Advanced Specialist, Strategy (Education Market Strategy)

Pearson

18h•$120,000 - $150,000

About The Position

At Pearson, we believe learning should open doors at every stage of life. Pearson’s Career Ready portfolio is focused on helping colleges and universities deliver workforce-aligned learning programs that support adult learners, career advancement, and employer needs. We are building a new business focused on workforce programming distributed through higher education partners. This role is the strategic intelligence engine behind that launch — the resident expert on the market, the customer, and the end user, translating deep research and analytical rigor into the product and commercial decisions that will determine whether this business succeeds. You will develop and own the market, customer, and competitive expertise that shapes both the product roadmap and the commercial strategy for Pearson’s Career Ready HED workforce programming. This role is analytically rigorous and deeply cross-functional. You will work in close partnership with the Head of Sales, product management, and content development teams to ensure every major decision is grounded in real market evidence. Success in this role means turning market complexity into clear, confident direction for both the product and commercial teams. This is an incubation-stage business inside a large organization. That means you will need to: If you are energized by bringing analytical clarity to complex, high-stakes market questions and translating that clarity into product and commercial strategy that actually moves a business forward, this role offers a rare opportunity to do exactly that.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree or equivalent; advanced degree in business, economics, education policy, or a related field preferred
8+ years of experience in strategy, product marketing, market research, or commercial strategy roles — ideally in education technology, workforce learning, or higher education
Strong analytical toolkit: comfort with market sizing, competitive analysis, pricing frameworks, customer segmentation, and synthesizing qualitative and quantitative research
Experience conducting and designing customer research including interviews, surveys, and user studies — and translating findings into strategic recommendations
Demonstrated ability to influence product roadmaps and commercial strategy through research and insight rather than organizational authority
Experience working cross-functionally in complex organizations to unlock shared resources and align stakeholders around a common direction
Deep curiosity about the adult learning, workforce development, and higher education landscape and how they are evolving
Ability to operate with urgency and pragmatism in ambiguous, early-stage environments

Responsibilities

Own market and user intelligence for the Career Ready HED workforce product — conducting desktop research, competitive landscape analysis, customer interviews, and formal research studies to develop a comprehensive understanding of the adult learner, university partner, and employer customer segments
Translate market and user insights into clear product requirements and prioritization guidance, partnering directly with product management and content development to inform the direction of the product roadmap and feature decisions
Develop and own the commercial strategy for the HED workforce product, including pricing architecture, packaging, and positioning — ensuring our go-to-market approach reflects both market realities and Pearson’s commercial objectives
Partner with the Head of Sales to define geographic and segment prioritization — identifying which regions, university partnership profiles, and workforce development relationships should be sequenced first to maximize launch momentum
Build the analytical frameworks and decision tools that help the commercial and product teams prioritize confidently in an ambiguous, early-stage environment
Work cross-functionally across Pearson’s Career Ready, Higher Education, and Enterprise Learning teams to identify and unlock existing commercial and product capabilities that can accelerate go-to-market for the new workforce product
Bring together the right internal stakeholders and resources at the right moments — acting as an internal connective tissue role that ensures the launch benefits from Pearson’s full institutional scale
Track and synthesize signals from early university partner and user engagement to continuously refine the product and commercial strategy as the business moves from concept to market