Senior Lead, Finance Business Partner

Pearson•United States,

7d•$147,000 - $273,000

About The Position

Lead finance for K12 Assessments, the largest assessment business in Pearson’s new US K12 Business Unit. The portfolio includes School Assessment, GED, and Evaluation Systems, with three distinct business models: long-term custom service contracts, high-volume transactional testing, and candidate-funded certification programs. Serve as the lead finance business partner to the K12 Assessments Managing Director and the senior finance voice on the Leadership Team. Own the financial, commercial, and strategic agenda across the portfolio, shaping contract, pricing, and investment decisions. Partner with the Managing Director to drive the business while maintaining a transparent, proactive flow of performance, risks, and opportunities to the US K12 Executive Partner, Finance. The role is responsible for commercial partnering, performance and forecasting, contract and joint-venture governance, planning and investment management, finance frameworks and ways of working, and leadership of the K12 Assessments finance team. It supports alignment across the three businesses and the wider US K12 Business Unit, provides an accurate and current view of performance, and sustains strong compliance, controls, and risk management.

Requirements

Professional finance qualification.
Significant experience in senior finance business-partnering roles with strong commercial exposure.
Demonstrated ability to influence executive stakeholders, provide independent challenge, and shape strategic decisions.
Deep expertise in financial planning, forecasting, investment analysis, and commercial performance management.
Proven ability to translate complex analysis into clear, actionable insight and communicate performance, risk, and opportunity upward with candour and precision.
Strong understanding of materiality and ability to prioritize across competing agendas in a fast-moving environment.
Ability to identify business risk early and implement mitigation, with a stewardship mindset alongside growth.
Collaborative leadership style and proven ability to build and develop high-performing, cross-cultural teams, including integrating teams from previously separate organizations.
Enterprise mindset and comfort operating across organizational boundaries in a matrixed structure, including shared corporate functions.

Responsibilities

Partner with the Managing Director and Leadership Team to shape commercial strategy using robust financial insight and an understanding of each business’s unit economics.
Own the financial analysis of contract wins, renewals and lifetime value; test volumes and price realization; candidate conversion and attach economics; cost-to-serve; and content investment returns.
Develop bid and renewal economics, including incremental revenue and cost-to-serve, state RFP pricing, and evaluation of scope expansion opportunities.
Assess external developments, including state funding and policy, demographic and pipeline trends, and competitor performance, and translate them into planning and pricing implications.
Maintain a no-surprises partnership with the US K12 Executive Partner, Finance, elevating emerging risks and opportunities early with quantified analysis and recommended actions.
Own the monthly K12 Assessments performance narrative, including drivers and variances versus plan, forecast movements, and leading indicators.
Govern revenue and cost forecasting across long-term percentage-of-completion contracts, registration-driven testing volumes, and candidate-funded program fees.
Represent K12 Assessments in US K12 Business Unit forecast, planning, and risk-and-opportunity reviews, ensuring consistent numbers, assumptions, and messaging.
Maintain a current risk and opportunity register, including owners and mitigation plans.
Oversee financial governance of the GED joint venture, including intercompany service arrangements, royalties, and partner reporting.
Maintain a complete view of the state contract portfolio, including terms, scope, profitability, and renewal exposure, and lead finance support for major renewals and new-state pursuits.
Manage financial arrangements with internal Pearson service providers, including test delivery and operations services.
Lead the annual operating plan and long-range plan, incorporating commercial and market perspectives and setting ambitious, credible targets.
Partner on capital allocation and investment decisions, including content and product development, and evaluate returns against hurdle rates and investment cases.
Define and track commercial performance metrics, including contract health, volumes, price realization, attach rates, and margin.
Develop and embed consistent financial frameworks, methodologies, and tools to improve decision-making across the three businesses.
Promote data-driven decision-making, automation, and AI-enabled ways of working across Finance and the business.
Connect the business with Finance Operations and Centers of Expertise, embedding technical and process excellence in business practice.
Build and lead the K12 Assessments finance team, integrating professionals from three heritage businesses, developing talent, fostering collaboration, and planning succession.
Build partnerships across US K12 Business Unit Finance, Group Finance functions, and other teams.
Role model Pearson behaviours.