Senior Lead, Strategy - Finance

Job Title - Senior Lead, Strategy - Finance

Description - Lead enterprise-wide finance transformation at Pearson, shaping strategy, operating model, and digital evolution to enable a more agile, insight-led, and AI-enabled finance function.

About the role

This is a high-impact, enterprise-critical role at the center of Pearson's finance transformation agenda. As Senior Lead, Strategy - Finance , you will partner closely with the Group Finance Officer to define and deliver the finance strategy and operating model, ensuring finance evolves into a more agile, insight-led, and digitally enabled function.

Combining strategic leadership with hands-on program delivery, you will drive step-change improvements in how finance supports business performance, allocates capital, and enables decision-making across the organization. This includes accelerating the adoption of automation, AI, and modern finance systems, while embedding a culture of accountability, continuous improvement, and value creation.

Operating at the top of the finance agenda, you will act as both a trusted advisor and an execution lead-mobilizing senior stakeholders, aligning priorities across functions, and ensuring transformation initiatives deliver measurable business impact.

What you'll do

• Partner with the Group Finance Officer to define, refine, and operationalize the finance strategy in alignment with broader corporate and business unit priorities

• Translate strategic vision into a clear, executable finance operating model, including defined accountabilities across global, business unit, and functional finance teams

• Drive alignment between financial planning, performance management, and value creation priorities across the organization

• Clarify the role of finance as both an owner and enabler of performance, embedding best-in-class principles for accountability and decision support

• Lead a portfolio of enterprise finance transformation initiatives spanning global processes, systems, data governance, and business assurance

• Establish and run a structured program governance model, with clear milestones, delivery plans, and value realization tracking

• Identify and remove barriers to execution, ensuring transformation initiatives deliver at pace and with measurable impact

• Act as the integrator across initiatives, ensuring a connected, end-to-end transformation rather than fragmented delivery

• Drive the adoption of automation, advanced analytics, and AI across finance to improve efficiency, forecasting, and decision support

• Partner with Technology and Data teams to prioritize finance system investments aligned to strategic outcomes

• Champion the shift toward real-time, data-driven finance capabilities, reducing manual processes and enhancing predictive insight

• Ensure digital initiatives are embedded into day-to-day ways of working, not just deployed as standalone tools

• Act as a key interface between finance leadership, business unit leaders, and central functions to align priorities and drive trade-offs

• Influence executive-level stakeholders to prioritize transformation initiatives and commit the necessary resources

• Provide strategic insight and challenge, positioning finance as a proactive partner in enterprise performance

• Build strong cross-functional relationships to enable faster, more effective decision-making

• Lead the overall change narrative for finance transformation, translating strategy into a clear, compelling story for the organization

• Design and deliver structured change management approaches to ensure adoption of new processes, tools, and behaviors

• Engage and mobilize the finance community, building momentum and commitment to transformation goals

• Ensure communication is consistent, outcome-focused, and reinforces accountability and progress

• Build and develop capability across the finance organization in program delivery, digital finance, and strategic partnering

• Foster a culture of innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement across teams

What we're looking for

• Proven experience in transformation, strategy, or operating model design within a large, complex organization

• Demonstrated track record of delivering enterprise-wide transformation programs with measurable business impact

• Strong strategic leadership capability, with the ability to link finance strategy to enterprise value creation

• Experience leading complex, multi-year programs across systems, processes, and organizational structures

• Deep understanding of financial performance, profitability drivers, and capital allocation principles

• Expertise in operating model design, including governance, processes, and accountability frameworks

• Exceptional ability to influence and align executive stakeholders across functions

• Strong change leadership capability, with experience driving behavioral as well as structural change

• Experience working with enterprise systems, data transformation, and digital finance capabilities

• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to translate complex strategy into clear, actionable narratives

Location & working pattern

This role operates at a global, enterprise level, with collaboration required across international teams.

Flexible working arrangements are available depending on location and business needs.

Compensation

Compensation at Pearson is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, and specific location. As required by the California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Vermont, Washington State, and Washington DC laws, the pay range for this position is as follows:

The minimum full-time salary range is between $175,000 - $250,000 .

This position is eligible to participate in an annual incentive program, and information on benefits offered is here.

How to Apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their resume and a cover letter outlining their qualifications and experience to

Apply via Pearson Careers

Pearson is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.

Application Deadline

Applications will be accepted through July 3, 2026 . 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.

Job: Program Management

Job Family: ENTERPRISE

Organization: Corporate Finance

Schedule: FULL_TIME

Workplace Type: Remote

Req ID: 24605

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