Head of IELTS Risk & Compliance

We are seeking a highly accomplished risk and compliance professional to help shape the future of IELTS. You will play a pivotal role in maintaining and enhancing the standards that protect the integrity of the test, ensuring that we continue to deliver a test that is valued, respected and trusted by millions of people worldwide every year.

As the Cambridge lead for IELTS operational risk and compliance, you will drive improvements to how risk and compliance are managed across our global operations. You will help embed best practice frameworks, build risk capability, and offer expert guidance to senior and executive teams. You will lead our end‑to‑end risk management framework, ensuring risks are identified, understood, and effectively mitigated across operational, regulatory, and reputational domains.

As the organisation's most senior expert in Ofqual conditions and IELTS Standards, you will ensure the test is delivered consistently and compliantly worldwide. Working across a diverse international ecosystem of partners and centres, you will play a central role in ensuring safe, consistent, compliant delivery of IELTS to millions of test takers in more than 140 countries.

• Advising on emerging risks, regulatory changes, and strategic decisions impacting global operations.
• Producing high quality risk and compliance reporting for the IELTS partnership, Cambridge leadership, and regulatory bodies.
• Delivering training and capability building programmes that embed a consistent and mature risk culture across teams.
• Leading serious risk escalations, providing accurate, decision‑ready insights to senior stakeholders and regulatory bodies.
• Ensuring teams understand Ofqual conditions and IELTS Standards, and that compliance is maintained across all aspects of global test delivery.
• Leading IELTS responses to regulatory audits, investigations, and compliance notifications, ensuring the integrity of evidence and corrective actions.
• Strengthening compliance monitoring systems, knowledge repositories and governance platforms, ensuring they support global consistency and regulatory assurance.
• Overseeing the architecture and quality of knowledge‑base content and workflows, ensuring alignment with compliance and audit best practice.
• Leading, mentoring and developing a team of Senior Managers and Risk & Compliance Leads.

This position is hybrid, requiring 40‑60% of your time on‑site in Cambridge for collaboration and face‑to‑face connection. Flexible working requests will be considered from day one, including adjustments for candidates with disabilities or long‑term health conditions.

• Deep understanding of English language assessment, regulatory frameworks and global migration/recognition contexts, including a strong grasp of UK and international regulatory requirements (including Ofqual).
• Significant senior leadership experience in risk, compliance, governance, or regulatory roles within global or highly regulated environments.
• Extensive experience leading risk, compliance, incident, and change management in complex, multi‑partner ecosystems.
• Expert knowledge of operational risk frameworks, threat modelling, control design, root cause analysis, and audit methodologies.
• An understanding of test integrity, quality assurance, and continuous improvement practices.
• Proven ability to design and optimise systems, processes, and operating models for global scalability and resilience.
• High‑level analytical, communication, and judgement skills, with the ability to make decisions under pressure and within a complex environment.
• Strong interpersonal, negotiation, and stakeholder management capabilities across cultures and organisations, including the ability to influence and collaborate at senior and executive levels.
• Familiarity with data analytics and platforms and tools to support risk identification, monitoring, and reporting.
• Understanding of partnership and stakeholder dynamics, particularly in multi‑agency or cross‑border collaborations, to ensure aligned practices.
• Knowledge of quality assurance and continuous improvement practices in operational contexts.
• Experience in high…