Propel Tech and ECC pioneer AI job evaluation for higher education

Used across the higher and further education sector, ECC's platform helps institutions evaluate job roles and determine pay grades through a structured assessment process. These evaluations play a critical role in ensuring consistency, fairness and transparency, with outcomes subject to rigorous scrutiny from stakeholders, including academic unions.

Recognising the potential for artificial intelligence to enhance professional decision-making, ECC wanted to explore how AI could support role analysts without compromising the integrity of the evaluation process. The organisation needed a trusted technology partner to transform an academic research concept into a secure, commercially viable solution suitable for a highly regulated environment.

Working closely with ECC, Propel Tech designed, built and integrated an AI assistant directly into the existing platform. The solution enables role analysts to upload a job description and receive AI-generated recommendations, together with supporting rationale, for each of the 50 structured evaluation questions used throughout the scoring process. Rather than replacing human expertise, the technology is designed to accelerate and enhance decision-making while ensuring analysts retain complete control over the final outcome.

The project began with a rapid proof of concept, with Propel Tech delivering a working AI integration within just a few days. Following successful validation, the solution was expanded into a production-ready capability and integrated seamlessly into ECC's existing workflows, ensuring AI-generated recommendations aligned with the platform's proprietary scoring framework and established evaluation methodology.

Built using AWS Bedrock, the solution underwent extensive testing and model evaluation before Propel Tech selected Anthropic's Claude model for deployment. Significant investment was made in prompt engineering, model assessment and performance testing to achieve the consistency, reliability and accuracy required for such a sensitive application.

Maintaining human oversight was a core principle throughout the project. The AI assistant never creates or submits scores independently; instead, every recommendation is reviewed and approved by qualified role analysts. This approach preserves trust, transparency and accountability while enabling organisations to benefit from advances in AI.

The resulting platform represents a first-to-market capability for the higher and further education job evaluation sector, providing a commercially deployed AI-assisted solution specifically designed to support job evaluation and pay grading processes.

Nicholas Johnston, Chief Executive of ECC, said:

"We have a responsibility to keep innovating for our members and exploring how new technologies can help them work more effectively. The feedback from testing has been extremely encouraging, with more than 70% of participants saying they would like to use the tool as part of the job evaluation process going forward, while users overwhelmingly found it easy to use.
"Working with Propel Tech, we have combined sector expertise with innovative technology to create a solution that supports professional judgement rather than replacing it. The potential to streamline elements of the job evaluation process while maintaining trust is significant, and we believe this will deliver real benefits for our members."

Wil Jones, Technology & Solutions Director at Propel Tech, added:

"This project demonstrates how AI can be introduced responsibly into complex business processes where accuracy, transparency and trust are essential. By combining rapid prototyping, AI expertise and deep integration with ECC's existing platform, we delivered a practical solution that empowers users, improves consistency and provides a strong foundation for future innovation."

This project demonstrates Propel Tech's approach to applied AI: identifying practical opportunities where emerging technologies can solve real business challenges without sacrificing governance, transparency or user confidence. By combining technical expertise with a deep understanding of complex enterprise environments, Propel Tech helps organisations adopt AI responsibly and deliver measurable business value.