Head of Assessment

Who we are

Alef Education began with a bold idea: that every learner deserves a personalised and meaningful education experience. What started in 2016 as a small pilot programme in Abu Dhabi has evolved into one of the world's most dynamic EdTech companies—reshaping how millions of students engage with learning across the globe.

Today, Alef is proudly headquartered in the UAE, working hand-in-hand with ministries of education, schools, and teachers to bring smart, data-powered platforms into classrooms in over 14,000 schools.

Supporting over 1.1 million students and 50,000 teachers across the UAE, Indonesia & Morocco our AI-driven platforms generate 16+ million data points every day, helping drive smarter learning decisions. Whether it's improving national exam results, boosting classroom engagement, or supporting educators with world-class tools, Alef is committed to impact at scale.

In 2024, Alef made history as the first EdTech company to list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), cementing our role as a regional innovator with global reach.

About The Role

The Head of Assessment at Alef Education will be responsible for leading the design, development, and implementation of assessment tools and systems within our educational technology platform. They will be crucial in ensuring that our assessments provide meaningful, accurate, and timely data to educators, students, and parents to improve teaching and learning processes. They will collaborate closely with our Product, Content, Research, and Data Science teams to create innovative, engaging, and effective assessment solutions that align with both educational best practices and Alef Education's vision.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the design and development of high-quality formative and summative assessments.
• Lead design and administration of a comprehensive, continual, and multi-dimensional assessment program of student learning outcomes and evaluation of our academic programs.
• Collaborate with education and data teams to integrate and align assessment and evaluation efforts consistently across the organization.
• Advise teams and projects on the selection of assessment/item types (CAT, CBT, Performance Tasks), item formats, and test designs used for diagnostic, progress monitoring, and evaluation.
• In coordination with education content leaders, develop and support the implementation of assessment programs for all general K-12 education content programs.
• Build relationships within the global education community to capitalize on and pioneer our capabilities to continuously develop and improve predictive assessment of student learning outcomes.
• Lead the reporting of assessment activities and the evaluation of program learning through assessment.
• Analyze and communicate the results of ongoing assessments conducted throughout school programs.
• Lead assessment reporting strategies and cycles to help identify key learner needs, problems, and opportunities.
• Articulate and promote Alef Education K-12 assessment models, frameworks and approaches that enable predictive assessment results in digital-based learning platforms.
• Work closely with the Data Science team to link assessment to adaptive testing, item-response-theory, and the psychometric foundations of the Alef recommendations engine/knowledge graph / intelligent tutoring.
• Advise Education, Product, and Data Science on the definition of metadata describing areas of educational measurement.
• Advise on the development of models of learning, and the measures that have predictive value.
• Work closely with various universities and education-based institutes regarding digital assessment research and initiatives to identify and conceptualize new processes that may be used by internal teams.
• Lead training and coaching of new assessment strategies to enable implementation of techniques throughout lesson content.
• Work both within and across teams to establish assessment development and testing processes, with cycles of item pool revision and maintenance.
• Champion learning and experimentation across the organization, maintaining a focus on reliable assessment results.
• Facilitate, challenge, and evolve digital assessment methodology and models, features, and specifications to enable high-quality assessment for our clients and their students.

To Be The Right Fit, You'll Need

• Master's degree or higher in Education, Educational Measurement, Psychometrics, or a related field; PhD in a relevant field a strong advantage.
• A minimum of 7-10 years of professional experience in the field of educational assessment, of which at least 3 years should be in a leadership role. This should include managing a team of assessment designers and psychometricians in a digital assessment production environment, focusing on educational testing or student evaluation, and application of psychometric practices.
• A minimum of 3 years in a leadership role overseeing assessment, measurement, and evaluation within the K12 sector. Experience should include the design, implementation, and analysis of assessment programs.
• Demonstrates knowledge and application of assessment design theories and best practices for K-12.
• Competence in applied psychometric techniques-including classical test theory, item response theory, test equating, and linking.
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate panels, standard setting meetings, and training of item developers.
• Demonstrated fluency in design practice, ranging from computer adaptive testing (CAT), Performance-based tests and CBT, to Bayesian inference networks and multidimensional IRT.
• Expertise in data analysis supporting assessment (e.g., data forensics) is advantageous.
• Competence in statistical and visualization tools such as R, Stata, SPSS, Python, and Tableau.
• Proactive self-learner, who stays up-to-date with both local and international trends in assessment, and is willing to read international assessment documentation (PISA, TIMSS, PIRLS).
• Member affiliation with professional associations for assessment, evaluation, and testing is beneficial.
• Deep understanding of K-12 curriculum, standards, and assessment practices.
• Proven experience with edtech platforms, digital assessment tools, and data systems.
• Strong analytical skills, with the ability to interpret complex data and translate it into actionable strategies.
• Fluency in English; Arabic preferred.

What we offer

We believe our people are our greatest advantage. We value curiosity, purpose, and the drive to make a real difference. When you join Alef, you join a mission — and a team that's just as passionate about transforming education as you are.

Here's a glimpse of what we offer:

Annual flight allowance

Annual performance bonus

Education allowance

Life insurance

Enhanced leave policy

A hybrid work model and up to 40 remote working days per year to work from anywhere (with flexibility built in)

At Alef, we don't just imagine a better future for education.

We build it — together.