connects the entire learner journey. Our focus is on delivering outstanding assessment experiences, greater visibility and insight for partners, and a scalable model that combines quality, efficiency and confidence at every stage.

About Blenheim Chalcot

Accelerate People is part of the Blenheim Chalcot portfolio. Blenheim Chalcot is the UK’s leading digital venture builder. It invests knowledge, experience, infrastructure and capital into businesses at the forefront of digitally disrupted sectors, including FinTech, EdTech, GovTech, Media, Sport and Charity. Its portfolio companies have total sales of more than £0.5bn and employ more than 3,000 people.

About the Role

This role exists to create an operational leadership layer between the Executive Director and the Lead SMEs.

As Senior Delivery Manager, you will lead the day-to-day performance, capacity and effectiveness of our assessment team. You will line manage our Lead SMEs, who in turn line manage our assessors, and you will create the structure, rhythm and accountability needed for the team to deliver reliably at scale.

In practice, this means you are directly responsible for:

• Line managing the Lead SMEs and holding them to account for the performance, quality and delivery of their teams.
• Making sure routine assessor and delivery issues are identified and resolved at the right level, within the assessment team.
• Owning the daily and weekly assessment delivery rhythm, including capacity, scheduling, utilisation and SLA performance.
• Escalating to the Executive Director only where there is material learner, compliance, customer, SLA or commercial risk.
• Bringing clear recommendations, not just problems, whenever senior input or a decision is genuinely needed.

The role exists because assessment delivery is the most critical area of the business. Volumes are increasing, major partnerships are growing, and assessment reform is changing how delivery works. We need sharper control of utilisation, capacity, scheduling, onboarding, upskilling and delivery performance - owned within the assessment team rather than escalated upwards by default.

You will be responsible for ensuring the assessment team is properly planned, well led and operationally effective. That means making sure the right assessors are available against the right standards, at the right time, with the right training, support and performance expectations. It also means ensuring Lead SMEs are clear on their management responsibilities and are actively driving assessor performance, quality, engagement and readiness.

This is not a passive reporting role. We need someone who can get underneath the detail, make decisions, unblock issues and drive improvement at pace. You will be expected to use data, judgement and direct leadership to improve utilisation, reduce lost capacity, strengthen forecasting, manage freelancer and full-time assessor deployment, and make sure assessment delivery remains fast, compliant and high quality.

You will work closely with Operations, Quality/IQA, Compliance, Product, Technology, Account Management and the senior leadership team. Success in the role means that assessment delivery becomes more predictable, more scalable and more accountable - with fewer manual workarounds, clearer ownership, better utilisation and stronger confidence that AP can meet current and future demand. Done well, this frees the Executive Director’s time and attention for new accounts, existing customer growth, major partner relationships, reform and regulatory priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Assessment Team Leadership

• Line manage the Lead SMEs, setting clear expectations for their leadership of assessors, performance management, communication, coaching, escalation and day-to-day delivery oversight.
• Create a strong operating rhythm across the assessment team, ensuring Lead SMEs are focused on the right priorities: assessor readiness, quality, utilisation, availability, standard coverage and learner experience.
• Provide direct, practical and fast-paced leadership to ensure delivery issues are resolved quickly and do not drift across meetings, inboxes or informal channels.
• Build a performance culture in which assessors understand expectations around assessment volume, preparation, grade submission, platform use, CPD, standardisation and responsiveness.
• Ensure Lead SMEs are equipped to manage both full-time and freelance assessors consistently, fairly and in line with AP’s operational and quality expectations.

Utilisation, Capacity and Workforce Planning

• Own the assessment team’s utilisation and capacity model, ensuring AP has clear visibility of available assessor capacity by standard, employment type, availability, training status and forecast demand.
• Use pipeline data, gateway forecasts, booked assessments, leave, sickness, freelancer availability and upskilling plans to anticipate pressure points before they affect SLAs or learner experience.
• Ensure full-time assessors are used effectively and that freelance capacity is deployed purposefully to manage peaks, specialist standards, cover requirements and short-notice volume changes.
• Lead the weekly and daily assessment-capacity rhythm, ensuring meetings result in clear decisions, named owners and visible actions.
• Identify under-utilisation, over-utilisation, lost capacity, recoverable slots and avoidable rescheduling, and drive practical actions to improve performance.
• Work with Commercial and Account Management colleagues to understand provider forecasts and major partnership pipelines, translating these into realistic workforce requirements.
• Maintain a forward-looking view of capacity risks across key standards, including where AP needs to recruit, cross-skill, upskill or retain specialist cover.

Scheduling, Delivery Control and SLA Performance

• Ensure assessment scheduling is efficient, capacity-aware and aligned to contractual and internal service levels.
• Oversee the allocation of assessors to assessments, ensuring bookings reflect standard expertise, availability, conflict-of-interest requirements, reasonable adjustments, learner needs and delivery timelines.
• Monitor SLA performance across standards and intervene early where bottlenecks, late gateways, grade delays, reschedules, cancellations or assessor availability issues create risk.
• Own escalation and resolution of delivery issues relating to assessment allocation, scheduling conflicts, assessor cover, freelancer availability and short-term capacity gaps.
• Make sure operational reporting translates into action, not just visibility - particularly around assessment status, slot availability, late grades, recoverable capacity and forecast demand.
• Work with Operations to improve the handover between gateway, scheduling, assessment delivery, grading and certification so that the learner journey is smooth and predictable.

Assessor Onboarding, Upskilling and Readiness

• Lead the operational management of assessor onboarding, ensuring new assessors move from recruitment to readiness through a clear, structured and time-bound pathway.
• Work with Lead SMEs, Quality/IQA and Compliance to ensure onboarding includes assessment practice, standardisation, platform use, regulatory expectations, reasonable adjustments, learner support and grade submission requirements.
• Maintain clear visibility of assessor status: trainee, qualified, upskilling, inactive, freelance, standard-specific approval and readiness for allocation.
• Ensure upskilling plans are linked to forecast demand, not treated as isolated training activity.
• Prioritise cross-skilling where it improves resilience, reduces dependency on individual assessors or supports growth in standards with increasing volumes.
• Make sure newly onboarded or newly upskilled assessors are not over-exposed before they are ready, particularly in complex standards, reasonable adjustment cases or higher-risk assessments.
• Work with recruitment partners and internal stakeholders to ensure future assessor recruitment is strategic, evidence-led and aligned to forecast demand.

Quality, Standardisation and Compliance

• Work closely with Quality/IQA and Compliance to ensure assessment delivery remains valid, reliable, fair and compliant with Ofqual requirements.
• Ensure assessors and Lead SMEs understand their responsibilities in relation to assessment judgement, evidence requirements, reasonable adjustments, special considerations, malpractice, appeals and grade release.
• Support a risk-based approach to assessor deployment, ensuring complex or sensitive assessments are allocated to appropriately experienced and trained assessors.
• Ensure standardisation, CPD and feedback activity is acted on through Lead SME line management, not left as standalone quality activity.
• Help identify patterns in assessment errors, delayed grading, learner issues, support queries, appeals, complaints or provider feedback, and translate those patterns into improvement actions.
• Ensure compliance risks arising from delivery practice are escalated quickly, with clear mitigations and owners.

Technology, Apex and Process Improvement

• Champion effective use of Apex, AP Gateway, AP Assess, AP Comply and associated reporting tools across the assessment team.
• Ensure assessors and Lead SMEs use platforms consistently, accurately and in line with agreed processes.
• Identify manual workarounds, duplicated effort, unclear ownership and process friction within assessment delivery, then work with Product, Technology and Operations to simplify or automate where possible.
• Support the development and testing of utilisation reports, scheduling tools, capacity dashboards, reschedule tracking, learner-status reports and operational MI.
• Ensure platform improvements are embedded into real working practices through training, communication, monitoring and follow-up.
• Act as a strong operational voice in product and technology discussions, ensuring system development reflects genuine delivery needs and reduces friction for assessors, providers and learners.

Performance Reporting and MI

• Produce clear, data-led reporting on assessment delivery performance for the Executive Director, SMT and wider leadership team.
• Report on key measures including assessor utilisation, capacity, SLA performance, assessment volumes, standard coverage, onboarding progress, upskilling readiness, lost capacity, reschedules, freelancer use and delivery risks.
• Turn reporting into decisions by clearly identifying what action is needed, who owns it and what trade-offs may be required.
• Create confidence that AP understands its delivery position at any point in time - current performance, immediate delivery risks and future capacity requirements.
• Use MI to challenge assumptions, expose avoidable inefficiency and support evidence-based decisions on recruitment, freelancer activation, incentive schemes and standard coverage.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Work closely with internal teams including Operations, Product, Quality/IQA, Compliance, Account Management, Commercial and Technology to ensure assessment delivery is joined up.
• Support provider-facing discussions where delivery performance, capacity, assessment planning, standard readiness or learner experience need senior operational input.
• Help ensure major partners receive a reliable, scalable and professional assessment service, particularly where volumes are increasing or delivery complexity is high.
• Represent the assessment team confidently in internal forums, giving clear updates on risks, progress, resource needs and decisions required.

What Success Looks Like

The successful person in this role will create a step-change in how AP manages assessment delivery. In practical terms, that means:

• Lead SMEs are clear, accountable and effective as line managers.
• Assessors understand expectations and are actively managed against them.
• Utilisation improves without compromising quality, compliance or learner experience.
• Capacity planning becomes forward-looking, not reactive.
• Freelancer use becomes more deliberate and better aligned to forecast demand.
• Scheduling decisions are better informed by real availability, standard coverage and learner need.
• Onboarding and upskilling are visible, structured and connected to business priorities.
• Delivery meetings produce decisions and actions, not just discussion.
• Assessment risks are identified early and escalated appropriately.
• Apex and associated platforms are used consistently and effectively.
• SMT has confidence in the assessment team’s ability to deliver at scale.

Essential Experience

• Significant experience in apprenticeship assessment, awarding, education operations or a closely related regulated delivery environment.
• Strong people leadership experience, including managing managers or senior practitioners.
• Proven ability to lead operational delivery in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
• Experience of workforce planning, utilisation management, capacity planning or resource allocation.
• Strong understanding of assessment quality, regulatory expectations and the importance of valid, reliable and fair outcomes.
• Experience using data and MI to manage performance, identify risk and drive operational improvement.
• Strong stakeholder-management skills, with the ability to work confidently across senior internal teams.
• Ability to translate strategy into operational plans and then drive those plans through to completion.
• Excellent judgement, particularly when balancing quality, compliance, learner experience, commercial need and delivery pressure.
• Confidence managing ambiguity, resolving issues quickly and making sensible decisions with imperfect information.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working for an EPAO or awarding organisation.
• Experience managing assessment teams, assessors, IQAs, SMEs or distributed freelance workforces.
• Experience of digital, data, AI, technology or leadership apprenticeship standards.
• Knowledge of Ofqual’s General Conditions of Recognition and the operational implications for assessment delivery.
• Experience of assessment reform, new standard implementation or changes to assessment methodology.
• Experience implementing or improving scheduling, workflow, CRM, assessment or operational reporting platforms.
• Experience working with major training providers, employer partners or high-volume apprenticeship contracts.
• Experience designing or improving onboarding, CPD, standardisation or assessor-readiness processes.

Skills and Attributes

• Highly organised, structured and delivery-focused.
• Direct, clear and constructive communicator.
• Strong people leader who can set expectations and hold others to account.
• Data-led, analytical and confident using MI to make decisions.
• Calm under pressure, especially when dealing with competing priorities or urgent delivery risks.
• Comfortable working at both strategic and detailed operational levels.
• Able to challenge constructively and make practical recommendations.
• Strong commercial awareness, particularly around the relationship between utilisation, capacity, cost and service levels.
• Process-minded, with a continuous improvement approach.
• Collaborative, but not dependent on consensus to make progress.
• Resilient, adaptable and comfortable operating in a scaling business.
• Committed to high standards of learner experience, assessment quality and regulatory compliance.

Why Join Accelerate People?

This is an opportunity to lead one of the most important functions in a growing assessment organisation at a pivotal point in its development.

AP is scaling, reforming its assessment model, investing in technology and deepening major provider partnerships. The assessment team sits at the heart of that growth. This role will shape how we build the next phase of our delivery model — one that is more efficient, more visible, more accountable and better able to scale.

You will have the opportunity to make a tangible impact quickly: improving how assessors are led, how capacity is planned, how delivery risks are managed, and how learners and providers experience assessment with AP.

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