About the Organization

Head Quartered in the UK, A global education group is seeking a Chief Operating Officer to lead its worldwide education business.

Serving millions of learners annually through digital platforms, instructor-led programs, & industry certifications the organization is mature, fast-evolving, and entering a new phase of scale. This stage requires a unifying operating leader who can bring coherence, discipline, and a modern growth engine across regions, products, and teams.

The Role

Reporting directly to the Group CEO, the Chief Operating Officer will serve as the day-to-day operating head of the global education business, responsible for transforming a collection of strong but independent teams into an aligned, predictable, high-performing global organization.

The COO will own global P&L and operating performance, regional commercial strategy and execution, the channel and partner ecosystem, digital learning platforms and the learner experience, product, program, and portfolio strategy, certification and delivery operations, student services, and leadership effectiveness, culture, and talent development.

Core Responsibilities

1. Global P&L Leadership and Operating Discipline

- Translate strategic direction into clear operating plans, KPIs, budgets, and structured review cadences.

- Drive predictability across revenue, margins, partner performance, delivery, and learner outcomes.

- Establish disciplined forecasting rhythms and elevate financial and operational transparency.

2. Commercial Alignment Across Regions and Channels

- Lead regional commercial teams across enterprise, academic, partner-led, and direct-to-learner business lines.

- Define a clear go-to-market architecture, including territories, partner tiers, rules of engagement, and account ownership.

- Ensure sales, marketing, and channel functions operate with unified funnels, definitions, and conversion metrics.

- Strengthen pipeline discipline, forecasting accuracy, and revenue planning.

3. Portfolio, Program, and Learner Experience Strategy

- Shape strategy for professional training, digital products, continuing education, microlearning, and academic pathways.

- Ensure programs are relevant, outcomes-driven, and part of cohesive learner pathways across the portfolio.

- Launch new offerings with integrated pricing, marketing, learner experience design, and partner readiness.

4. Digital Platform, Product, and Marketing Excellence

- Oversee digital marketing, performance channels, CRM, automation, and end-to-end funnel optimization.

- Hold product and marketing teams accountable for measurable ROI and a unified learner experience.

- Ensure digital platforms deliver global standards of reliability, usability, engagement, and learning impact.

5. Operational Excellence

- Lead certification, credentialing, delivery operations, scheduling, logistics, QA, and compliance.

- Implement standardized global SLAs, reporting frameworks, and quality systems.

- Drive consistent execution across regions, partners, and delivery models.

6. Leadership, Culture, and Organizational Cohesion

- Build a culture rooted in collaboration, trust, transparency, and shared success.

- Reduce siloed or ego-driven behaviors by strengthening cross-functional alignment and collective ownership.

- Unite strong but independent leaders into a cohesive team with shared goals, aligned priorities, and clear accountability.

- Encourage healthy debate, mutual respect, and enterprise-wide decision-making.

- Create a leadership environment where unity becomes a strategic advantage and teams operate as one global organization.

7. Cross-Business Integration and Governance

- Build alignment between product, finance, partnerships, marketing, operations, and commercial teams.

- Establish a structured operating cadence with the Group CEO-forecasts, dashboards, reviews, and strategic checkpoints.

- Ensure compliance, audit readiness, and accreditation standards across global operations.

- Collaborate with other group companies to unlock synergies and shared opportunities.

Ideal Candidate Profile

Experience

- 20+ years of progressive leadership experience in EdTech, higher education, workforce development, or digital learning businesses.

- Proven P&L ownership or full business-unit leadership at scale.

- Experience across B2C, enterprise, partner-led, and channel-driven models.

- Demonstrated success leading multi-region teams in complex, matrixed environments.

- Strong history of driving cross-functional alignment and organizational transformation.

- Educational background from premier institutions (IIT/IIM) strongly preferred.

Skills & Knowledge

- Deep understanding of digital learning ecosystems and learner lifecycle economics.

- Strong marketing and growth literacy, including digital performance channels and funnel optimization.

- Ability to lead sales and channel strategy with clarity, fairness, and data-driven insight.

- Proven experience influencing product strategy and learner experience design.

- High financial fluency and strong analytical decision-making capability.

Leadership Traits

- Highly collaborative, low ego, and strongly accountable.

- Able to harmonize strong personalities and build shared identity across teams.

- Clear, structured communicator who simplifies complexity and drives alignment.

- Emotionally intelligent, steady, and widely trusted at all levels.

- Strategic thinker who can also engage deeply in operational detail when required.

Location & Travel

The role is based in India with regular domestic and international travel expected to engage with regional teams, partners, academic institutions, and global stakeholders.