About Oak National Academy
What is Oak National Academy?
Oak National Academy is a UK education charity funded by the Department for Education to give every state-school pupil access to high-quality curriculum resources. The mission is direct: "We're Oak, helping schools deliver a world-class curriculum for every pupil. Our free, adaptable curriculum plans and resources evolve with education to give teachers and schools the latest tools to deliver inspiring lessons, save time and improve pupil outcomes."
Oak began in 2020 as a rapid pandemic response — "In 2020, teachers needed a quick way to keep pupils learning during lockdown. So we brought together a group of expert partners to support schools with thousands of lessons designed for remote learning." During the pandemic, pupils completed 150 million Oak lessons. Today, "tens of thousands of teachers continue to use our resources to support their teaching" across every national curriculum subject, every unit, every lesson from key stage 1 through key stage 4.
Oak is now transforming lesson prep with AI — "AI tools that help teachers create, adapt, and enhance their lessons in minutes, while keeping quality high and content safe" — and is updating its plans for the revised national curriculum and updated GCSEs.
Where will I work?
Oak is fully remote across the UK with optional flexi-desk arrangements: "some people love working from home (which is great because we are fully remote!) but others like to be around people and some just want to have choices. We are keen to support in all circumstances and we have a small office space in central London, and offer flexi-desk arrangements around the country if that is something you want." The team also has termly all-Oak in-person meetings.
The registered office is 1 Scott Place, 2 Hardman Street, Manchester, M3 3AA (Oak National Academy Limited, Company No. 14174888).
What is the Oak team like?
Oak is a 51–200 person team that "works towards a culture of freedom, responsibility and continuous improvement. To achieve this, we are building a lean but expert team who want to make a difference in education. Our employees are talented, caring, candid and believe in working together to find better solutions." Oak has been recognised as a Top 100 employer in The Escape 100.
The approach is evidence-led: "We believe in trying new approaches and not being restricted by how things have been done in the past. That said, we look for evidence and data to underpin our approaches and our experiments. We use this approach in all that we do from product development through to organisation rhythm and the employee package." Hiring is via BeApplied, a blind-recruitment platform.
Work-Life Balance
Full-time at Oak is 36 hours, compressed to 4.5 days — "we have half day Fridays or one Friday off every fortnight." Holiday entitlement is 25 days + 1 additional day per year up to a maximum of 28 days, plus the days between Christmas and New Year. Pension is generous: 11% employer contribution to Nest with no minimum employee contribution required. Although the work aligns with school terms, employment contracts are year-round.
Perks and Benefits
- 36-hour 4.5-day week — half-day Fridays or one Friday off every fortnight
- 25 + 1 day per year up to 28 days holiday + Christmas closure days + bank holidays
- 11% employer pension contribution to Nest (no minimum employee contribution)
- Fully remote across the UK with optional central London office + flexi-desk around the country
- Termly all-Oak in-person meetings
- Year-round employment contracts despite work aligning with school terms
- Life Insurance + Employee Assistance Programme
- Enhanced maternity and paternity + paid emergency leave + extra holiday options
- Professional development + mentoring/coaching budget
- Equipment allowance
- Salary disclosed in JDs (e.g. Partnerships Lead UK £64,946)
- Hiring via BeApplied — blind-recruitment platform that anonymises CVs