Learning and Development Officer (Operations Staff & Apprenticeships)

The Learning and Development Officer will play a critical role in ensuring the smooth delivery of Ark Learning Institute’s (ALI) programmes—with a focus on operations staff and apprenticeships. You’ll lead on planning, coordination, and delivery of both face-to-face and virtual learning events and act as the key liaison between Ark, external providers, and programme participants.

You will ensure exceptional participant experience across programmes, monitor engagement, and drive quality assurance. You will also support L&D initiatives such as conducting learning needs analysis, designing training (including e-learning) and providing consultancy-based service to school operations leads and heads of team.

The successful candidate will get personalised development throughout their journey with Ark, and fully funded opportunities to further professional qualifications where those align with role.

The Learning and Development Officer will report into Learning and Development Operations Lead and be an active member of the ALI Delivery Team. This role is currently operating hybrid working in our West London Office on a permanent basis working full time.

Interviews will take place in person w/c Monday 2^nd June.

About Ark Learning Institute (ALI):

The Ark Learning Institute (ALI) is the is the centre of excellence for professional development for Ark Schools, a high-performing multi-academy trust dedicated to transforming lives through education. ALI designs and delivers pioneering development programmes for over 4,000 Ark staff—teachers, leaders, and operations teams within our schools and our central office. We support our vision of unlocking the full potential of the pupils we serve through transformative professional development for all through our:

• Initial Teacher Training programme (rated Ofsted ‘Outstanding’)
• Comprehensive leadership and teacher development learning initiatives
• Tailored professional learning for operational staff and apprentices
• Strategic partnerships with mission-aligned organisations

This is an exciting time to join a team, where innovation, inclusion and continuous improvement are at the heart of everything we do.

Key Responsibilities:

• Build strong relationships with school's operations/HR leads, to be able to advise and support them on apprenticeship learning solutions relevant to their priority needs
• Research and identify new partnership opportunities which align with existing strategic priorities and training needs
• Ensure all programmes meet internal quality benchmarks and external compliance requirements, particularly for apprenticeships
• Manage administrative functions for the Digital Apprenticeship Service account, ensuring learner records are current and accurate
• Collect and analyse participant feedback pre and post-training to assess satisfaction, engagement, and areas for improvement
• Monitor long-term training progress for apprenticeship cohorts to identify at-risk learners and proactively support retention and completion
• Schedule and coordinate logistics (booking venues, room layouts, catering and AV equipment) for training sessions and events
• Manage logistics for the Network-wide Operations Training Days – 3 per year (1000+ attendees)
• Create and manage communication plans to support the promotion and delivery of learning initiatives aimed at operations staff
• Act as the first point of contact for delegates, school operations leads, and training partners—responding to enquiries and providing a smooth, professional service
• Support the design and creation, editing and printing of high-quality training materials including handbooks, slides, digital resources, and online content
• Process data for internal dashboards and apprenticeship compliance trackers
• Support the conducting of training needs analysis using surveys, stakeholder interviews, staff survey data and other methods

Key Requirements:

• Right to work in the UK
• Must be willing to travel for our events and meetings held across London, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Hastings
• Degree-level qualification or equivalent work experience
• Professional qualification in project management/HR or L&D (desirable)
• Strong experience in project management, event planning, programme coordination or learning and development
• Experience of engaging audiences (mainly internal) and marketing/promoting an events and/or training offer
• Clear and effective communication skills, both verbal and written
• Confident interacting and influencing senior stakeholders and external partners
• Strong experience in digital event platforms like Zoom, MS Teams or equivalent
• Skilled in using Microsoft Office tools (especially PowerPoint, Excel, SharePoint)
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines under pressure
• Proven ability to design and deliver effective participant communications
• Familiarity with design tools like Canva, Adobe Suite, Rise or other equivalent e-authoring tools (desirable)
• Highly organised with a strong attention to detail
• Proactive, solutions-oriented, and proactively takes initiative to ensure success
• Collaborative team player with a flexible, can-do approach

• Our hybrid working model aims to offer the best of both worlds, striking the right balance between in-person collaboration and remote working. You will work a minimum of two days per week in our state-of-the-art office in West London allowing you to connect with colleagues, with the flexibility to work remotely, or in the office over the remaining days
• In addition to our current hybrid working arrangements, employees can request to work fully remotely for up to 10 working days a year, whether this be in the UK or abroad
• Our flexitime policy allows you to work your hours around our core hours of 10.00 - 16.00, helping you prioritise your work-life balance and personal commitments
• 27 days annual leave plus bank holidays, rising with each year of service up to 30 days after 3-years’ service. This entitlement is pro rata for part time employees. This entitlement excludes bank holidays
• Full office closure between Christmas and New Year
  
• As an Ark employee, you will have the opportunity to be part of the TPT (The Pension Trust) scheme, our workplace pension scheme where we make an 11% contribution; you are not required to contribute towards this scheme unless you choose to. Depending on your role you may also be entitled to LGPS which is a defined benefit scheme where you contribute a percentage based on how much you earn (as do we) in exchange for a guaranteed amount in your pension pot every year
• Access to high-quality professional learning throughout your career, offering both face-to-face sessions and a bespoke online learning platform
• Access to Ark Rewards scheme offering savings from over 3,000 major retailers, interest-free loans available for season tickets or a bike, gym discounts offering up to 40% off your local gym and free eye tests

Ark is an education charity that exists to make sure that all children, regardless of their background, have access to a great education and real choices in life. Our network of 39 schools reaches traditionally underserved communities in Birmingham, Hastings, London and Portsmouth. We educate 30,000 pupils and have nearly 3,000 teaching staff across our network. We also incubate and scale innovative ventures, which we roll out beyond our network of schools for the benefit of teachers, pupils and the education system as a whole. Current Ventures include Ark Curriculum Plus, which equips teachers with the subject expertise needed to ensure students succeed, and Ark Start, a growing chain of nurseries offering affordable, high-quality early years education.

Recently, Ark moved to new offices at EdCity – a unique not-for-profit development in West London, in partnership with Hammersmith & Fulham council. EdCity is designed to bring mission-aligned organisations together to focus on improving the lives of children, especially through education. It offers leased offices, a range of venues for training and events, and an innovation hub for the education sector to connect, collaborate and learn together.