Editorial Project Manager - Custom Product

Research and Education changes lives forever. It broadens horizons, breaks down barriers, and fires imaginations. We have been a leading figure in publishing for more than 500 years, delivering teaching materials that make a difference in the classroom and to peoples’ lives. We have always been a forward-looking organization, but the educational landscape is changing rapidly and we are changing with it. A spirit of adventure and entrepreneurialism is critical to our future success and in a fast -changing publishing landscape, OUP welcomes the inquisitive, the inventive, and the ambitious; people who challenge the conventional, and pioneer the possible.

About the Role

OUP ELT have established a new Custom Product unit, to better respond to and grow our strategic accounts, licensing and partnership opportunities. This is an exciting time to join our team, as we begin to develop our customer first approach, creating processes that support delivering best-in-class solutions for our customers.  

We are looking for experienced Editorial managers to be responsible for the planning and Editorial Project management of a range of blended and digital Customized projects.  You will manage a pipeline of fast-paced projects across a variety of sectors, commissioning core suppliers and overseeing QA of their work.

Collaborating closely with colleagues across the business, this role will manage end to end custom projects from planning stage, through product development and final delivery. It requires budget, schedule, risk and change management throughout product development, as well as robust supplier management.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manage a variety of Custom ELT pipeline projects across sectors and markets.
• Ensure that projects are fully and appropriately resourced, managed and all required documentation is made available to relevant teams, delivering all projects on time, within budget and to required standards.
• Identify and brief writers, freelancers and other 3rd party suppliers.
• Responsible for the tracking and reporting of schedules, budgets, project status, and any risk/risk mitigation issues to all stakeholders as required; troubleshoot and respond quickly to issues to reduce impact on time/cost/quality.
• Determine when packagers and other freelance resources should be contracted
• Oversee editorial and publishing tasks in-house as appropriate.
• Work with Product customization leads on assessing project proposals, customer requirements and making recommendations
• Support the Head of Custom Publishing and Product customization leads in communicating and liaising with Regional Publishing Hubs and Sales teams.

We operate a hybrid working policy that requires a minimum of 2 days per week in the Oxford office. 

About You

We are looking for calm, confident, proactive, and driven individuals who collaborate well within project teams. You should be able to maintain a customer-first approach while working on challenging projects. In this role you will need to be highly organized, with excellent time management and workload management skills. You must have proven planning and Editorial Project management competencies and be an excellent communicator who has experience of supplier management.

You’ll also have the following:

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills
• Experience of briefing and managing ELT or educational projects
• Expertise in evaluating and managing suppliers
• Strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills
• In-depth understanding of publishing processes for print and digital
• Broad understanding of the global ELT market
• The ability to manage and prioritise a varied and demanding workload
• Flexible approach and the ability to adapt to fast-paced, changing environments
• Managing budgets and preparing project P&Ls
• A solid understanding of digital products and technology dependencies

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 cynthia.yue@oup.com with any queries relating to this role. 

Please note this advert may be removed before the advertised end date, so we encourage you to apply as soon as possible.

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.