Assistant Product Manager

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC is an entrepreneurial, independent, worldwide publisher listed on the London Stock Exchange with offices in London, Oxford, New York, Sydney and New Delhi. Over its 33 year history, Bloomsbury’s mission has been to publish works of excellence and originality. 

Purpose of the Role: Manage products from Bloomsbury’s Academic digital portfolio including a range of specialist Humanities and Social Science resources covering subjects as diverse as theology, education studies, and popular music ensuring that they continue to meet market needs, through delivering timely product launches, content updates, and functional enhancements. 

Product Management

• Manage products after launch to ensure that content updates and enhancements are performed to an agreed schedule and within the agreed budget
• Liaise with external software developers on day-to-day site management and bug-fixing
• Liaise with sales, marketing and customer services to communicate addition of new content and product enhancements 
• Monitor sites for bugs and improvements, respond to customer and sales requests for product enhancements, and prioritise requirements based on business priority
• Act as ‘product champion’, using product expertise to respond to queries from sales, marketing and customers, troubleshooting and escalating issues as required, and contributing to strategic development of those products
• Provide regular website usage analytics reports and advise on opportunities for improving content & features based on analytics

Content Management

• Manage the content requirements for new products, liaising with Content Architecture and Production teams on data planning, content conversion and content loading
• Responsible for subject indexing of content (either directly, or overseeing work of freelance indexers), working with Editorial on the development of taxonomies
• Liaise with partner organizations over content supply and data requirements
• Manage the supply of product metadata to third parties such as MARC record suppliers and discovery services

Product Development

• Work with Editorial Project Leads to develop new digital product ideas from initial concept to proposal stage, by researching content and feature requirements, carrying out competitive analysis and library market research, and contributing to Business Case documents 
• Act as Product Management Lead during the Design & Development Phase of new products, working with Editorial Project Leads to define product requirements, scope and Minimum Viable Product
• Carry out market research with librarians, end-user interviews and User Experience research to ensure that product requirements meet user needs (both before and after launch)
• Use the Bloomsbury Publishing Platform admin interface to build and configure new sites, working with Marketing and Editorial to agree site layout and visual design elements
• Perform User Acceptance Testing during product development, reporting and ticketing bugs to ensure that the sites meet the agreed requirements

Staff Development

• Assist with recruitment and training of new team members as appropriate, with the potential for taking on line management responsibility

Representation 

• Provide training and guidance for Editorial teams on technical requirements
• Promote the Product Management team within the wider company, and demonstrate an aptitude for more managerial tasks
• Represent the company externally, e.g. at meetings with partners, conferences, and presentations to customers
• Channel feedback from the market by meeting end-users through user testing sessions, focus groups, conferences or sales visits

Key Skills and Experience:

• 2 years’ experience of digital product development 
• Understanding of project management & development processes 
• Experience of gathering & interpreting web usage analytics
• Excellent implementation and time-management skills
• An excellent eye for detail and a logical, problem-solving approach 
• Experience in editing XML and working with content management systems
• A firm grasp of web usability issues
• A proactive, “can-do” attitude and willingness to learn
• Passion for, and interest in developing a career in, digital product management
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)

The role is full time and permanent and based at Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP. Bloomsbury Publishing offers a competitive salary and generous staff discounts.

To apply, please email your CV, a covering letter outlining how you meet the requirements outlined in the ‘skills, knowledge and experience’ above, your salary expectations and notice period to workwithus@bloomsbury.com. Please note in the subject line:  Assistant Product Manager.

The closing date for this role is Monday, 23rd September 2019