Development Editor, Science (Fixed Term Contract)

Education changes lives forever. It broadens horizons, breaks down barriers, and fires imaginations. Like the University of Oxford of which we are a part, we are committed to uncompromising standards, freedom of expression, and the enrichment of lives through education. This is our motivation, our purpose, and our mission. It is why 100% of the money we make is reinvested into education and research. It is why we all care deeply about reaching more people, in more places, with world-class learning and research materials and services.

About the Role

You will be responsible for taking print and digital projects for Science and other subject areas as appropriate through the production process - shaping scripts and briefs so that they are right for their intended users.  You will manage freelance project teams and work with design and production teams to ensure that projects come out to schedule.

Additional responsibilities will include:

• Strategy and market: Demonstrate good core curriculum, teacher/learner, and competitor knowledge through market research.
• Editorial skills and best practice: Edit and accurately level script, illustration, and digital briefs, and all proof /disc stages. Collate input from authors, partners and advisors, and implement structural editing and rewriting.
• Author relations: Demonstrate creative and effective author and adviser communications.
• Project management: Monitor and chase specific schedules, organise schedule meetings, plan ahead and proactively problem solve to avoid missed dates, follow best working practices, be familiar with systems, and contribute to process improvements so that products come out efficiently and on time.
• List management: Ensure that latest reprints of specified titles are marked up with reprint corrections, and liaise with manager, author, production and design so that these corrections are implemented accurately in good time for the next reprint.
• People management: Recruit, negotiate rates with, manage, brief, quality control, and support the best freelance editors so that they work efficiently and meet their deadlines.
• Financial management: Assist in creating first cost and overhead (freelance and adviser’s) budget and monitor spend throughout, problem solving to ensure that the project is kept within budget.
• Communication and teamwork: Communicate effectively with other departments, manager, editorial colleagues and, with support, customers to ensure that print and digital projects are worked on efficiently, and that colleagues understand the aims and how to add value for the customer.

This role is a 1 year Fixed Term Contract.  We operate a hybrid working policy that requires a minimum of 2 days per week in the Oxford office.

About You

Essential:

• Editorial experience including experience of managing projects in a publishing environment
• A creative and innovative mindset
• A background in educational publishing
• High level of literacy
• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent IT skills with experience of Microsoft Office

Desirable:

• A background in a Science subject or experience of the secondary Science or Maths market
• An understanding of trends in education
• Experience of teaching in the school types for which we produce resources

As an internal candidate, when applying for a secondment, you must discuss the opportunity and gain approval with your line manager/department in advance of submitting an application.

Benefits

We care about work/life balance here at OUP. With this in mind we offer 25 days’ holiday that rises with service, plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (3-days) and a 35-hour working week. We are open to discussing flexibility in respect to working patterns, dependent on role. We also have a great variety of active employee networks and societies. 

We help make your money go further by contributing to your pension up to 12%, offering loans and savings schemes through our partnership with Salary Finance, in addition to travel to work schemes and access to a wide range of local discounts. 

Please see our Rewards and Recognition page for more information.

Queries

Please contact grace.mcfadyen@oup.com with any queries relating to this role. 

We are committed to supporting diversity in our workforce, and ensuring an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. We seek to employ a workforce representative of the markets that we serve and encourage applications from all.