Head of Editorial Services

Head of Editorial Services

Macmillan Education

Locations: London, Warsaw or Mexico City

Closing date: 5th August 2020

Macmillan Education provides world class content in the most relevant, engaging and flexible formats to support students, teachers and institutions through a lifetime of learning. This exciting and passionate organisation produces content for English Language Teaching (ELT) and for Schools curricula around the world whilst Palgrave Higher Education develops and distributes textbooks, e-books and interactive e-learning resources primarily for University-level students.

The Editorial Services team is responsible for the editorial quality and on-time delivery content from final manuscript to handover of final files to our production teams and sign off on digital products. Working in collaboration with cross-functional teams, they implement best practices, workflows, tools and templates to maximise the efficiency and effectiveness of the publishing process. The team is also involved in product development and post-publication maintenance and are critical to the success of our projects

We’re looking for a Head of Editorial Services to take the responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the Editorial Services team. This responsibility will encompass delivery of high quality and on-time print-ready files and digital artefacts to the Production and Digital Operations teams. As Head of Editorial Services, you will ensure that systems and procedures are in place to support this delivery, leading a large team located across London, Warsaw and Mexico City.

You will also provide continuity in approach to staff development and training, working collaboratively to remove obstacles, so that team members are empowered and able to succeed and develop. A vital part of the role will be to work with available systems and data to create a consistent approach to reporting and performance monitoring across the department.

Core responsibilities include:

• Daily management of the Editorial Services function, ensuring the team can deliver print and digital products on time and under budget.
• Work with the Director of Publishing Services to develop and implement essential workflow, process, system and tool improvements.
• Work with the Director of Publishing Services to develop metrics for capturing, analysing, and reporting effectiveness across all spend categories and department activities.
• Develop the commercial focus within the Publishing Services department.
• Work with the Editorial Services team to develop and manage key supplier relationships.
• Line management of Editorial Managers.
• Attend relevant meetings and represent the Editorial Services team. 
• Analyse resource allocations for Editorial Services, identifying resource shortfall and developing solutions to mitigate the impact.
• Work with key stakeholders in Publishing to ensure that title management systems are maintained, reflect the current state of products in development and adhere to system rules.

Role requirements:

• Significant experience working in delivery in an editorial setting (ELT or Curriculum preferred)
• Significant line management experience including proven experience of leading managers and larger broad teams
• Experience of delivering complex print and digital publishing projects both hands-on and as a Team Leader or Manager.
• Proven large-scale budget management skills
• Strong knowledge of editorial functions and workflows
• Experience of the ongoing management of key supplier relationships
• Experience of working with/in distributed teams within a global business
• Ability to identify issues, identify key stakeholders, and drive through resolution through strong influencing and matrix management skills
• A team player combined with strong leadership skills
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills

This role will involve significant international travel to global locations (at least once a month to visit teams in other countries) so international travel is essential when routes re-open and are operational.

The position is offered on permanent, full-time basis and will ideally be located in either our London, Warsaw or Mexico City offices. Currently our teams are working remotely across many of our international locations.

To apply, please submit a CV and a cover letter outlining your key ambitions in the role.