Apprenticeship Portfolio Recovery Leader — Advanced Manufacturing

The mandate

An external quality review found apprentices progressing through identical standards with sharply different workshop exposure, supervisor observation and readiness for complex equipment. Recruitment doubled before protected practice bays and qualified mentors were available, providers interpreted off-the-job learning inconsistently, and production pressure repeatedly displaced planned rotations. The early-careers director left after the board paused the next intake.

The interim joins within two weeks for eleven months, covering cohort triage, four factory pathways, two provider resets, the delayed intake decision and selection of a permanent portfolio owner. Any equipment change, failed progress review, mentor shortage, provider variance, safety restriction or production disruption must enter a governed apprentice-impact process. The final seven weeks belong solely to successor induction and independent operation.

Handover requires cohort-level recovery plans, protected rotation capacity, mentor qualification, evidence-linked progress gates, workshop and line interfaces, provider scorecards, learner-support routes and a credible capacity model for the next intake. The permanent leader must chair four unseen readiness cases and demonstrate that no apprentice advances, stalls or exits because evidence is missing, convenient or owned only by a provider.

The interim may pause progression where practical evidence is unsafe, redeploy approved mentor capacity, reject unsupported provider claims, redirect £26 million of authorised apprenticeship investment and recommend intake size to the operating committee. Factory heads retain production decisions; authorised assessors make formal assessment judgements; Safety owns work restrictions. Provider termination, permanent hiring and capital beyond delegation need executive approval.

Collective bargaining, individual disciplinary matters, qualification-standard authorship, production scheduling, school outreach, general graduate recruitment and permanent workshop construction are outside scope. The leader may protect planned learning time and escalate repeated cancellation but cannot certify an apprentice, guarantee completion, change nationally governed standards or use a recovery pathway to disguise unsuitable operational staffing.

Why this seat is open

The portfolio head departed after independent review showed that recorded progress bore little relationship to actual technical exposure across four plants. Temporary authority must repair current cohorts and produce an evidence-based intake decision before annual recruitment reopens, while the permanent search targets sustained factory and provider governance.

What you will own

• Reconstruct each cohort’s occupational exposure, supervised practice, review evidence, delay reason and credible completion path.
• Protect scarce workshop, equipment, mentor and rotation capacity according to learning consequence and cohort need.
• Reset provider expectations for curriculum sequencing, evidence quality, learner support, escalation and factory integration.
• Establish progression gates that combine authentic task observation, underpinning knowledge and independent assessor judgement.
• Distinguish production deployment from planned learning while making unavoidable disruption visible to operating leaders.
• Command four readiness trials involving missed rotations, mentor conflict, accessibility adjustment and disputed provider evidence.
• Transfer portfolio authority after the successor independently resolves the intake decision and four unfamiliar learner cases.

Candidate qualifications

• Led complex apprenticeship or technical academy portfolios within advanced manufacturing, engineering or infrastructure operations.
• Recovered cohorts where provider completion evidence concealed inadequate workshop, equipment or task exposure.
• Built qualified mentor capacity, protected rotations and progression governance around real occupational competence requirements.
• Balanced production constraints, learner support, safety restrictions and independent assessment without weakening standards.
• Managed external provider performance and public funding evidence while preserving formal assessor and employer accountabilities.
• Handed a repaired portfolio to permanent leadership through live intake, progression and end-point readiness decisions.

Non-negotiables

• Available within two weeks for Manchester leadership, eight plant residencies and four controlled readiness trials.
• Direct technical-apprenticeship portfolio recovery is required; early-careers recruitment or classroom delivery alone is insufficient.
• Will disclose apprenticeship providers, awarding bodies, training platforms, manufacturers and public-funding relationships.
• Will not certify apprentices, rewrite national standards, negotiate collective terms, discipline learners or promise completions.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a cohort whose recorded progress concealed missing occupational exposure.
2. 49 words maximum. How did you protect rotations when production repeatedly reclaimed apprentice time?
3. 49 words maximum. What is your earliest start date, and which intake decision did you personally recover?