Academic Manager

About the Company

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity. Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

About the Role

This role drives continuous improvement in the delivery of products and services to ensure customer needs, proposition/product performance targets, and consistent quality standards are achieved across new and existing offerings. It also plays a key role in Teaching Excellence, particularly in the delivery of face-to-face courses and their integration with assessment, to enhance teaching performance and learning outcomes. The British Council English & Examinations (E&E) Strategic Business Unit supports the organisation's mission by providing high-quality English language teaching, learning, assessment, and UK qualifications worldwide. As a commercially run business generating over £700 million annually, E&E operates through close collaboration between Proposition, Network, and Functional teams to deliver the global E&E strategy, align products with customer and market needs, and ensure effective and efficient operational delivery.

Key Responsibilities

Sector/Subject Expertise

• Works with Proposition, Product and Teaching Excellence teams to ensure best practice in pedagogy and assessment is embedded across products and services
• Oversees teaching quality, consistency and implementation of Teaching Excellence initiatives including TEAP, TCPR, L&D, safeguarding, EDI and SEND
• Supports product implementation and contributes to Product Development Stage Gate processes

Commercial & Financial Management

• Monitors product/service performance, KPIs, risks and reporting using corporate systems
• Supports rollout of new products/pilots and continuous improvement processes

Market & Customer Intelligence

• Provides market insights and customer trends to support marketing strategies, proposition development and commercial growth

Leadership & Management

• Leads academic teams, supports workforce and succession planning, capability development and coaching
• Models brand, safeguarding, EDI and SEND standards

Relationship & Stakeholder Management

• Builds strong relationships with Operations, Marketing, Customer Services, Teaching Excellence and Proposition & Product teams to improve customer experience and business performance

Risk & Compliance

• Ensures compliance with safeguarding, security, financial and anti-fraud policies, escalating issues where required

Qualifications

Essential:

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent by experience
• TEFL-Q or British Council recognised equivalent
• Demonstrated experience working in an English Language learning management or assessment development role
• Experience of working collaboratively with stakeholders across multiple sites / countries to achieve objectives
• Proven experience and demonstrable success in coordinating/supervising/influencing others in an international educational context
• English at C2 level

Desirable:

• Masters in English Language Teaching / Assessment or other relevant fields
• Use of data, dashboards, and action on interpretation of customer insights to drive customer experience improvements and business performance

What We Offer

• Contract type: Fixed term contract (24 months, renewable)
• Salary: British Council Pay band - T5 Teacher Pay Range
• Start date: August 2026 (tentative)
• Working location: Thailand
• International Transfer: Immigration clearance and visa support provided for those requiring relocation. Relocation support as set out in the British Council international relocation policy is available
• Annual Leave: 35 days of leave allowance per year, plus 14 days public holidays
• Medical Insurance: British Council provided sponsorship for medical insurance in line with British Council policy