Advanced Specialist, Project Manager

About the role

This project manager role underpins Pearson's US State Programs work within the ELL portfolio — specifically, the TELPAS and MOWR statewide English language assessments in Texas and Arizona, both underpinned by Versant automated spoken-scoring services. You'll drive delivery, governance and contractual control across these high-stakes programmes, working with experts in test development, automated scoring, psychometrics and technical development. You'll also coordinate the managed exit from the AZELLA contract, and — as that work winds down — grow into the wider PTE portfolio and other government recognition initiatives. In summary, it's a delivery-led role, US-focussed, but within a global, matrixed environment, turning complex technical and scoring workflows into clear, manageable, deliverable plans.

What you'll do

• Lead delivery, governance and operational control across the TELPAS and MOWR statewide assessment programmes — managing contractual milestones, SOW deliverables, scoring-service dependencies, risk, budget and reporting obligations.
• Maintain delivery cadence across recurring annual cycles, live administrations, Versant AI engine-training windows and validation reporting.
• Own programme and project control: governance, RAID logs, dashboards and KPIs, with clear escalation of risks and issues.
• Coordinate across Versant AI Scoring Services, R&D, Test Development, Psychometrics, Engineering, Scoring Operations and Finance, plus external delivery partners.
• Coordinate the managed exit from the AZELLA contract — document archiving, lessons-learned and controlled data-deletion — while keeping ongoing programmes on track.
• Choose and adapt the right delivery approach (waterfall, Agile or hybrid), run retrospectives and lessons-learned, and support quality initiatives including ISO 9001 and ISO 27001.
• Coach colleagues in effective project management tools, disciplines and ways of working.
• As the role expands, support delivery across the wider PTE portfolio and contribute to government recognition and bidding activity.

What you'll bring

• Proven experience delivering complex projects or programmes, ideally in education, assessment or regulated environments.
• Comfort managing contractual delivery — SOW milestones, deliverables and reporting obligations — ideally in public-sector or statewide assessment contexts.
• A strong grasp of project governance, risk and issue management, and dependency planning.
• Confidence operating in global, cross-functional, matrixed teams, working alongside technical and psychometric colleagues.
• Fluency across both traditional and Agile / hybrid delivery approaches.
• A project management qualification (e.g. PMP/PMI, PRINCE2, MoR, Agile, equivalent) is required and we're also looking for good experience running complex, cross-functional initiatives.

Competencies

• Project management leadership — owning and delivering complex projects end to end.
• Stakeholder management & communication — aligning and influencing senior, technical and external stakeholders with clear, structured messaging.
• Analytical thinking & problem-solving — making sense of complex delivery, contractual, psychometric and operational scenarios.
• Governance & delivery control — scope, risk and dependency management with an audit-aware mindset.
• Adaptability & continuous learning — thriving amid ambiguity, change and transition.
• Data & AI awareness — using dashboards, data visualisation and AI-scoring insight to sharpen reporting and delivery.

How you'll work

Structured, proactive and delivery-focused, comfortable holding control and predictability through ambiguity and transition, and collaborative across functions and geographies.

Location & working pattern

US – Remote working 40 hours per week, with flexibility to support global (including UK) collaboration.

Pay

The minimum full-time salary range is between $120,000 to $135,000. This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program.