Manager / Senior Manager- Open Access Books

Springer Nature is one of the world’s leading global research, educational and professional publishers. It is home to an array of respected and trusted brands and imprints, with more than 170 years of combined history behind them, providing quality content through a range of innovative products and services. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals and resources reach millions of people, helping researchers and scientists to discover, students to learn and professionals to achieve their goals and ambitions. The company has almost 13,000 staff in over 50 countries.

The Open Research Group (ORG) is part of Springer Nature, the world’s largest academic book publisher, publisher of the world’s highest impact journals and a pioneer in the field of open research. We are in a unique position to think differently about what publishing should mean today. By using our combined expertise, scale and the reach of our brands, we aim to grow and innovate in order to better serve academic researchers, institutions and the wider public by helping them to access, share, use and apply the very best research and information available.

The Business Operations & Policy team is a horizontal function supporting the wider Open Research Group publishing units.  It is responsible for driving business strategy through business model development, pricing, policy and commercial oversight, as well as supporting new product growth, systems migrations and optimising workflows.

We are now looking for a Manager / Senior Manager for Open Access Books.  This exciting role will be responsible for managing and providing strategic input into the Springer and Palgrave Macmillan open access book programmes.  The successful candidate will work with all teams involved in the commissioning, publication, and promotion of open access books to expand the publishing programme.  The role is also responsible for supporting the development of policy and business models for open access books.

The deadline for receipt of applications is Friday 14th October 2016

To apply please upload your CV along with a cover letter that outlines your suitability.

Please see below for a more detailed breakdown of responsibilities:

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development of pricing structures and business models for open access books
• Contribute to the development of open access books policy
• Support the development and implementation of open access book options for additional book types
• Engage and support the book editorial and publishing teams in developing commissioning opportunities for open access books
• Work with books and open access marketing teams to support the promotion and visibility of open access books
• Identify areas where open access books workflows and processes could be improved and/or automated and work with relevant teams to implement changes
• Represent the Open Research Group in workflow projects and product groups that involve open access books
• Line management of an Open Access Books Co-ordinator

Experience, skills and qualifications

• Essential
• Demonstrable experience in books commissioning, budgeting, and financial planning, or in a strongly related role
• Strong relationship-building skills, to develop productive relationships with people at all levels across the company
• Experience of working with a range of stakeholders, including editors and external partners
• Excellent organisation skills to manage multiple concurrent projects and competing priorities
• Presentation skills, importantly in project outputs and information in writing but also verbally
• Commercial acumen

Desirable

• Knowledge and understanding of open access business models and the open access landscape for books