Lead Specialist, Protective Services

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Protective Services Specialist to lead regional Protective Services activity across the US and LATAM. This senior, autonomous role will strengthen Pearson’s preparedness, improve regional coverage, and bring expert safety and security judgement closer to the business.

You will act as the regional authority for Protective Services during US/LATAM business hours, leading incident response, proactive risk work, travel risk activity, and physical security assurance. The role is designed to move Pearson from reactive, UK‑centred coverage to a more proactive, globally resilient, and regionally informed model.

Working with a high degree of independence, you will make time‑critical, risk‑based decisions within Pearson’s global frameworks and partner closely with HR, Legal, Facilities, Cyber, Communications, Real Estate, and regional business leaders.

• Lead regional incident response for US/LATAM during business hours, assessing, coordinating, escalating, and documenting safety, security, regulatory, reputational, and life‑safety incidents.
• Provide calm, informed, and proportionate judgement during incidents, aligned with Pearson’s global response frameworks.
• Partner with HR, Legal, Facilities, Cyber, Communications, Real Estate, business leaders, and external providers to manage incidents and reduce risk.
• Lead proactive preparedness work, including capability assessments, scenario planning, tabletop exercises, and local stakeholder engagement.
• Identify emerging threats, vulnerabilities, and regional risk trends, adding US/LATAM context to intelligence and threat assessment outputs.
• Own travel risk intake and approvals for US/LATAM‑based travellers, advising on high‑risk travel, events, deployments, and duty of care.
• Support executive, trainer, and other high‑risk traveller movements in line with Pearson’s global duty of care framework.
• Act as the regional authority for physical security changes, site assurance visits, and risk input for offices, test centres, and facilities.
• Provide practical, risk‑based recommendations that enable business delivery while managing exposure.
• Support supplier due diligence, assurance activity, internal standards, client expectations, and regional compliance requirements.
• Build trusted relationships with regional stakeholders, translating complex risk topics into clear, business‑relevant guidance.

• Significant corporate security, protective services, travel security, physical security, risk, resilience, or incident management experience in a complex corporate environment.
• Ideally experience within a multinational organisation or in a large scale company with multiple sites.
• Strong hands‑on experience in either physical security or travel security, with enough exposure to develop across the broader Protective Services remit.
• Practical experience managing or supporting real incidents, including stakeholder coordination, judgement, response processes, and business impact.
• Strong business acumen, independent judgement, and the ability to make risk‑based decisions in ambiguous, time‑sensitive, or high‑pressure situations.
• Ability to build trust across countries, functions, and business areas, translating regional risk context into clear, practical guidance.
• Fluent English is required, with native‑level Spanish and/or Portuguese. Any additional Latin American language is a plus.
• Desirable: multi‑country LATAM experience, Spanish and/or Portuguese, supplier due diligence or assurance exposure, geopolitical risk experience, and relevant security, resilience, risk, or crisis management certifications.

Pearson is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a member of E‑Verify. Employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit and business need. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status or any other group protected by law. We actively seek qualified candidates who are protected veterans and individuals with disabilities as defined under VEVRAA and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act.

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