Education Software Scoping Consultant

Job title:

Education

• Software Scoping Consultant

• About IRIS

• IRIS Software Group is one of the UK's largest privately held software companies, trusted by 100,000+ businesses, schools and accountancy firms to keep their operations running. Our software pays 1 in 6 UK employees, supports over 12,000 schools, and is relied on by 91 of the top 100 UK accountancy firms.

• We're a Great Place to Work certified employer, recognised for our commitment to well-being, inclusion and development - and we're growing fast.

• Enjoy asking the questions that turn a promising idea into a practical plan? Bring that curiosity to a new, standalone role within IRIS Education's Professional Services team.

• You'll help customers and colleagues agree what success looks like before implementation begins, with the opportunity to shape how this new role works.

• Why This Role Matters

• A successful software project starts with shared expectations. You'll connect what customers need with what our delivery teams can achieve, helping prevent misunderstandings, avoidable rework and unexpected changes to scope. Professional Services is the team that plans and delivers customer software implementations. You'll represent that team during the sales process, turning customer requirements into a clear, achievable plan.

• Your key output will be a Statement of Work (SOW): the agreed document setting out what we'll deliver, the responsibilities on each side and what isn't included. Your questions and attention to detail will give customers and project teams a confident starting point.

• About the Team You'll Join

• You'll work across IRIS Education, rather than within a single product team, partnering with Sales, Pre-Sales colleagues who provide solution expertise during the sales process, and the specialists who design and implement customer solutions. This is a standalone role without line-management responsibilities, not a role you have to build alone: you'll have support from Professional Services leadership as you establish a consistent approach to scoping.

• What You'll Be Doing

• Get involved when customers buy new software or expand their use of IRIS Education products.

• Ask the questions that matter: challenge unclear requirements and identify gaps, risks and dependencies with Sales and Pre-Sales.

• Explore customers' objectives, operations, data and constraints through focused discovery conversations.

• Create clear Statements of Work covering deliverables, milestones, assumptions, responsibilities and exclusions.

• Balance ambition with practicality, clarifying effort, sequencing and risk before scope is finalised.

• Give project teams a well-structured handover, so they can start delivery without repeating discovery.

• Develop knowledge across our education software portfolio and help build reusable scoping templates and guidance.

• What We’re Looking For

You enjoy getting beneath the surface of a requirement and making complex information clear. You're comfortable challenging assumptions constructively, building customer trust and influencing colleagues who don't report to you. You'll bring:

• Experience gathering and challenging business requirements, then translating them into clear scope and deliverables.

• Experience writing Statements of Work, proposals, scoping documents or comparable contractual documentation.

• Clear, precise writing and a careful eye for assumptions, dependencies and exclusions.

• Commercial awareness of how scope, effort and risk affect cost, timescales and deliverability.

• Experience within, or alongside, software sales and implementation or consulting delivery teams.

• Confidence working with customers and senior stakeholders, including when expectations need to be reset.

• You don't need existing IRIS product knowledge, but you should be ready to learn a broad software portfolio. Education technology experience is useful, not essential, including school management or student information systems, finance, human resources or payroll software. Experience in pre-sales, bids, software implementation or relevant business analysis and project delivery qualifications would also be welcome.

• Why Join Us?

• Make your mark on a new capability. You'll have autonomy to shape the approach, broad exposure across the business and the chance to see your work improve the journey from sale to implementation. Alongside leadership support, the Solutions Consultant career pathway offers progression through Consultant, Senior, Lead and Principal levels. If you want to combine customer conversations, commercial judgement and precise documentation with the opportunity to improve how things work, this role brings those strengths together.