Customer Success, Retention

The Retention Lead is responsible for defining and driving the end-to-end student retention strategy across partner schools, ensuring a clear, focused approach to improving student persistence and success. This role owns the identification, prioritization, and execution of the highest-impact levers across academic experience, student engagement, onboarding, and school operations. Operating at the intersection of strategy, data, and execution, this role leads a hypothesis-driven, test-and-learn approach to student retention while translating insights into enterprise-level priorities and actionable initiatives. This includes designing and scaling interventions, aligning cross-functional teams, and ensuring retention efforts are coordinated, measurable, and focused on outcomes that drive meaningful improvement. Success in this role requires strong cross-functional leadership and influence, partnering with Enrollment, Academics, School Operations, Product, and School Success to align on priorities, drive accountability, and embed retention into core operating rhythms. Ultimately, this role ensures retention is managed as a strategic, shared outcome, strengthening school success, partner satisfaction, and long-term growth across the organization. Key Responsibilities Define and evolve the end-to-end retention strategy across partner schools Identify and prioritize the highest-impact drivers of retention Translate strategy into clear initiatives, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes Ensure alignment between retention strategy and broader business priorities Retention Analytics & Insight Generation Analyze retention, persistence, and attrition trends across partner schools, cohorts, and student segments Identify key drivers of retention and disengagement, including academic, operational, and engagement factors Develop dashboards and reporting to provide clear visibility into retention performance and leading indicators Establish early warning indicators to proactively identify at-risk students and schools Hypothesis-Driven Improvement & Scaling Lead a structured test learn scale approach to retention Develop and test hypotheses on key retention drivers (e.g., onboarding, engagement, academic experience, communication) Partner with schools and cross-functional teams to design and implement pilots Evaluate impact and scale successful interventions across partner schools Enterprise Prioritization & Influence Drive alignment on where to invest to improve retention outcomes Influence cross-functional priorities across Enrollment, Academics, School Operations, Product, and School Success Balance trade-offs and ensure focus on the highest-value initiatives Act as a strategic advisor to leadership on retention performance and opportunities Performance Management & Governance Establish clear retention targets, metrics, and success measures Build and lead an operating rhythm (e.g., reviews, dashboards, performance discussions) Ensure accountability for retention outcomes across teams and schools Provide visibility into performance, risks, and opportunities School-Level Enablement & Scaling Best Practices Enable partner schools with insights, tools, and actionable guidance to improve retention Identify patterns and replicate best practices across the network Balance standardization with flexibility to meet local school needs Data & Insight Integration Leverage analytics to inform strategy and decision-making Ensure retention insights are translated into clear actions and priorities Partner with analytics teams to enhance visibility into retention drivers and leading indicators Key Outcomes Measurable improvement in student retention and persistence across partner schools Clear, prioritized retention strategy aligned to business goals Increased effectiveness of retention initiatives through testing and scaling Strong cross-functional alignment and accountability for retention outcomes Improved visibility into retention performance and drivers Qualifications & Experience 8–12+ years of experience in strategy, operations, analytics, or related roles Background in consulting or comparable environments with strong analytical and problem-solving rigor, along with industry experience—ideally in consumer or customer-centric businesses Proven track record of driving cross-functional initiatives and influencing senior stakeholders Experience leading strategy development and execution at scale Strong analytical foundation with ability to translate data into action About Pearson Virtual Schools Pearson Virtual Schools (PVS) is a leader in the rapidly growing U.S. virtual education market, delivering high-quality online learning experiences to more than 100,000 K–12 students nationwide. Built on the foundation of Connections Academy nearly 20 years ago, PVS combines innovative technology, rigorous curriculum, and dedicated educators to expand access to exceptional digital learning. PVS serves students through three core offerings: Partner Schools, District Partnerships, and Pearson Online Academy. Partner Schools provide turnkey virtual school solutions for public school students across the country, District Partnerships deliver customized virtual learning programs for school districts, and Pearson Online Academy operates as an accredited private online school. Join us and help shape the future of K–12 education. Compensation at Pearson is influenced by factors including skill set, experience, and location. The full-time salary range for this role is $120,000 - $140,000. This position is eligible for Pearson’s annual incentive program. Information on benefits can be found here. Applications will be accepted through 6/5/26. This window may be extended depending on business needs. Who we are: At Pearson, our purpose is simple: to help people realize the life they imagine through learning. We believe that every learning opportunity is a chance for a personal breakthrough. We are the world's lifelong learning company. For us, learning isn't just what we do. It's who we are. To learn more: We are Pearson. 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. If you are an individual with a disability and are unable or limited in your ability to use or access our career site as a result of your disability, you may request reasonable accommodations by emailing View email address on click.appcast.io. #J-18808-Ljbffr Pearson