Product Specialist, Bloomsbury Digital Resources

The Opportunity

Bloomsbury Digital Resources is a brand new division which is developing a rapidly-expanding suite of innovative and academic digital library products. The Product Management team is responsible for developing new products and managing live sites, working closely with colleagues in Editorial and Digital Technology, ensuring that the products continue to meet market needs, through delivering timely product launches, content updates, and functional enhancements. Specific responsibilities will include our eBook platform Bloomsbury Collections, the new specialist subscription resource Bloomsbury Popular Music and other projects still in development.  

The Role
Product Management

• Manage products after launch, supporting the Director of Product Management 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 indexing content (either directly, or overseeing work of freelance indexers), and for creation and maintenance of taxonomies
• Liaise with partner organisations over content updates and data issues
• Manage the supply of product metadata to third parties such as MARC record suppliers and discovery services

Product Development

• Support new product development during the proposal stage, through content analysis, competitive analysis or market research
• Work with Editorial Project Leads to define product requirements during the Design & Development Phase of new products
• 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

Skills, knowledge, experience

• Experience of gathering and interpreting web usage analytics
• Excellent implementation and time-management skills
• An excellent eye for detail and a logical, problem-solving approach
• Experience in working with XML and Content Management Systems
• A firm grasp of web usability issues
• Understanding of the needs of the academic library market
• A proactive, “can-do” attitude
• Curiosity and willingness to learn
• A keen interest in developing a career in digital product management
• Excellent communication skills (written and verbal)

The role is a full-time permanent position, based at Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP.

As well as a fantastic opportunity to join a global award-winning organisation, Bloomsbury offers competitive benefits.

To apply, please email your CV, a covering letter outlining how you meet the requirements for this role, and salary expectations to workwithus@bloomsbury.com. Please note in the subject line: ‘Product Specialist BS2409’.

The closing date for applications is 24th September 2017