Senior Product Assistant, Product Innovation, BDR

We would like to recruit an enthusiastic person to join our Product Innovation team as a Senior Product Assistant, reporting to the Digital Product Manager for Performing Arts and Video. Our team is part of Bloomsbury Digital Resources, which sits within the wider Bloomsbury Academic and Professional Division.

You will be joining a dynamic, growing and friendly team, who are re-imagining Bloomsbury’s academic publishing for a digital environment. Working on our industry-leading online products for drama and film studies, Drama Online and Screen Studies, as well as the division’s video content, you will be central to shaping, developing, launching and managing some of our multi-award-winning suite of digital products.

The role will provide a great opportunity for candidates who are looking to develop their career in a dynamic, fast-growing and forward-looking part of academic publishing. Bloomsbury is a key player in scholarly publishing and winner of The Bookseller’s Academic, Educational & Professional Publisher of the Year Award 2021.

Bloomsbury values the importance of life–work balance and we offer flexible working options. This full-time role is only expected to be in the office 2 days per week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) and we offer a core hours policy of 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, with flexible Fridays throughout the year. See below for further details. 

The role

Product Management

• Manage products after launch, supporting the Product Manager to ensure that content updates and enhancements for digital products are performed to an agreed schedule
• Liaise with external software developers on day-to-day site management and bug-fixing.
• Use Bloomsbury’s platform admin interfaces to create and edit site pages and load content, with opportunities to be involved in the visual design of webpages.
• Liaise with sales, marketing and customer services to communicate addition of new content and product enhancements. 
• Develop expertise on specific products, becoming the ‘product champion’ who would 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 reports and help identify opportunities for improving site content and features.
• Contribute to regular product meetings and take minutes.

Content Management

• Manage the content requirements for new products, liaising with Content Architecture and Production teams on scheduling, data planning, content conversion and content loading.
• Assist the Product Management team with content updates: manage schedules for upcoming updates, work with colleagues in related departments (Content Architecture, Editorial and Production) to track and progress tasks, oversee processing of video and audio content, video transcription, and subject indexing of content by external freelancers, maintain title lists and other metadata.
• Liaise with partner organisations over content supply, checking that data meets Bloomsbury’s requirements.
• Manage the supply of product metadata for third parties such as MARC record suppliers and discovery services.

Product Development

• Work with the Product Manager and Editorial Project Leads to define product requirements during the Design & Development Phase of new products.
• Work with the Product Manager to 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).
• Perform User Acceptance Testing during product development, reporting and ticketing bugs to ensure that the sites meet the agreed requirements.
• Use the Bloomsbury Publishing Platform admin interface to build and configure platforms, working with Marketing and Editorial to agree site layout and visual design elements.

Knowledge, skills and experience 

Essential

• Experience in academic publishing (print or digital), web editing or digital product development.
• Excellent implementation and time-management skills.

• A keen eye for detail and a logical, problem-solving approach.
• A proactive, “can-do” attitude and enthusiastic team player.
• Curiosity and willingness to learn.
• Passion and interest in developing a career in digital product management.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills (written and verbal).
• Some experience of working with video content not essential but advantageous.

Desirable

• Experience of gathering and interpreting web usage analytics.

• Experience in working with XML and with Content Management Systems.

Additional information

 This is a full time permanent position.

The role can either be based at our London office 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP or at our Oxford office, Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9PH on a hybrid working pattern of 2 days office based / 3 days home based (or fully office based if preferred).  Allocated office days for this role are Wednesday and Thursday.

Please apply with a CV and covering letter addressed to Human Resources (Word or PDF format only) via the ‘APPLY NOW’ button detailing how you meet the requirements outlined above for this role by Monday 26 September 2022.

Bloomsbury reserve the right to close the role early if we exceed the required number of applications.

Bloomsbury Benefits

As well as a fantastic opportunity to join a global award-winning organisation, Bloomsbury offers the following competitive benefits package:

Working Pattern

• hybrid working pattern of: 2 days office based / 3 days home based (or fully office based if preferred)

Holidays

• 25 days holiday
• 3.5 days Christmas company holiday

Other Benefits:

Flexible Fridays – take Friday afternoon off by working an additional 3 hours and 45 minutes earlier in the week

Season Ticket Loan

Sharesave Scheme

In-house Doctor

Eyecare Voucher Scheme

That Day – online fitness classes, mindfulness, cookery classes, workshops etc.

Company culture! – Employee Voice Meetings, Staff Networks (BAME, Disability, Mental Health, LGBTQ+ and Parents, Guardians and Carers), 12 Mental Health First Aiders trained across the UK offices, Publishing Events and access to free Publishing Resources

Bloomsbury is a place where anyone of any background, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability, or socio-economic status can thrive, feel comfortable, and be heard and accepted. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are willing to make any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please flag to the recruitment team if required.

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.

The Company

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house, established in 1986, with authors who have won the Nobel, Pulitzer and Booker Prizes, and is the originating publisher and custodian of the Harry Potter series. Bloomsbury has offices in London, New York, New Delhi, Oxford and Sydney. Within Bloomsbury’s Academic division, it publishes under Bloomsbury, as well as under a number of prestigious and historic imprint names. Read Our Story for how it all began. 

 Bloomsbury is committed to creating a working environment that stimulates creativity and collaboration, is respectful of difference, is inclusive and ethical in its practice, and promotes well-being. We are determined to nurture and develop our employees to reach their highest potential, and we know that our success is down to the passion, commitment and hard work of our talented people. We recognise the urgent need to attract and support applicants from all backgrounds and identities to become part of the global publishing industry, allowing diverse voices to reflect and shape our culture and society.

Please read more on our Missions and Values here.

Please read our environmental policy here.