Regulatory Quality Manager

Department: Quality, Funding & Compliance

Location: Home based, UK (with occasional travel to our London office)

Reports to: Head of Quality

Hours: 37.5  per week

Salary: (Depending on experience) 

Role Overview: 

As the Regulatory Quality Manager at Cambridge Spark, you will be responsible for playing a critical role in supporting Cambridge Spark’s strategic development and delivery of education, including ongoing compliance with Further Education requirements as well as planning for any future regulatory requirements that could be released further down the line. 

Working closely with the Quality Manager, Head of Quality and Quality Director, the postholder will provide quality assurance, academic governance and regulatory compliance. The role will increase institutional capacity to manage the complexity of regulatory frameworks, while also contributing to existing quality activities where appropriate, ensuring coherence across Cambridge Spark’s full quality ecosystem.

The Regulatory Quality Manager will work alongside the Quality Manager and the IQA Manager to deliver high quality support for delivery teams, supporting on relevant IQA activity, observation of delivery and lead and support the design, implementation and operation of any new regulatory requirements which may be required alongside the implementation of new programmes, reforms and funding streams. specific quality assurance and enhancement processes, aligned to the relevant Quality Codes, Regulatory Conditions and validating body requirements
 

Key responsibilities:

Quality assurance and enhancement

• Support designated quality assurance and enhancement activities in line with the institutional quality cycle and monitoring plan
• Lead on quality assurance and enhancement activities in the instance of any new provision or regulation types
• Develop, implement and maintain academic quality policies, processes and documentation aligned with:
  • Any relevant quality code
  • Applicable regulatory requirements (conditions of contracts and validations)
  • Any validation requirements (e.g. programme validation, revalidation, monitoring).
• Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of quality assurance and enhancement activity, using qualitative and quantitative data to recommend improvements

• Provide professional support to academic governance structures
• Prepare high-quality papers, datasets and reports to support academic decision-making.
• Service meetings as required, including agenda preparation, accurate minute-taking, action tracking and follow-up

Regulatory and external engagement

• Support preparation for regulatory registration and post-registration engagement, including:
  • Quality plans and supporting evidence 
  • Data returns and narrative submissions
  • Readiness for quality assessment visits
• Assist in the preparation for, and response to, external audits, validations, re-validations and reviews (regulatory bodies, awarding organisations, any partnership bodies where applicable)
• Act as a source of expert advice on regulatory expectations and good practice

Programme lifecycle and academic systems

• Support programme approval, modification, periodic review and closure processes
• Provide advice on curriculum design, assessment strategies, marking and moderation, external examining and academic standards
• Support annual programme monitoring and institutional-level review processes, ensuring clear feedback loops and evidence of enhancement

Data, reporting and learner outcomes

• Contribute to the production, analysis and interpretation of data to support quality assurance, including progression, continuation, completion and graduate outcomes
• Support regulators and any potential validating partner data submissions and internal reporting

General Responsibilities

• Communicate effectively with internal and external stakeholders, promoting Cambridge Spark’s values and gold-standard approach to quality
• Contribute to internal training, guidance and resources to build quality capability across the organisation.
• Undertake any other duties commensurate with the role as required

Candidate Specification: 

Essential

• Substantial experience in regulatory body quality assurance and enhancement, working across both FE/HE quality frameworks
• Strong working knowledge of:
  • Further Education requirements, in particular apprenticeships
  • UK Quality Codes for Education
  • Regulatory frameworks 
  • Academic governance structures
• Experience of programme approval, modification, periodic review and annual monitoring
• Experience of supporting validation, accreditation or external review processes
• Experience of advising on academic standards, assessment, external examining and curriculum design
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines
• Ability to analyse and interpret data to inform quality enhancement

Desirable

• Experience of working against Ofsted and DfE regulations
• Experience of working with - or within - an Awarding Organisation
• Experience of FE and HE data submissions and/or TEF-related activity
• Knowledge of apprenticeship or work-based FE/HE provision

Company Benefits: 

• Pension with 4% matched contributions, opportunity to opt into salary sacrifice scheme
• 25 days holiday + Flexi bank holidays + 1 day off on your birthday
• A day for volunteering
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Leave 
• Health & Wellbeing allowance of up to £30 per month
• Annual Summer and Xmas events
• Company socials including everything from Cambridge College formals, pub nights to team building events
• CPD Allowance alongside quarterly reflections to ring fence time for development and growth
• Private medical insurance and cash plan
• Holiday buy back scheme (up to 10 days p/a)
• Employee Assistance Programme with a dedicated company counsellor

We are an education technology company that enables corporate and government organisations to achieve their business goals by educating their workforce with critical digital transformation skills to succeed in the AI era.

We deliver unique and innovative professional education that is accelerating the digital transformation of our clients, advancing the careers of their employees, helping people get into work and closing the digital skills gap. We are in a sector that is crucial to the economy and workforce, with a lot of opportunity for change and innovation. We are at the cutting edge of teaching applied data and digital skills, with our unique patented learning platform EDUKATE.AI offering our clients and learners a unique learning experience. EDUKATE.AI was developed with support from Innovate UK and provides all of our learners with 24/7 immediate feedback on their work, helping accelerate the learning process and providing a sandbox environment to experiment on real world datasets.

Since 2016, we have supported more than 15,000 learners across four continents with nearly 550,000 pieces of code submitted for feedback on EDUKATE.AI. We are trusted by some of the most recognisable brands in the world to educate their workforce, including Microsoft, the NHS, GSK, easyJet, the BBC and John Lewis. Our focus on applied learning to create business impact sets us apart - individual learners have reported applying their skills at work to generate recorded value of up to £40m. 

At the centre of the way we work together and inspire each other to achieve success are these core values:

Entrepreneurial

We take initiative and show entrepreneurial spirit which fuels innovation at Cambridge Spark. This includes identifying opportunities for improvement, taking ownership for implementing solutions effectively and driving improvement by using proof of concepts to demonstrate the feasibility and value of their work.

Team Spirit

Everyone is part of building an open and transparent culture, communicating effectively to raise issues, discuss improvements and share the evidence used to make decisions.

Customer-focused

Our customers are at the centre of everything we do, inspiring us to create great work. We strive to build friendly, professional and lasting relationships with them to better understand and anticipate their needs.

Gold Standard

We are experts in our field and are constantly developing our technology and offering. We set the benchmark in our industry: both in what we offer customers and in how we deliver it.

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Cambridge Spark is an Equal Opportunities Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind.  Cambridge Spark is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunities for all employees and to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at Cambridge Spark are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, colour or ethnicity, ability or disability, gender or gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. Cambridge Spark will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics. Cambridge Spark encourages applicants of all ages.