Full-Time
Program Manager
SDR Program
Updated on 9/4/2026
Pearson
1-10 employees
Global education publisher providing digital courseware
No salary listed
United States
In Person
 Sales & Account Management (1) |
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- 10+ years of experience in sales leadership, business development, revenue operations, demand generation, sales enablement, or related functions.
- Demonstrated experience leading pipeline generation, lead management, sales development, or customer acquisition programs.
- Experience managing managers, leading cross-functional initiatives, and developing high-performing teams.
- Strong working knowledge of customer relationship management strategy, workflow automation, funnel reporting, and data-driven decision making.
- Proven ability to build key performance indicator frameworks, evaluate return on investment, and translate performance insights into executive-ready recommendations.
- Strong executive communication, vendor management, stakeholder influence, and operational leadership skills.
- Own the vision, strategy, execution, and performance outcomes for Pearson's sales development representative function.
- Lead the RCX partnership, including vendor performance management, productivity standards, service level expectations, quality reviews, and return-on-investment analysis.
- Establish performance metrics across lead generation, qualification, conversion, pipeline creation, revenue influence, and cost-to-serve.
- Develop quarterly business reviews and executive-level insights on sales development representative program performance, pipeline impact, conversion effectiveness, and operational efficiency.
- Create business cases and recommendations that maximize sales development representative performance and contribution to growth.
- Develop and recommend the future-state sales development representative operating model, including assessment of outsourced, in-house, and hybrid delivery approaches.
- Evaluate organizational design, cost structure, scalability, productivity, customer experience, and return on investment to determine the optimal model for long-term growth and pipeline generation.
- Own the end-to-end lead management strategy from acquisition through nurturing, sales handoff, opportunity creation, and conversion.
- Automate the current sales development representative process to reduce manual effort, improve speed to lead, and create consistent execution standards.
- Partner with Revenue Operations and Technology teams to build scalable customer relationship management workflows for lead creation, scoring, routing, nurturing, tracking, and reporting.
- Improve customer relationship management adoption and data quality so sales development representative activity, campaign effectiveness, and conversion performance are visible, measurable, and actionable.
- Develop dashboards that provide real-time visibility into funnel performance, activity quality, pipeline health, and return on investment.
- Build a strategy to identify, prioritize, and monetize whitespace opportunities across the Higher Education market.
- Leverage third-party data sources, including BMG and similar providers, to create new prospecting motions and expand market coverage.
- Convert third-party market intelligence into customer-relationship-management-enabled lead creation, nurturing, and conversion motions.
- Create scalable campaigns that identify, nurture, and convert untracked or under-tracked opportunities into measurable pipeline and revenue.
- Establish return-on-investment measurement for third-party data investments, including yield, conversion, revenue influence, and cost effectiveness.
- Lead the strategy, modernization, and performance of the Pearson Campus Ambassador program, consisting of approximately 100 on-campus student advisors.
- Build a long-term vision for the Pearson Campus Ambassador program as a strategic market development, customer and student engagement, brand advocacy, and customer insight channel.
- Define and implement success metrics that measure campus engagement, student advisor productivity, program reach, lead generation, adoption influence, and return on investment.
- Create a scalable framework for ambassador recruitment, onboarding, training, coaching, engagement, and performance management.
- Leverage Pearson Campus Ambassador insights to inform student trends, product feedback, competitive dynamics, customer needs, and campus-level opportunity development.
- Modernize Pearson Campus Ambassador operations through technology, automation, standard operating processes, and consistent reporting across campuses.
- Lead, coach, and develop two M30 managers responsible for Pearson Campus Ambassador program execution.
- Set clear goals, operating rhythms, performance expectations, and development plans for direct reports and their teams.
- Create a culture of accountability, innovation, customer focus, operational excellence, and measurable business impact.
- Influence cross-functional stakeholders across Sales, Marketing, Revenue Operations, Product, Customer Success, Technology, RCX, and external partners.
- Build talent pathways that support future needs of the programs.
- Set enterprise-level direction while ensuring strong operational execution.
- Advance scalable solutions that improve revenue productivity, customer reach, and program return on investment.
- Lead through ambiguity and convert fragmented processes into measurable operating models.
- Use data, automation, and market intelligence to expand growth opportunities.
- Build accountable leadership routines and develop future-ready talent.
- Experience managing outsourced sales development, lead generation, or external vendor partnerships.
- Experience with Salesforce, sales engagement platforms, marketing automation, artificial-intelligence-enabled workflow tools, or similar technologies.
- Experience leveraging third-party market intelligence, prospecting data, or data providers such as BMG.
- Background in higher education, edtech, software as a service, subscription models, or multi-channel customer acquisition.
- Experience leading modernization, transformation, or program redesign initiatives.
Pearson is a global education company that provides a wide range of learning materials and services. It offers textbooks, digital courseware, online learning platforms, and a rich set of teaching and learning resources for primary and secondary schools, higher education, vocational training, and English language learning. Its products work through multiple channels: physical textbooks and digital courseware, subscription-based online platforms, and customized learning solutions for institutions, along with training and certification programs. Pearson differentiates itself with a large, multi-market footprint, multiple revenue streams, and a focus on combining print and digital resources with analytics and educator support to serve learners from early education through adulthood. Its goal is to make learning more accessible and effective, helping students, teachers, and institutions achieve their academic and professional goals.
Company Size
1-10
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
London, United Kingdom
Founded
1844
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- Pearson kept 2026 guidance after first-half revenue rose 4% and profit 14%.
- AI study tools now span MyLab, Mastering, Revel, and Pearson+, driving engagement.
- Enterprise alliances with Adobe, Salesforce, Deloitte, and TCS widen recurring revenue channels.
What critics are saying
- English Language Learning revenue fell 3% in H1 2026 as PTE weakened.
- The August 2026 EEOC settlement exposes Pearson's HR accessibility failures and vendor liability.
- If AI study tools stall, Pearson loses courseware differentiation and investor re-rating.
What makes Pearson unique
- Pearson's July 31, 2026 results showed 19% virtual learning growth.
- Salesforce made Pearson its sole global certification exam provider in 2026.
- Deloitte and TCS partnerships embed Pearson AI learning across enterprises and governments.
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Benefits
Flexible Work Hours
Remote Work Options
Professional Development Budget
Company News
Pearson ADA settlement raises questions over vendor liability. Pearson outsourced its benefits and training platforms to TP vendors. The EEOC said that did not outsource its ADA obligations. Every employer using TP HR technology has the same exposure. Pearson Education's $150,000 disability discrimination settlement has put a less obvious employment liability exposure under scrutiny: what happens when the technology behind a workplace discrimination claim belongs to an outside vendor. The educational publishing company agreed to settle a US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging that employees with visual impairments could not properly access online systems used for benefits, leave and workplace training. Those platforms were provided by third parties, according to the EEOC. But outsourcing the technology did not remove Pearson's responsibility to provide employees with reasonable accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the agency alleged. That distinction extends the potential source of an employment practices liability claim beyond hiring, firing and other decisions made directly by managers. Increasingly digitized HR operations mean accessibility problems in benefits portals, training systems and other employee technology can also develop into discrimination allegations. The EEOC said in announcing the settlement that Pearson's online platforms contained technical issues that prevented employees using screen-reading software from receiving access comparable to employees without visual impairments. Under a three-year consent decree, Pearson must hire a web accessibility consultant to audit its benefits platforms and training modules and make improvements where needed. It must also provide annual accessibility and reasonable accommodation training to human resources personnel, notify third-party vendors about accessibility requirements and report its compliance to the EEOC. "When an employer uses online systems for benefits, leave or training, accessibility cannot be an afterthought," Kimberly Cruz, regional attorney for the EEOC's New York District, said. "Technology that shuts out employees with disabilities deprives them of equal opportunity both to succeed in the workplace and to access the benefits they have earned." Employer responsibility follows the technology. The issue reaches beyond Pearson because of how much of the modern workplace technology stack now sits outside the employer itself. Benefits administration, employee training, recruiting and other HR functions are routinely handled through external software providers. The EEOC's position is that contracting out those functions does not necessarily contract out the employer's accommodation obligations. Its guidance for employees with visual disabilities specifically states that an employer is not excused from providing an accommodation because another entity has been contracted to provide training. The parties can allocate responsibility for accommodations through their contract, but the employer remains responsible for ensuring the employee receives the required accommodation. That creates another dimension to vendor due diligence. A failure that begins with incompatible software or an inaccessible interface may ultimately surface as an employment discrimination claim against the organization using it. The development comes as employment practices liability insurers are already grappling with claims emerging from employers' growing reliance on technology. Insurance Business recently reported that AI exclusions are beginning to appear in parts of the EPL market as litigation examines who bears responsibility when third-party employment technology contributes to allegedly discriminatory outcomes. While the Pearson dispute did not involve artificial intelligence, both issues raise a similar question around where responsibility sits when an employer relies on technology supplied by someone else. Disability accommodation is also emerging against a backdrop of persistently high employment discrimination activity. The EEOC received 88,201 new discrimination charges in fiscal year 2025, following 88,531 the previous year. Previous Insurance Business reporting on workplace discrimination claims has also identified failures around employee accommodations as a recurring source of EPL exposure. The Pearson case adds technology procurement and accessibility to that discussion. As more employment functions move onto third-party platforms, the controls surrounding those vendors - including accessibility testing, contractual responsibilities and processes for responding when employees report problems - may increasingly sit alongside traditional HR practices when employment risks are assessed.
Pearson Education to pay $150,000 in EEOC disability discrimination suit. NEWARK, N.J. - Educational publishing company Pearson Education, Inc. will pay $150,000 and provide other injunctive relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.
British Academy of Jewellery to close its higher education courses. Students at British Academy of Jewellery (BAJ) in London and its campuses in Birmingham, Leicester and Sheffield have been told their higher education courses will be closed from today. BAJ is registered with the Office for Students. It delivers courses in partnership with Kingston University and Pearson. Up to 220 current higher education students are affected. They are primarily registered on undergraduate and postgraduate face-to-face and online courses in jewellery and business and management. Deonne Rowland, Deputy Director of Financial Sustainability at the Office for Students, said: 'This will be really difficult news for students at the British Academy of Jewellery. Its priority is to make sure their interests are safeguarded and that they understand their options. 'The British Academy of Jewellery has partnership arrangements with Kingston University and Pearson, which validate and award the academy's courses and have committed to supporting their students through this challenging time. 'We have been working closely with the academy and its partners to ensure students have the information, advice, and guidance they need to continue their studies with an alternative higher education provider.'
How to scale AI beyond the pilot phase and drive real business value. 2026-08-04 by AICC Scaling AI value from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide adoption remains a primary hurdle for many organisations. While experimentation with generative models has become ubiquitous, industrialising these tools - wrapping them in necessary governance, security, and integration layers - often stalls. Addressing the gap between investment and operational return, IBM has introduced a new service model designed to help businesses assemble, rather than purely build, their internal AI infrastructure. Adopting asset-based consulting. Traditional consultancy models typically rely on human labour to solve integration problems - a process that is often slow and capital-intensive. IBM is among the companies aiming to alter this dynamic by offering an asset-based consulting service. This approach combines standard advisory expertise with a catalogue of pre-built software assets, aiming to help clients construct and govern their own AI platforms. Instead of commissioning bespoke development for every workflow, organisations can leverage existing architectures to redesign processes and connect AI agents to legacy systems. This method helps companies achieve value by scaling new agentic applications without necessitating alterations to their existing core infrastructure, AI models, or preferred cloud providers. Managing a multi-cloud environment. A frequent concern for enterprise leaders is vendor lock-in, particularly when adopting proprietary platforms. IBM's strategy acknowledges the reality of the heterogeneous enterprise IT landscape. The service supports a multi-vendor foundation, compatible with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, alongside IBM watsonx. This approach extends to the models themselves, supporting both open- and closed-source variants. By allowing companies to build upon their current investments rather than demanding a replacement strategy, the service addresses a barrier to adoption: the fear of technical debt accumulation when switching ecosystems. The technical backbone of this offering is IBM Consulting Advantage, the company's internal delivery platform. Having utilised this system to support over 150 client engagements, IBM reports that the platform has boosted its own consultants' productivity by up to 50 percent. The premise is that if these tools can accelerate delivery for IBM's own teams, they should offer similar velocity for clients. The service provides access to a marketplace of industry-specific AI agents and applications. For business leaders, this suggests a "platform-first" focus, where attention turns from managing individual models to managing a cohesive ecosystem of digital and human workers. Active deployment of a platform-centric approach to Scaling AI value. The efficacy of such a platform-centric approach is best viewed through active deployment. Pearson, the global learning company, is currently utilising this service to construct a custom platform. Their implementation combines human expertise with agentic assistants to manage everyday work and decision-making processes, illustrating how the technology functions in a live operational environment. Similarly, a manufacturing firm has employed IBM's solution to formalise its generative AI strategy. For this client, the focus was on identifying high-value use cases, testing targeted prototypes, and aligning leaders around a scalable strategy. The result was the deployment of AI assistants using multiple technologies within a secured, governed environment, laying a foundation for wider expansion across the enterprise. Despite the attention surrounding generative AI, the realisation of balance-sheet impact is not guaranteed. "Many organisations are investing in AI, but achieving real value at scale remains a major challenge," notes Mohamad Ali, SVP and Head of IBM Consulting. "We have solved many of these challenges inside IBM by using AI to transform our own operations and deliver measurable results, giving us a proven playbook to help clients succeed." The conversation is gradually moving away from the capabilities of specific LLMs and towards the architecture required to run them safely. Success in scaling AI and achieving value will likely depend on an organisation's ability to integrate these solutions without creating new silos. Leaders must ensure that as they adopt pre-built agentic workflows, they maintain rigorous data lineage and governance standards.
Pearson reported strong first-half results, with underlying revenue up 4%, adjusted operating profit rising 14% to £276 million, and adjusted earnings per share increasing 19% to £0.289. The education company maintained its full-year guidance for mid-single-digit revenue growth and adjusted operating profit of £640 million to £685 million. Virtual Learning drove growth with revenue jumping 19%, whilst Enterprise Learning & Skills rose 7%, supported by enrolment momentum and AI-upskilling programmes. However, English Language Learning revenue fell 3% as demand for the Pearson Test of English weakened amid softer study-abroad demand and tighter migration policies. Free cash flow increased £103 million year-on-year to £259 million, benefiting from improved working-capital management.