Role overview

The Head of Academic Advisory – South Asia is a senior leadership role responsible for leading, shaping, and delivering the academic advisory strategy across the South Asia region. This role ensures high-quality implementation of Cambridge programmes and qualifications, strengthens long-term partnerships with schools, empowers teachers and leaders, improves student outcomes, and drives sustainable growth through retention, expansion, and enhanced adoption of Cambridge offerings across South Asia.

This role will act as the regional academic authority, partnering closely with Sales, Professional Development, Marketing, and Product teams, while leading and developing a high-performing team of Academic Advisors.

Regional Academic Leadership & Strategy

Provide strategic leadership and oversight for Academic Advisory across South Asia.
Define and execute a regional academic advisory strategy aligned to business and educational goals.
Act as the senior academic voice for Cambridge programmes in the region.
Monitor school performance trends and recommend region-wide interventions to improve outcomes, entries, and syllabus adoption.

School Performance & Relationship Management

Oversee the performance of Cambridge schools across South Asia, identifying risks and growth opportunities.
Collaborate with schools to improve academic performance, programme implementation, and subject uptake.
Lead post-exam performance reviews with key school leaders and recommend strategic improvements.
Strengthen long-term partnerships to increase brand loyalty, retention, and advocacy.

New School Growth & Market Expansion

Partner with Business Development Managers (BDMs) and Sales leaders to support new school adoptions.
Provide academic input into School Approval Visits (SAVs) and early-stage school engagement.
Ensure new schools receive strong onboarding, academic orientation, and clarity on Cambridge support offerings.

Academic Advisory Team Leadership & Capability Building

Lead, mentor, and develop the Academic Advisor team across South Asia.
Set clear performance expectations, coaching plans, and capability development pathways.
Support identification and evaluation of teachers for full-time Cambridge trainer roles.
Foster a collaborative, high-performing, and customer-focused team culture.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Thought Leadership

Work closely with Professional Development, Marketing, and Product teams to identify regional needs and opportunities.
Recommend academic-led marketing strategies to increase syllabus and qualification uptake.
Identify and nurture mentor–mentee school networks across the region.
Contribute to regional planning, innovation, and continuous improvement initiatives.

Governance, Reporting & Continuous Improvement

Track and report on academic KPIs, school performance metrics, and advisory impact.
Ensure consistency, quality, and best practices across all academic advisory engagements.

Decisions Made Independently

Regional academic strategies to grow entries and adoption of new syllabi.
Prioritisation of school visits, advisory interventions, and academic focus areas.
Deployment and utilisation of Academic Advisors across territories.

Recommendations Made to Senior Leadership and Stakeholders

Identification of high-potential new school targets.
Academic inputs into regional marketing and growth strategies.
Recommendations for mentor/mentee school networks.
Identification of gaps in professional development offerings and proposed solutions.

Job Dimensions

Indirect Financial Impact: Strong influence on revenue growth through retention, increased entries, and syllabus expansion.

Non-Financial Impact: This role plays a critical role in strengthening academic quality, customer satisfaction, and brand credibility across South Asia. By building deep relationships with schools and ensuring strong programme implementation, the role directly impacts student outcomes, teacher confidence, and long-term market leadership.

Key Job Challenges

Deep understanding of diverse school contexts and effective Cambridge implementation models across South Asia.
Managing extensive regional travel and multi-country stakeholder engagement.
Leading through change in a growing and evolving South Asia market.
Collaborating effectively in a hybrid (physical and remote) working environment across business streams.

Knowledge, Experience and Skills

Master's Degree
Teaching qualification (mandatory)
Expert knowledge of Cambridge programmes and qualifications (Primary, Lower Secondary, IGCSE, AS & A Level)
Strong understanding of Cambridge assessments and exam cycles
Exceptional presentation and facilitation skills for senior academic stakeholders
Strategic thinking, leadership, and influencing skills

Experience

Mandatory: Cambridge teaching experience
Preferred: Cambridge School Leader / Cambridge Coordinator / Exams Officer experience
Minimum 10–12 years' experience in Cambridge International schools or equivalent academic leadership roles
Prior experience leading teams or regional academic functions is highly desirable

Behaviours

Confident and credible academic leader
Strategic, reflective, and customer-focused
Self-starter with strong ownership mindset
Collaborative and inclusive team leader
Excellent written and verbal communicator

Working Pattern

Periods of higher workload during spring, early summer, autumn, and early winter.
Relatively slower periods during school holidays and exam cycles.
Moderate to heavy travel expected across South Asia.
Flexible working, with home-based work when not travelling.

Head - Academic Advisory

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Job Description