[Hiring] Senior Lead, Finance Business Partner @Pearson

Role Description

Lead finance for K12 Assessments — the largest assessment business in the new US K12 Business Unit, spanning three market-leading franchises: School Assessment, GED, and Evaluation Systems. Together these businesses hold deep, long-term relationships with state education agencies across the country.

This is a highly commercial leadership role: the lead finance business partner to the K12 Assessments Managing Director and the senior finance voice on the Leadership Team. The portfolio combines three distinct business models — long-term custom service contracts, high-volume transactional testing, and candidate-funded certification programs — and the role owns the financial, commercial and strategic agenda across all three, shaping contract, pricing and investment decisions, not just reporting them.

The role carries a dual accountability that defines success:

• Drive the business forward with the MD
• Keep the US K12 Executive Partner, Finance ahead of events — a transparent, no-surprises flow of performance, risks and opportunities, elevated early and framed with options.

Qualifications

• Professional finance qualification and significant experience in senior finance business-partnering roles with strong commercial exposure.
• Demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders, provide independent challenge and shape strategic decisions.
• Deep expertise in financial planning, forecasting, investment analysis and commercial performance management.
• Proven track record of translating complex analysis into clear, actionable insight — and of communicating performance, risk and opportunity upward with candour and precision.
• Strong understanding of materiality and the ability to prioritize across competing agendas in a fast-moving environment.
• Ability to identify business risk early and implement mitigation; instinct for stewardship alongside growth.
• Collaborative leadership style with a proven capability to build and develop high-performing, cross-cultural teams — including integrating teams from previously separate organizations.
• An enterprise mindset: comfortable operating across organizational boundaries in a matrixed structure, including shared corporate functions.

Requirements

• Copilot to the Managing Director — trusted advisor providing independent challenge and strategic guidance on commercial performance, contract strategy and strategic outcomes.
• Connector across the K12 Assessments Leadership Team, ensuring alignment, consistency and transparency on capital allocation, prioritization and the balance of risk and reward across three businesses.
• Owner of the performance narrative — sharpen reporting and forecasting so decisions are made on leading indicators, not lagging results.
• Custodian of the business's assets, managing risk and sustaining a strong compliance and controls culture across government contracts and joint-venture obligations.
• Leader of a high-performing finance team, developing talent and raising the analytical bar.

Benefits

• Compensation influenced by a wide array of factors including skill set, level of experience, and specific location.
• The minimum full-time salary range is between $147,000 – $273,000.
• This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program.

How to Apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume and a cover letter outlining their qualifications and experience to https://pearson.jobs/

Pearson is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Application Deadline

Applications will be accepted through Nov 5th, 2026. This window may be extended depending on business needs.