Director of Curriculum (Innovation)

Makers

1d

About The Position

The Director of Curriculum (Innovation) leads the discovery, bespoke design, first live delivery and pilot improvements for new learning products at Makers. The role focuses on technologies that are new or rapidly changing, including AI, and uses personal experimentation and research, internal company experimentation, and close engagement with clients to identify what Makers should teach and how its learning products should evolve.

The Director works with pilot clients to understand their business context, technology stack, skills needs and desired outcomes. They translate those needs into clear curriculum briefs, proposals and learning experiences, defining outcomes, content, sequencing, practical activities, assessment and delivery approach. They remain hands-on with technical content and detailed design choices, and lead or directly support the first cohort to maintain quality and client trust.

After each pilot, the Director reviews learner outcomes, feedback and delivery lessons with the client and colleagues, recommends what should change or whether the work should be scaled, and hands over successful curricula and supporting evidence to the Head of Curriculum Product. The Head of Curriculum Product then assumes responsibility for compliance, release readiness and ongoing improvement as the curriculum enters the core portfolio. The Director also influences Makers’ internal direction, supported by the Operations team, and collaborates with curriculum writers, coaches and Commercial colleagues.

Requirements

• Experience operating at a senior leadership level, setting direction for a product, innovation area or technical capability, and influencing wider business priorities (essential).
• Experience leading complex conversations with senior enterprise clients, challenging initial briefs and influencing the final solution (essential).
• Deep, current technical credibility in AI and emerging technology, with the ability to translate complex technical ideas into effective learning products (essential).
• Significant industry experience as a senior software engineer, technical consultant, solutions architect or in a similarly credible hands-on technology role (essential).
• A track record of turning unclear business or skills needs into a clear technical solution, curriculum design or learning proposal.
• Hands-on experience leading, teaching, coaching or directly supporting a first delivery, pilot cohort or comparable live learning experience.
• Experience using learner, client and delivery feedback to improve a pilot and recommend what should happen next.
• Strong listening and understanding skills, including the ability to engage senior clients and turn conversations into learning materials.
• Understanding of how people learn and confidence shaping learning experiences for junior, entry-level AI engineers and middle-to-senior managers.
• Willingness to work hands-on with content and detailed design choices, and to abandon work when it becomes outdated.

Nice To Haves

• Experience as a technical educator or coach; strong learning design and facilitation skills are also welcomed.

Responsibilities

• Keep current with technologies, engineering practices and changing skills needs relevant to Makers’ clients.
• Run focused experiments with emerging areas such as generative AI agents, modern engineering stacks and cloud-native workflows, and translate findings into practical curriculum ideas.
• Join executive and technical client conversations to understand business context, technology, skills gaps and desired outcomes.
• Ask questions to identify the underlying problem, challenge assumptions constructively and distinguish learning needs from broader organisational issues.
• Create clear curriculum briefs covering audience, outcomes, technical scope, delivery approach, constraints and measures of success.
• Develop tailored curriculum plans and proposals, defining learning outcomes, content, sequence, practical activities, assessment and delivery model for the first cohort.
• Make appropriate choices about curriculum pace, depth and technical ambition based on learners, client environment and available time.
• Work with Commercial colleagues to ensure proposals are technically credible, grounded in learning design and clear for clients.
• Lead or directly support delivery of the first cohort and provide pilot participants with the context, materials and technical guidance they need.
• Stay close to learners, coaches and client sponsors during pilots; use feedback and observed results to identify issues and make changes that protect outcomes or client trust.
• Review pilots with clients, delivery colleagues and the Head of Curriculum Product; synthesize learner outcomes, feedback and delivery lessons into conclusions and recommendations.
• Clarify what has been validated, what needs further testing and what should not be scaled.
• Hand over successful curricula, supporting evidence and design rationale to Curriculum Product for compliance, release readiness and ongoing improvement.
• Influence Makers’ internal practices and priorities as the company explores emerging technologies and learning products.

Benefits

• At least 25 days of annual holiday encouraged, excluding UK Bank Holidays, with company-wide Winter and Spring breaks.
• Unlimited fully paid wellness leave from day one.
• Private Medical Insurance after passing probation.
• £500 annual Learning & Development allowance and paid time off for training and learning.
• Daily meditation sessions for staff and students.
• Company pension contributions.
• Enhanced parental pay and leave: up to 20 weeks fully paid maternity leave, up to 8 weeks fully paid paternity and secondary caregiver leave, and up to 20 weeks fully paid adoption leave.
• Access to a Perks at Work account with shopping and leisure discounts.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed