Lead Specialist, Learning and Development

Job Description

This role aligns to the following industry titles - Learning Science Lead, Learning Strategy Lead, Director-level Learning & Development, AI Learning Lead.

Purpose of the Role

Pearson is the world's leading learning company. How we develop our own people must reflect that identity. Learning and Development sits in one of the most disruptive and most exciting spaces in the era of AI, where pedagogy, learning science and adaptive technology are converging to reshape how humans build capability.

The Lead Specialist, Learning & Development is an emerging expert in learning science and experience design who translates that expertise into practical, AI-enabled development experiences for Pearson's workforce. They apply what Pearson knows about how people learn and how we evidence that learning to help our people progress, grow and build meaningful careers, and to demonstrate the very approaches Pearson takes to market.

This role is designed for someone who is building depth as a learning science practitioner and is ready to lead defined enterprise initiatives with autonomy and technical credibility, but who is not yet operating at the strategic breadth or the enterprise leadership scope of a (Head of L&D).

Position Summary

The Lead Specialist, Learning & Development contributes specialized learning science and pedagogy expertise to enterprise Talent Development initiatives that build critical workforce capabilities. Working under the direction of the Head of Learning & Development, they design and deliver learning solutions that embed capability building into work, tools and workflows with a particular focus on Pearson's Power Skills (Adaptability, Learning to Learn, AI fluency) enabling career growth and progression.

They are grounded in evidence-based learning science, Pearson's differentiator, and are highly adaptive to new mechanisms and systems for learning: modern learning technologies, adaptive platforms, agentic AI, skill signalling, verification and credentialing (Credly), and the integration of AI into learning design and the evaluation of skills. Their work is integrated into Pearson's Career Navigation System, helping people successfully navigate their careers at Pearson, underpinned by our Career Architecture.

They work to bring the D.E.E.P Learning Framework (Diagnose, Embed, Evaluate, Prioritize) into the career experience, ensuring individuals can see where they are today, where they can go and what to do next.

Success requires strong learning-design judgement, credibility with stakeholders across HR, Product Managers and Engineering, and the business, and the ability to translate emerging priorities into practical, measurable, adopted methodologies. They help test and evaluate emerging Pearson products and technologies in real-world use, shaping development and generating evidence for broader enterprise adoption.

The Direction of Travel for L&D Professionals at Pearson

This role has been shaped by the four shifts defining the future of Talent Development  Lead Specialist is expected to design and deliver in ways that actively advance each of them:

• From participation to verified proficiency. We are moving beyond activity metrics and self-declared skill profi ciencies to evidencing capability through application in role, skill verification and credentia ling (e.g., Credly).
• From learning alongside work to capability embedded in agentic ways of working. Engineering capability into workflows, agents and decisions
• From uneven manager quality to manager as multiplier. Equipping managers to role-model AI-fluent leadership, develop human skills and enable growth conversations that fuel Career Navigation.
• From linear career paths to skills-powered navigation. Designing develop ment paths that supports career progression and growth.

Key Responsibilities

1. Learning Science, Pedagogy and Design

• Serve as an emerging technical expert in learning science, learning design and behavior change, applying evidence-based pedagogy to enterprise learning solutions.
• Design AI learning experiences that move learners from awareness building to applied skill proficiency in-the-flow-of-work
• Continuously scan external research and practice; test and integrate new mechanisms and platforms for learning and development, keeping Pearson's own learning practice ahead of the market.
• Act as a technical advisor to peers, HRBPs and business partners on learning design, quality standards and appropriate use of modern learning technologies.

2. AI-Enabled Learning, Evaluation and Verification

• Integrate AI including generative and agentic AI responsibly and ethically into learning design, content development, delivery and evaluation.
• Contribute to how Pearson assesses capability internally: design and iterate skill-rating, skill-evaluation and skill-verification approaches that provide trusted signals of proficiency.
• Partner with Product, Technology and OCTO teams to co-design and stress-test Pearson products (e.g., Credly Workforce, Skills…