Two years. Two posts. £38,000 on target earnings. Take the final Team Leader and Operations Manager cohorts all the way to the finish line, and be paid properly for getting them there.
Role
Leadership and Business Management Skills Coach
Reports to
Delivery Manager
Location
Hybrid, home based, with national travel to learners and employers
Contract
Full time, fixed term for two years. Two posts available
Salary
£30,000 per year, plus a performance bonus of up to £8,000 per year paid quarterly. £38,000 on target earnings
Programmes
Team Leader Level 3 (ST0384) and Operations Manager Level 5 (ST0385)
The opportunity
Mercury Training Services Ltd has been a leader in security and management apprenticeships for over 21 years. Our clients include the Ministry of Defence, some of the largest corporate organisations in the country, museums, universities, the NHS, seaports and airports, logistics hubs and high end retail environments. We built this business out of the spare room of a council house, and we have never forgotten how we did it.
This role exists because of a deadline. Funding for new starts on Team Leader Level 3 and Operations Manager Level 5 closes on 17 March 2027. That means a defined body of work with a clear beginning and a clear end: a full caseload of managers and aspiring managers who have started their apprenticeship, and two years to take every one of them to a completion they can be proud of.
There is no cold building here, no waiting for a caseload to fill, and no ambiguity about what good looks like. You will walk into live learners on day one and your job will be to finish what they started. For a Skills Coach who takes pride in achievement rates, this is about as clean a piece of work as our sector offers.
If you are passionate about passing on your management expertise and shaping the next generation of leaders, this is the opportunity to do it with the time, the caseload and the backing to do it properly.
What you will earn
The package is £30,000 base, plus a performance bonus of up to £8,000 a year, paid quarterly in four instalments of up to £2,000. On target earnings are £38,000.
We have set the bonus out in full below because we think you should be able to work out what you will earn before you apply, not after. The measures are the same ones every Mercury Skills Coach already works to. They are not stretch targets invented to keep the money in the business. Each component is earned in full or not at all, and each quarter stands on its own, so a difficult quarter does not cost you the next one.
Component
Value
What earns it, measured across the quarter
Compliance and timeliness
£800
All new learners inducted and their First Day In Learning delivered within four working weeks of allocation.
Progress reviews with learner and line manager completed every ten weeks, 100% on time.
Assessment feedback within five working days, 95% or better.
Off the job training recorded and monitored monthly for every learner.
Progress and retention
£700
Retention at 90% or better across your caseload.
Learners past planned end date no more than 5% of caseload.
Preventable withdrawals no more than 5% across the year.
Every at risk learner has a documented intervention plan within five working days.
Achievement and quality
£500
Timely completion at 85% or better for learners reaching gateway in the quarter.
Every completer receives a personal congratulations contact and a next steps conversation within five working days of their result.
CPD, mandatory training and standardisation attendance all up to date.
Safeguarding sits outside the bonus and always will. Every concern goes to the Designated Safeguarding Lead within 24 hours, without exception. A failure to report, or any inaccurate record made to hit a measure, voids the quarter in full.
What you will own
● A caseload of Team Leader Level 3 and Operations Manager Level 5 apprentices, from the point they are allocated to you until the day their result comes through.
● The learner journey for every one of them: teaching, coaching, assessment, progress reviews, off the job training, gateway and end point assessment preparation.
● The employer relationship at line manager level, so that every apprentice has a line manager who turns up, contributes and understands what their part of the programme is.
● Your own diary, your own forward plan and your own compliance. You plan your visits, your teaching and your assessments, and you keep the record straight.
● The quality of the management development you deliver: real world leadership and business skills that hold up in the workplace, not just against a set of knowledge, skills and behaviours.
Key responsibilities
1. Deliver one to one and group training and assessment for apprentices on the Team Leader and Operations Manager programmes, both online and on site.
2. Visit apprentices in their workplace to assess progress and provide coaching.
3. Develop and deliver sessions focused on real world leadership, people management and business skills that prepare apprentices for senior roles.
4. Embed English and maths into your teaching, coaching and assessment throughout the programme. The functional skills qualifications themselves are delivered separately by the Functional Skills team.
5. Complete inductions and deliver the First Day In Learning within four working weeks of learner allocation, and submit accurate induction paperwork by the Friday following induction.
6. Plan learner visits, evidence collection, teaching activities and exams at least four weeks ahead, and three months ahead with each learner.
7. Provide assessment feedback within five working days.
8. Conduct detailed progress reviews with the apprentice and their line manager every ten weeks.
9. Monitor and record off the job training monthly, so that every learner meets the requirements by the end of their programme.
10. Identify and remove barriers to achievement, with a documented intervention plan for every at risk learner within five working days.
11. Prepare learners for gateway and end point assessment, and hold a next steps conversation with every completer.
12. Carry out a welfare check at every coaching session and record it on the system.
13. Report every safeguarding concern to the Designated Safeguarding Lead within 24 hours.
14. Promote equality, diversity and inclusion, health and safety, quality assurance, safeguarding and continuous improvement in everything you deliver.
15. Handle break in learning and withdrawal cases fully in line with the Funding Rules, recorded within five working days with signed evidence, correct dates, systems updated and the employer informed.
16. Maintain a full CPD log of at least 30 hours a year, submitted quarterly, complete all mandatory training and attend standardisation sessions.
17. Register learners with awarding organisations in good time, and cooperate fully with audits by Mercury, awarding bodies, funding partners, the DWP and Ofsted.
18. Notify Mercury immediately of any absent learner or emerging issue, and act as the link between the apprentice, the employer and the business.
19. Nominate an apprentice or line manager of the month, every month, with a written statement.
What you will bring
Essential
● A minimum of three years operational experience in a leadership, management or business services role.
● Proven experience of delivering apprenticeship standards, from induction through to end point assessment.
● Level 3 Award in Education and Training (AET), or an equivalent teaching qualification.
● Level 3 Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement (CAVA).
● Level 2 English and maths, or an equivalent such as GCSEs.
● A genuine understanding of what first line and operational managers actually do, and the training needs that come with it.
● Excellent organisational skills, and the discipline to plan your own diary and visits with learners and their line managers.
● Self motivated and self reliant, able to use your own initiative and manage your own schedule.
● The ability to travel across the UK to meet your apprentices on site, and your own transport. Mileage is paid at 55 pence per mile.
● BPSS clearance and an enhanced DBS with barred list check.
Desirable
● Membership of a vocational institution such as CMI, IOSH, the Security Institute, IPSA or IWFM.
● A Level 5 qualification in your vocational sector.
● Experience of delivering the Team Leader or Operations Manager standards, or of coaching managers through an end point assessment.
About the fixed term
We would rather be straight with you than sell you something we cannot promise. This is a two year fixed term appointment because funding for new starts on these two standards closes on 17 March 2027, and the work is to carry the final cohorts through to completion.
Mercury is not going anywhere. We are rebuilding our management portfolio around replacement standards for the same employers and the same learners, and the skills that make someone good at this job are the skills that portfolio will need. We cannot guarantee a permanent role at the end of the two years, and we will not pretend otherwise, but we will have that conversation early and openly rather than leaving you to find out.
Other requirements
● All appointments are subject to our safer recruitment process, including references, right to work checks, BPSS clearance and an enhanced DBS with barred list check.
● You will be expected to keep abreast of company developments and follow the monthly training plan.
This description is not intended to establish a total definition of the job, but an outline of the main duties. You will be expected to carry out other reasonable duties from time to time as the needs of the business require.
Document reference to be allocated. Version 1, August 2026.