Marketing & Commercial Edition · private cohorts ST1512 · Level 4 · 12 + 3 EPA 100% Levy Funded No coding Marketing, sales & commercial only
MCMarketing & Commercial EditionAI & Automation Level 4 · ST1512
For marketing, sales and commercial teams. From marketing executive to commercial director, this is the year your team builds the AI it keeps being asked about.

AI for Marketing: the Level 4 AI apprenticeship, rebuilt for the commercial team. Private cohorts now. Open soon.

This is the AI & Automation Practitioner Level 4 apprenticeship (ST1512), The TESS Group's flagship, run as a closed cohort for marketing, sales and commercial professionals. Same twelve modules. Every example, exercise and build is marketing or sales work. It adds Using AI in Marketing, a qualification we designed for this edition, awaiting NCFE accreditation. 100% levy-funded at £18,000. No coding, live online, Ofsted Good. Private cohorts from six learners now; open cohorts coming soon.

Ofsted Good provider Ofsted Good Provider 4.9/5 · 776 reviews 72% distinction, all apprenticeships Microsoft AB-730 included
Start a private cohort → Or book a 30-minute call What you walk away with

Is there an AI apprenticeship for marketing teams in the UK?

Yes. TESS Group delivers the Level 4 AI and Automation Practitioner apprenticeship (ST1512) as a Marketing & Commercial edition for marketing, sales and commercial teams: marketing executives and managers, digital, content, CRM and e-commerce specialists, sales operations, bid teams and commercial leads. It is the same government-approved standard, with every workshop built around marketing and sales work (research, content, campaigns, reporting, pipeline and generative search) and no coding. It runs as private cohorts for six or more learners from one organisation, with open cohorts coming soon.

Standard
ST1512 AI and Automation Practitioner, Level 4 (Marketing & Commercial edition)
Length
12 months of delivery plus a 3-month end-point assessment
Cost
£18,000 funding band; fully levy-funded, or 5% (£900) at most for non-levy employers
Qualifications
Three included alongside the apprenticeship: BCS Foundation Certificate in AI, Microsoft AI Business Professional (AB-730) and NCFE AI Prompt Mastery, plus Using AI in Marketing once NCFE accredits it, and the Coachy AI tutor
Cohorts
Private cohorts for six or more learners from one organisation, on your dates; open cohorts coming soon. Live online
Assessment
NQual as standard, or 1st for Awarding (both on the register for ST1512)
Provider
TESS Group, Ofsted Good, Skills England approved, UKPRN 10031093
6+
Learners for a private cohortYour dates now, open cohorts soon
12+3
Months delivery + EPA3-month EPA window with NQual
12
Modules, marketing examplesST1512 curriculum, unchanged
4
Credentials included3 industry + Using AI in Marketing
New for marketers · Generative searchGet your brand into the answer. ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot now answer the questions your customers used to type into Google. Unit 2 of Using AI in Marketing covers how to make your content easy for them to find, trust and cite.
See what you walk away with →
Two ways in

Private cohorts now. Open cohorts soon.

This edition runs as a private cohort for six or more people from one organisation, so the room is your team and every build is your own work. Open cohorts, for marketers from different organisations, are coming soon: register and you hear the dates first.

6+
learnersOne organisation
Now
available
Private cohort · for your team

Run for your organisation alone, from six learners, on dates that suit your campaign calendar. Your examples, your tools and your sign-off rules, with induction and Module 1 in the same week.

Start a private cohort → Funding confirmed on a 30-minute call
Soon
Open cohortAny employer
First
to hear
Open cohort · coming soon

Fewer than six, or just you? Join an open cohort with marketers from other organisations. Register now and we tell you the dates first. Want to start sooner? The flagship Level 4 runs open cohorts most months.

Register for an open cohort → No commitment until the dates are set
Every place is subject to an eligibility check, including that your role involves improving how work gets done. A private cohort starts once six or more learners from your organisation are confirmed.

Start a private cohort, or register for an open one

Takes a minute. We come back within one working day to book a 30-minute call and confirm funding. Prefer to skip the form? Book the call directly.

We will never share your details. Privacy.

Who it is for

Every channel. Every part of the commercial team.

Marketing executive or commercial director. Content, CRM, digital, e-commerce, sales operations, bids. If your work is winning and keeping customers, this edition is built around it, and no technical background is needed to walk in on day one.

Marketing ExecutiveMarketing ManagerDigital MarketingContent & SocialCRM & EmailMarketing AutomationMarketing OperationsE-commercePerformance & Paid MediaInsight & AnalyticsBrand & CommunicationsProduct MarketingSales OperationsRevOpsBid & ProposalAccount ManagementBusiness DevelopmentHead of MarketingCommercial Director
AI across the marketing and sales cycle

Every stage you already own, with the bit AI takes marked in.

Marketing does not think in modules. It thinks in campaigns and pipeline. So here is the programme laid out the way you actually work, with the module that builds each piece.

Stage 01
Research

Market, competitor and trend research drafted with AI, then checked against a credible source before anyone uses it.

M02 · Award U2
Stage 02
Plan

Personas and segments tested against your own customer data, then turned into objectives you can measure.

M06 · Award U2
Stage 03
Create

A brand-voice agent drafts copy and ad variants from your own guidelines. You edit and sign off.

M04 · M05
Stage 04
Distribute

One message adapted for email, social and web, and structured to be found and cited by AI search.

M03 · Award U2
Stage 05
Measure & sell

Campaign and pipeline reports that build themselves, with AI-generated numbers questioned before anyone acts on them.

M03 · M08
Stage 06
Govern

UK GDPR, PECR, the CAP Code and copyright. What always needs a human, written into a marketing AI guideline you drafted.

M06 · M07 · Award U3
A typical marketing week

Same week. Same team. Different Friday.

Not a promise about your specific week. It is the kind of build the programme takes you through, mapped onto the tasks that fill most marketing calendars.

Before

Manual
  • Monday report stitched together from four dashboardsYou
  • Ad and email variants written one at a timeYou
  • Web-form leads copied into the CRM by handYou
  • One post rewritten and resized for every channelYou
  • Competitor sites and prices checked by handYou
  • Campaign results read line by line, trends missedYou
  • Brief, positioning and final sign-offYou

The strategy work gets whatever time is left after the admin.

After

Month 6 onwards
  • Monday report pulled, summarised and sent automaticallyAutomated
  • Variants drafted in your brand voice, then edited by youAgent + you
  • Leads routed and enriched in the CRM on arrivalAutomated
  • One message adapted for each channel, then checkedAgent + you
  • Competitor changes summarised every weekAgent
  • Results summarised, outliers flagged, you read the exceptionsAgent
  • Brief, positioning and final sign-offAlways you

The last line does not change, and the programme is explicit about why. Anything that makes a claim to customers, spends budget or carries your brand gets a human sign-off.

A few sessions in, Fi has automated her six-monthly HR review process, built an agent that analyses talent contracts, and is saving half a day every week.
Fi Rees-White, Group Head of Integrated Production, Oliver (Brandtech Group). Learner on the AI & Automation Level 4.
What it is

What is the Marketing & Commercial edition of the AI & Automation Level 4?

The standard

ST1512, unchanged

ST1512 is the Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner apprenticeship standard. This edition delivers every knowledge, skill and behaviour in it, assessed by NQual, an Ofqual-recognised assessment organisation. The standard does not bend. The examples do.

The difference

Every build is marketing or sales work

On the flagship a finance learner automates invoices and an HR learner builds a policy agent. Here, the Month 3 automation is your campaign reporting or lead routing, and the Month 4 agent drafts in your brand voice from your own guidelines. The people in the room do your job.

The addition

Using AI in Marketing

A Customised Qualification we designed for this edition, awaiting accreditation by NCFE. Three units, sixty hours, assessed through a workbook built on real marketing tasks. It is an unregulated qualification, and the full detail is in the credentials section below.

The TESS Group is an Ofsted Good UK apprenticeship provider specialising in AI. Coachy is TESS Group's AI tutor, included with every learner and scoped to the ST1512 standard, so a question that does not land in a Tuesday session gets answered on Tuesday night rather than next month.

Your year, in three chapters

Twelve months from now, marketing is the team that built it.

Not a syllabus. Three things you will be able to point at, in order, each one live in your organisation before the next begins.

Chapter 1 · Months 0 to 5By month 4

Your reporting builds itself. Your content agent writes in your voice.

The build months. You leave with two things running in your organisation: an automation that takes a real marketing chore off the team for good, and a content agent that drafts from your own brand guidelines, with sign-off rules your head of brand agreed.

  • M03First live automation. For most marketing learners, campaign reporting or lead routing into the CRM, running on its own.
  • M04Your brand-voice agent. Copy, ad variants and channel versions drafted from your own guidelines, ready for your edit.
  • M05Guardrails and audit trail. It never publishes, spends budget or makes a claim without a person signing off.
M00 Onboarding & diagnosticM01 AI FoundationsM02 Process DiscoveryM03 Workflow AutomationM04 Agentic AIM05 Integration & Assurance
Chapter 2 · Months 6 to 8By month 8

It is defensible. Consent-checked, bias-tested, piloted on real campaigns.

The governance months, and the reason marketing should own this rather than have it done to them. UK GDPR and PECR applied to customer data and AI tools. Claims and imagery checked against the CAP Code and for bias. Then a real pilot on real campaigns, with numbers leadership can see.

  • M06Data law you can sign. Consent, lawful basis, and what may never go into a public AI tool.
  • M07Bias and claims, checked properly. Imagery, language and product claims that stand up for every audience.
  • M08Piloted and proven. Tested against your current process before anyone asks you to scale it.
M06 Data, Decisions & Data LawM07 Designing Responsible AIM08 Pilot, Test & Assure
Chapter 3 · Months 9 to 11By month 11

Marketing owns the adoption plan, the business case, and one capstone build.

The leading months. Team guidelines, sign-off rules, training the wider team: the people side of AI adoption, which marketing is well placed to lead. A costed, risk-assessed business case written from nine months of your own evidence. Then one ambitious marketing or sales build, live, plus a hands-on Copilot, Gemini and Claude day.

  • M09The adoption plan. The module the build-only programmes skip, and the one marketing can lead.
  • M10A business case that survives finance. Costed, risk-assessed, from evidence rather than a vendor deck.
  • M11Capstone, live. Then Gateway and the end-point assessment with NQual.
M09 Leading AI AdoptionM10 AI Strategy, Scaling & ValueM11 Applied AI Mastery

One module a month, protected off-the-job training time. Full module detail is on the flagship AI & Automation Level 4 page. This edition changes the examples, not the standard.

What you walk away with

One apprenticeship, three industry certifications, one marketing qualification. All included. Nothing extra to pay.

Five things on your CV by the end. Here is exactly what each one is, who awards it, and what it tells an employer. Open any card for the detail.

1
Regulated Level 4 apprenticeshipST1512, assessed by NQual, graded Pass or Distinction
3
Industry certifications, embeddedMicrosoft, BCS and NCFE. No extra evening work
Marketing qualification, this edition onlyUsing AI in Marketing, awaiting NCFE accreditation
Regulated · Level 4

AI & Automation Practitioner

Apprenticeship standard ST1512 · EPA by NQual

The apprenticeship itself. A regulated Level 4 standard, independently assessed and graded Pass or Distinction. This is the credential the levy pays for.

What it means ▾
How it is assessed
  • A workplace project on a real marketing or sales problem you solved, as a written report or a presentation with questions
  • A professional discussion with an NQual assessor
  • Graded Pass or Distinction, with results in an average of five working days
What it tells an employer

That you can find, build, govern and roll out AI and automation in a live organisation, to a standard checked independently, by an Ofqual-recognised assessment organisation, rather than by the provider. Across all TESS apprenticeships, learners achieve a 72% distinction rate against a 33% national average.

Included

Microsoft AI Business Professional

Microsoft Certified · exam AB-730

Microsoft's own certification in using generative AI for everyday work: prompting, drafting and analysing. A verified badge on LinkedIn, and relevant because Copilot is the AI tool many organisations already have a licence for.

What it means ▾
What is covered
  • Generative AI fundamentals, including responsible use
  • Managing prompts and conversations with AI
  • Drafting and analysing business content with AI
What it tells an employer

That the Copilot seats they are paying for will actually be used well in marketing, by someone Microsoft has verified.

Included

BCS Foundation Certificate in AI

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

A chartered, lifetime, portable certificate in the fundamentals of AI. The awarding body your IT director will recognise.

What it means ▾
What is covered
  • What AI and machine learning are, and are not
  • Ethics, risk and the human role in AI decisions
  • Sat as a multiple-choice exam, pass rate above 90% at TESS
What it tells an employer

AI literacy at a chartered industry standard. Defensible when a board asks who in marketing actually understands this.

Included

NCFE AI Prompt Mastery

Awarded by NCFE

The skill that turns a generic AI subscription into one that does useful work on your actual campaigns. Portfolio-assessed, not exam-based.

What it means ▾
What is covered
  • Structuring prompts for consistent, reviewable output
  • Context, constraints and tone for your brand and audience
  • Sense-checking and editing AI output before it is used
What it tells an employer

Most of the productivity gain from AI comes from this skill, not from the platform. Evidence that you have it.

Marketing edition only · Customised Qualification

Using AI in Marketing

Developed by The TESS Group · Awaiting NCFE accreditation · Unregulated

The qualification we wrote for this edition. Three units, sixty hours of total qualification time, assessed through a workbook of twenty-six criteria where every task is real marketing work: researching a market with AI and checking what it found, building a persona against your own customer data, adapting one message for two channels, evaluating an AI vendor, drafting your team's AI guideline, justifying a business case. Sits inside the apprenticeship, not on top of it.

The three units ▾
Unit 1 · 18 hours · Understanding AI in Marketing Contexts

Generative AI, predictive AI and automation in marketing terms. Where AI helps, and where creativity, brand judgement or accountability must stay human. Prompting and checking outputs.

Unit 2 · 24 hours · Applying AI Across the Marketing Function

Research, personas and objectives. Content for named channels, edited to brand standards. Optimising content for AI-powered search. Reading AI-generated performance data and building the business case.

Unit 3 · 18 hours · Ethics, Governance and Responsible AI in Marketing

UK GDPR, disclosure and copyright. Evaluating AI tools and vendors before adoption. When a human signs off. Bias, misinformation and reputational risk. A responsible-AI guideline for your team.

Assessment

Workbook-based. Each of the 26 criteria is marked Met or Not Yet Met by a TESS assessor, with written feedback and resubmission if needed. All criteria must be Met for the qualification to be awarded.

What Using AI in Marketing is, and is not. It is a Customised Qualification developed by The TESS Group to meet the specific needs of marketing and commercial learners, and is awaiting accreditation by NCFE. NCFE is an awarding organisation recognised by the qualification regulators for England (Ofqual), Wales (Qualifications Wales) and Northern Ireland (CCEA Regulation). This is an unregulated qualification and is not a nationally recognised qualification. We have benchmarked its learning outcomes and assessment criteria at Level 3 using national framework level descriptors, to demonstrate the difficulty and depth of study. Once accredited, learners receive a certificate of achievement issued directly by NCFE on completion, at no additional cost. It does not confer post-nominals or a licence to practise, and it is separate from the regulated Level 4 apprenticeship above.

Optional after the apprenticeship, with support: NCFE Data and NCFE Cyber Security Practices.

For marketing and sales teams

The AI layer that sits alongside your marketing expertise.

Your CIM, your DMI or years on the job taught you marketing. This gives you the ability to automate, govern and lead AI inside it.

  • Generative search, taught by people who measure it. We track which AI assistants crawl our own site and send us visitors every week, and teach from what we see.
  • Built on tools you already pay for. Copilot, Gemini and Claude, plus no-code automation in Power Automate, Zapier or Make.
  • Twelve months of loggable CPD. Structured, assessed, and evidenced in a portfolio.
Already CIM-qualified Add the AI capability your CIM did not cover. Reserve a cohort → Building a junior team Pair it with our Multi-channel Marketer or Content Creator Level 3. Two funded routes, one marketing team. See Multi-channel Marketer → Sales, bid or account team Same edition, with lead routing, proposal drafting and pipeline reporting as your builds. AI for sales teams →

This edition and the Using AI in Marketing qualification are The TESS Group’s own programmes, not CIM qualifications.

Funding

Is the Marketing & Commercial edition levy-funded?

Yes, because it is ST1512. Levy-paying employers fund it entirely from their Apprenticeship Levy at the £18,000 funding band, with no course fee. Non-levy employers pay 5% (£900) for apprentices aged 25 and over, and nothing for apprentices aged 16 to 24. The marketing-specific delivery and the Using AI in Marketing qualification are included, not charged. Not sure what your levy pot looks like? The levy calculator takes two minutes.

Honest line: we are not the cheapest provider in the market. We are the one whose learners get distinctions.

Proof
Ofsted Good provider
72%
Distinction at EPA. UK average around 33%.
98%
EPA pass rate across TESS apprenticeships.
4.9
from 776 verified reviews, Trustpilot and Google.
Good
Ofsted grade. Skills England approved.
Who teaches you

Taught by the people who wrote it and the people who have run digital change for real.

Anthony Baafi
AI Trainer · AI Transformation Leader

Former Capability Manager and Apprentice Lead at Southwark Council, running workforce development for one of the UK's largest housing portfolios, and £200K of operational savings at LB Newham. A decade of digital change across local government, housing, fintech and education. Builds a working AI agent live, on your own context, in the room.

What marketing teams get from him. He starts from your process and your numbers, not the tool, and builds the first version with you in the room.
MBAChPPPMPCISMCRISCL5 DET
Brian Harkins
AI Trainer & Coach · ST1512 Curriculum Author

Brian wrote the Level 4 curriculum you will be studying and still teaches it. The build months are his home ground: process discovery, then real automations and agents in Copilot Studio and Power Automate. A commercial software developer before he taught, so he can explain what sits under the no-code surface. Coaches learners through Gateway and the NQual assessment.

Twice Teacher of the Year and an Apple Distinguished Educator, with over twenty years in technical education.
B.ED HONSCOPILOT STUDIOPOWER AUTOMATEEPA PREP
William McKee
Lead Trainer · Organisational Psychologist

Lead trainer on the Level 4 and all three Level 5 AI Leadership Units. An executive educator and organisational psychologist with fifteen years in front of senior rooms, currently teaching at MIT, Johns Hopkins, Rutgers and LSE. The psychology is the point: sessions are built so people actually adopt the tools, not just understand them.

A delegate on a previous cohort: “Brings understanding of models to life, funny, empathetic and endlessly knowledgeable.”
MSC PSYCHICF ACCIODMITLSE

Separately, every apprentice gets a named skills coach for monthly one-to-ones, progress reviews and portfolio support, assigned at onboarding.

Your skills coach

Monthly one-to-ones with someone who knows what 9pm after work feels like.

Every learner gets a named skills coach for the whole programme: monthly sessions, progress reviews, portfolio checks and mock professional discussions ahead of the NQual assessment. Two of the team who coach this edition:

Nika Underwood
AI Skills Coach · AI Researcher · Responsible AI Advocate

First-Class graduate in AI & Robotics who builds and evaluates AI systems as a researcher, with five years and more than 2,000 hours of one-to-one teaching behind her. An ITU / United Nations AI for Good Young AI Leader and a BCS Young Professionals representative. Coaches learners to spot the real task, choose the right tool, build it responsibly and evidence it well.

BSC AI FIRSTL5 TEACHINGBCS ETHICAL AIUN AI FOR GOOD
Aidan Aedy
AI & Automation Skills Coach · Microsoft Certified Trainer

Nine years as an automation engineer before AI was a job title, then technical training. A Microsoft Certified Trainer across Copilot, Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365, so your people automate inside the licences you already own. Specialises in the governance side: data protection, human-in-the-loop checks, auditability. Has completed two apprenticeships himself.

His instinct: describe a 20-minute manual task done fifty times a week and he sees the trigger, the branches and the sign-off, then coaches you to build it.
MCTAZ-900MB-910L3 AETPOWER AUTOMATE

Brian Harkins and Anthony Baafi coach on the Level 4 as well as teach it. Your coach is confirmed at onboarding, and you will get their profile before your first session.

For line managers

Every session in the diary from day one. And a Coachy of their own.

Apprenticeships work when the line manager is on side, so we make that easy: no chasing dates, and an AI tutor that helps managers back the coaching at work.

Diary

In the diary from day one

The moment a learner says yes, every session is scheduled and sent to their calendar. Managers can plan cover for the whole programme, not week by week.

Coachy Manager Mode

A Coachy of their own

Each apprentice’s line manager gets their own sign-in to Coachy, our AI tutor. It explains the standard in plain English, shows which everyday work counts as evidence, and helps them back up the skills coach between sessions.

Privacy

Private by design

Managers never see their apprentice’s conversations with Coachy. The learner keeps a safe place to ask questions, and the manager gets what they need to support them.

Included with every TESS AI apprenticeship, for one nominated manager per apprentice. How Manager Mode works →

Choosing the right thing

Apprenticeship, one-day workshop, or a Leadership Unit? It depends what you want to leave with.

Comparison of the Marketing & Commercial edition apprenticeship, the one-day AI for Marketing workshop, and a Leadership Unit
 Marketing & Commercial Edition, Level 4AI for Marketing, one-day workshopL5 AI Leadership Unit
You leave withLive automations and a brand-voice content agent running in your organisation. A regulated Level 4 apprenticeship. Three embedded certifications. Using AI in Marketing, once accredited.Awareness of what is possible, some practice, a personal prompt library.A 30-hour leadership-level view of AI strategy, governance or delivery.
TimeTwelve months, one module a month, protected off-the-job training time, plus a three-month EPA windowOne day30 hours, typically over four to six weeks
FundingApprenticeship Levy, £18,000 band. Non-levy employers pay 5% at most.Paid, not levy-eligible: £395 to £495 a delegateGrowth & Skills Levy, £750
Best forMarketing, sales and commercial people who want capability, not a briefingTeams who need orientation fastMarketing and commercial directors setting direction rather than building
WhereStart a private cohort aboveAI for Marketing workshopAI Leadership Units
“Marketing teams were early to AI, mostly one prompt at a time. This edition turns that into systems: reporting that builds itself, content that stays on brand, and a team that can show the numbers. The first six months are practical on purpose.”
Rod Doyle, Co-founder & Director, The TESS Group
Common questions

Things marketers ask us before they book.

What is the Marketing & Commercial edition of the AI & Automation Level 4 apprenticeship?
It is the same Level 4 AI & Automation Practitioner apprenticeship (ST1512) that The TESS Group delivers as its flagship, run as a closed cohort for marketing, sales and commercial professionals. The twelve modules are unchanged. What changes is every example, exercise and build, which use marketing and sales work rather than generic business tasks. It also adds Using AI in Marketing, a Customised Qualification awaiting NCFE accreditation. It runs as private cohorts for six or more learners from one organisation, with open cohorts coming soon.
Can we run a private cohort for our marketing team?
Yes. Private cohorts run for six or more learners from one organisation, on dates that suit you, with every build on your own campaigns, content and data. Fewer than six, or just one person? Register for an open cohort, which takes people from different organisations. Open cohorts are coming soon, and the flagship AI & Automation Level 4 runs open cohorts most months if you want to start sooner.
Is the Marketing & Commercial edition levy-funded?
Yes. It is the ST1512 apprenticeship, so it draws on the Apprenticeship Levy at the £18,000 funding band for levy-paying employers, with no course fee. Non-levy employers pay 5% (£900) for apprentices aged 25 and over, and nothing for apprentices aged 16 to 24. The marketing-specific content and the Using AI in Marketing qualification are included at no additional cost.
Do marketers need to code for this apprenticeship?
No. ST1512 is delivered without code throughout. Learners build automations and agents on no-code platforms such as Copilot Studio, Power Automate, Zapier and Make. Most learners on the flagship programme come from non-technical roles, and this edition is built for marketing, sales and commercial backgrounds specifically.
Is Using AI in Marketing a regulated qualification?
No. Using AI in Marketing is a Customised Qualification developed by The TESS Group and awaiting accreditation by NCFE. It is an unregulated qualification and is not a nationally recognised qualification. Its learning outcomes have been benchmarked at Level 3 using national framework level descriptors to show depth of study. Once accredited, learners receive a certificate of achievement issued directly by NCFE. The apprenticeship itself, ST1512, is a regulated Level 4 standard.
How long does the Marketing & Commercial edition take?
Twelve months of delivery covering the twelve modules, followed by a three-month end-point assessment window with NQual, an Ofqual-recognised assessment organisation. Around fifteen months in total. One module a month, with protected off-the-job training time, as on the flagship programme.
Who is the Marketing & Commercial edition for?
Marketing executives and managers, digital, content, CRM and email, marketing automation and operations, e-commerce, insight and analytics, sales operations and RevOps, bid and proposal teams, account managers, and marketing or commercial leads who want hands-on capability rather than a briefing. Your role needs to include improving how work gets done, and we check that with you before a place is held. No technical background is needed.
Can sales, bid and account teams join?
Yes. They join the same cohorts and build on their own work: lead routing, proposal drafting, pipeline reporting and account research. The apprenticeship standard is the same for every role in the room.
Does it cover generative engine optimisation (GEO)?
Yes. Generative engine optimisation means making your content easy for AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot to find, understand and cite. It is part of Unit 2 of Using AI in Marketing, applied to your own content.
How is the apprenticeship assessed?
By NQual, an Ofqual-recognised assessment organisation, through a workplace project (written report, or presentation with questions) and a professional discussion, graded Pass or Distinction. Results come back in an average of five working days. Across all TESS apprenticeships, learners achieve a 72% distinction rate against a UK national average of around 33%, and a 98% EPA pass rate. The Using AI in Marketing qualification is assessed separately through a workbook of 26 criteria marked Met or Not Yet Met.
What is the difference between this and the one-day AI for Marketing workshop?
The one-day workshop is a briefing: you leave knowing what is possible, with a personal prompt library. The apprenticeship is a build programme: you leave with live automations and a brand-voice content agent running in your organisation, a regulated Level 4 apprenticeship, three embedded industry certifications, and the Using AI in Marketing qualification once NCFE accredits it, all levy-funded. Choose the workshop for awareness and the apprenticeship for capability.

Related: all AI apprenticeships · the flagship AI & Automation Level 4 · AI apprenticeships for marketing teams · AI apprenticeships for sales teams · the HR & L&D edition · Growth & Skills Levy explained · Why TESS

Updated October 2026

Private cohorts now. Thirty minutes to find out if it fits.

Six or more people? We plan a private cohort around your campaign calendar. Fewer? Register for an open cohort. Either way, we come back within a working day and confirm funding on a 30-minute call.

Start a private cohort →

Want to see the teaching first? Join a free Level 4 taster day.

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