Head of Data

About us

At Up Learn, we’ve built one of the world’s most effective learning experiences by combining cognitive science, instructional theory, and artificial intelligence. Our mission is to give every learner the most effective path to success, and vision a world where every learner achieves more, faster, through adaptive, mastery-based learning.

We’re the market-leading platform for A Levels, with seven courses on offer and 1 in 3 A Level students  using Up Learn. Over the next year, we’re launching GCSE Science and accelerating growth, expanding our impact to millions more students.

Our results speak for themselves: 97% of students who complete our courses achieve an A*/A, even those who started with lower grades. And a large-scale evaluation of Up Learn in schools found usage is associated with 9 months additional progress, with grade improvements across whole year groups.

And for every paying student, we provide a full scholarship to a student in need - ensuring high-quality education is accessible to all.

About the role

As Up Learn enters its next phase of growth, this role will own and elevate our data capability to support scale, rigour, and long-term impact.

We have laid a strong foundation via a modern data stack. We have also inculcated a culture of data driven decision making from the senior leadership team right down to the individual teams. We have started work on data governance tooling and processes. We now need to maintain and continue to improve these processes as we grow.

We have established a strong relationship between Up Learn usage and A Level grades. We next want to increase the sophistication of our statistical tools and size of the data set to build stronger evidence, eventually establishing a causal relationship between Up Learn usage and grades.

This role reports directly into the Founder & CEO, also working closely with the Chief Technology Officer.

The Head of Data role is essential for Up Learn’s growth in the coming years. You will be involved in driving all of the above, balancing hands-on work with effective team management. If you are excited about being a part of this journey then we’d love to hear from you.

Our data stack

Our data stack is built on the following tools:

• Google Cloud Platform for all of our analytics infrastructure
• dbt and BigQuery for our data modelling and warehousing
• Lightdash for BI and analytics
• OpenMetadata for governance
• Stitch + Airbyte for extraction and loading of data
• Airflow for delivering near real-time analytics to teachers
• Hightouch and Census for reverse ETL
• Python for data science and analysis
• gitlab for version control and CI/CD
  

Core responsibilities

1. Strategic Leadership & Vision Execution:

• Effectively prioritize the Data Team's workload, balancing the delivery of critical strategic initiatives with ongoing operational support and ad-hoc requests
• Drive the successful execution of major data initiatives in collaboration with all relevant teams
• Proactively seek ways for data to provide a strategic advantage

Data Driven Up Learn:

• Cultivate and deepen a strong data-driven culture across Up Learn, enhancing data literacy and empowering all teams to leverage data effectively in their roles
• Own the definition, evolution, and governance of company-level metrics (including North Star metrics), ensuring consistency across teams, tools, and reporting
• Ensure that the metrics are actually used and embedded within the processes of all the teams at Up Learn
• Ensure product instrumentation and success measurement are a standard part of shipping new features, enabling fast learning and early issue detection
• Deliver clear, decision-ready insights on go-to-market performance, including funnel conversion, retention, and ROI by channel, partnering with commercial teams to close data gaps

Data Governance, Quality & Architecture Oversight:

• Implement robust data governance practices, policies, and platforms to ensure trustworthiness of Up Learn's data
• Establish processes and projects with data creators to ensure high source data quality
• Collaborate closely with the Engineering team to ensure data considerations are embedded in product development

Advanced Analytics, Insights & Data Product Delivery:

• Enable the data team to deliver actionable analytics to all the teams at a sufficient level of quality
• Establish a proactive insights generation process to deliver valuable insights to the Leadership team and the Heads of Department
• Encourage and guide the exploration and application of modern data techniques (including AI/ML/LLMs where valuable) to unlock deeper insights and create innovative data solutions
• Support Product teams with robust analytics for A/B testing

Team Leadership & Development:

• Lead, mentor, and develop the Data Team, fostering a culture of high performance and cultural alignment
• Clearly define and manage roles, responsibilities, and growth trajectories within the data team to ensure individual and team success
• Re-engineer and automate analytics, reporting, and operational workflows using AI and data tooling so a small team can deliver outsized impact fast (while keeping critical user-data risks controlled)

What you’ll do in the first 12 months

• Define and execute the data strategy
  Set a clear vision and roadmap for the data team, covering analytics, data engineering, experimentation, and governance, aligned to company goals
• Build the data foundations for GCSE expansion
  Lead the design and implementation of scalable data models, pipelines, and metrics required to successfully enter and grow in the GCSE market
• Embed data-driven decision making across the business
  Partner closely with the leadership team and functional heads to ensure data is central to strategic, commercial, and product decisions
• Deliver high-impact learning outcomes analysis
  Own the second iteration of analysis linking Up Learn engagement to A-Level and GCSE attainment, generating robust, credible insights that inform product, pedagogy, and external credibility
• Elevate product analytics maturity
  Strengthen the product analytics function to enable clear, data-driven prioritisation, experimentation, and evaluation of product features and learning interventions
• Lead planning and execution
  Own quarterly data team planning through OKRs, ensuring focus on the highest-impact initiatives and strong delivery
• Grow and lead the data team
  Manage, mentor, and develop the data team (currently 2), supporting performance, career progression, and future team scaling

Requirements

You should have:

• Hands-on experience working on data modelling and analytics engineering using the dbt ecosystem
• Experience establishing data governance processes and policies
• Experience working on product analytics and A/B testing
• Experience in running statistical tests (t-test, chi-square, ANOVA, AnCoVa, logistic regressions, ordinal logistic regressions, etc) and a deep understanding of when each of them are appropriate.
• Experience managing small data teams, defining annual goals and quarterly priorities and balancing short term goals with long term progress.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• A deep passion for learning and growth - you thrive in a culture of feedback, giving and receiving it

Bonus points for:

• Experience running on-field research projects
• Experience of running learning analytics in education domain

We know that great candidates don’t always tick every box. If you’re excited about the role and feel you could make an impact at Up Learn, we’d love to hear from you.

Benefits

We provide a great set of benefits that all focus on helping Up Learn team members lead healthy and fulfilling lives. 

Working at Up Learn gives you:

🤸‍♂️ Awesome colleagues! We’ve put together a cracking team, and you’ll be a part of it and shape its future

💚 Meaningful, fulfilling and engaging work that has an immediate positive impact on tens of thousands of students and the potential to impact millions of students

🧠 The opportunity to build the future of education and accelerate humanity’s ability to learn

💪 Tons of opportunities to learn and develop a wide range of skills

🏠 Up Learn supports a hybrid working environment with a minimum of two days in the office per week (one team day and one company day) and the rest is up to you!

Key benefits:

💰 A competitive salary

📈 Meaningful stake in the company’s growth and success (equity share options)

🌴 ~35 days of paid holiday per year made up of: 26 days of bookable holiday, plus bank holidays, plus unlimited ‘extra days’ (i.e. if you need a few more days, no problem)

🐤 Significantly enhanced parental leave

🦷 Level 6 (highest level) dental insurance

☕ Paid-for coffee breaks (a great chance to get to know the team)

🏃 Monthly & quarterly paid-for socials and quality time with your work colleagues as well as an in-office shower room to make sporting activities easier to join

⭐ A spacious and bright private office in Old Street, with delicious coffee, a selection of teas and unlimited snacks and drinks

🚲 Cycle-to-Work: we are registered so you can buy a bike and accessories tax-free

📖 Unlimited budget for any work-related books you need

👨‍👩‍👧 Family access to Up Learn: your family and close relatives get unlimited access to any Up Learn course for free!

Our core values

🫶 CARE: Put people and mission first. Celebrate success together.

✅ OWN: Take responsibility. Step up. Transparently own outcomes.

💡 LEARN: Live for learning. Seek feedback. Turn challenges into opportunities.

🚀 ACT: Prioritise progress. Challenge what’s possible. Move the needle.

How to apply

If this sounds like it’s for you, we can’t wait to hear from you! Send us your CV & tell us in 150 words why you’d be great for this role.