Manager, Software Engineering (Innovation Engineering)

In this role, you lead Pearson Labs’ engineering team to turn ambitious ideas into evidence-led prototypes within the Office of the CTO. You manage a small, globally distributed group to prioritise, unblock work and deliver demo-ready experiments spanning AI, agentic systems, and immersive learning tech. You coach engineers, maintain portfolio health, and communicate progress to stakeholders. The role blends leadership with hands-on review in a dynamic, ambiguity-rich research environment.

• Lead day-to-day operation of the Labs engineering team and allocate work across a changing research portfolio
• Coach and develop engineers through regular feedback, growth conversations, onboarding and AI-native ways of working
• Create focus across concurrent experiments, remove blockers and bring engineers together on shared initiatives
• Establish practical standards for prototyping, documentation, experimentation, evidence quality and demo readiness
• Help teams frame hypotheses, define measurable objectives and reach explicit scale, pivot or stop decisions
• Maintain an accurate view of portfolio health and communicate progress, risks and recommendations clearly
• Coordinate customer sessions, showcases and executive demonstrations so the story travels as well as the work
• Stay alert to emerging technology, changing business priorities and opportunities for Pearson Labs to explore next

• Experience leading software engineers day to day, with evidence of building a high-performing and genuinely positive team culture
• A strong engineering background and the technical credibility to review prototypes, challenge architecture and work alongside engineers when useful
• Comfort leading work designed to create learning quickly, including experiments that may be stopped or discarded
• Strong prioritisation and organisation across multiple concurrent initiatives with changing levels of maturity
• A practical, early and constructive approach to feedback, coaching and team development
• Confidence engaging customers, clients and senior stakeholders and presenting technical work in an accessible way
• An entrepreneurial mindset, with curiosity about what is changing in technology, learning and the wider business
• Fluency with AI-augmented engineering, coding agents or agentic workflows, or a strong readiness to work this way
• Experience leading distributed or international colleagues and creating cohesion across locations
• Interest in education, learning science, EdTech, applied research, startups or innovation environments is helpful

• leadership and people management
• communication with stakeholders
• curiosity and adaptability
• software engineering leadership
• prototype review and architecture critique
• AI-native workflows / AI-augmented engineering