Innovation Engineering Manager — Prototyping & AI Labs Lead

Pearson; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Pearson Labs in London is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead a small, globally distributed team of Innovation Engineers, guiding experiments from idea to demo-ready prototypes.

This role emphasizes dynamic roadmaps, evidence-led progress and building a cohesive, high-performing team culture across locations through coaching, clear priorities and collaboration, while partnering with senior stakeholders to tell the story of the work.

Qualifications

• Experience leading software engineers day to day
• Ability to review prototypes and architecture
• Comfort working with ambiguity and learning-focused metrics
• Strong prioritisation across multiple initiatives
• Customer/stakeholder engagement and presenting technical work

Responsibilities

• Lead the day-to-day operation of the Labs engineering team and allocate work across a changing research portfolio.
• Coach and develop engineers through regular feedback and onboarding.
• Create focus across concurrent experiments and bring engineers together on shared initiatives.
• Establish standards for prototyping, documentation, experimentation, and demo readiness.
• Help teams frame hypotheses and define measurable objectives for scale or pivot decisions.
• Maintain a portfolio health view and communicate progress, risks and recommendations.
• Coordinate customer sessions, showcases and executive demonstrations.

Job description

Pearson Labs in London is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead a small, globally distributed team of Innovation Engineers, guiding experiments from idea to demo-ready prototypes.

This role emphasizes dynamic roadmaps, evidence-led progress and building a cohesive, high-performing team culture across locations through coaching, clear priorities and collaboration, while partnering with senior stakeholders to tell the story of the work.