Job detail for Quality and Training Manager

Help shape the quality, consistency and continuous improvement of services that support students across Scotland.

Join the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) Operations Directorate as a Team Manager within the Quality and Performance Team. The team plays a vital role in ensuring high standards are maintained across operations through quality assurance activities, while supporting the development and maintenance of operational guidance and learning resources that enable excellent service delivery.

In this role, you will lead a small team and oversee key quality, assurance and continuous improvement activities, using insight and collaboration to support effective operational delivery and service excellence. Your primary objective will be to ensure that quality standards, guidance, training and processes remain robust, consistent and customer-focused, helping colleagues deliver an empathetic, accurate and efficient service to students and stakeholders across a range of channels.

:

• Manage the performance of 2-3 members of staff, escalating any concerns and adhering to HR policies.
• Manage and process QA workflows, ensuring service level agreements are met and resolving any feedback queries.
• Collate, manage, analyse and present quality data to management, identifying and escalating risks to section managers and suggesting improvements to guidance and training.
• Manage user acceptance testing, creating test scripts, preparing data, and escalating and logging potential defects to test any system changes prior to deployment to the live system.
• Review, create and deliver training materials across all operational schemes.
• Review, draft and publish operational guidance including the operational knowledge base, shell letters and emails.
• Manage escalated cases by reviewing and interrogating student data to establish steps taken and recommend potential solutions, preparing case notes for review by senior management and review panels as necessary.
• Proactively communicate with internal and external stakeholders, effectively communicating operational policy and procedures.

Success profile

Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of behaviours, experience and technical criteria (if applicable) that candidates will be assessed on.

Technical / Professional Skills:

• Adaptability to change – Awareness level

You can find out more about the skills required here:  ODP Competency framework | Pathways

Experience:

• Experience of interpreting and applying student funding legislation, policy and guidance to determine eligibility and make evidence-based funding decisions.

Behaviours:

• Communication and influencing – Level 2
• Making effective decisions - Level 2
• Managing a quality service - Level 2

You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours here Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot

How to apply

Apply online, providing a CV and supporting statement (of no more than 1000 words) providing evidence of how you meet the behaviours, experience and technical skills listed in the Success Profile above. Both the CV and the supporting statement provided will be assessed against the criteria for the role.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.  Please see our  candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.

Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.

If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and presentation.

Assessments are scheduled for w/c 2 November 2026 however this may be subject to change.

Apply before 23:59 on 25 October 2026.  This post is open to internal candidates and Common Citizenship Organisations only (external candidates and staff from UK Other Government Departments are not eligible to apply for this vacancy).

Recruitment Principles:

As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.

About us:

SAAS is an executive agency of the Scottish Government and responsible for assessing and paying student awards for Scottish domiciled students in Higher Education throughout the UK. We administer budgets of around £1.4 billion each year, making payments to both educational institutions and over 190,000 students a year. We are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce that is representative of the clients we serve.

More information on SAAS can be found on our website https://www.saas.gov.uk

The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. We have responsibility for a wide range of key policy areas including: education, health, the economy, justice, housing and transport. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.

Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.

We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.

As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules

Working pattern:

Our standard hours are 35 hours per week.  This role requires in person attendance of 6 days per month minimum with more regular attendance as required to support the leadership and strategic direction of the team. We offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. Flexible working patterns will be considered in line with business needs.

SAAS has separate arrangements from core Scottish Government for Public and Privilege holidays. SAAS office is fully closed between Christmas and New Year.

Security checks:

Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).

You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, and read about the Government Vetting Charter, or about all the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.

Internal candidates may need to gain higher security clearance than they currently hold if successful in their application.

Equality statement:

We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.

Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.

Further information:

Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.

Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.