Head of Journal Editorial Operations

Job Title:

Head of Journal Editorial Operations
Salary: £66,800 - £81,800 per annum

Location:

Cambridge, UK – Hybrid

Contract:

Permanent

Hours:

Full time (35 hours per week)

Are you an experienced journals publishing leader who wants to shape the future of editorial operations and peer review?

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge. We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Journal Editorial Operations to lead the strategic and operational development of our journal editorial processes, ensuring high-quality, trusted and scalable workflows and an excellent experience for editors, reviewers and authors.

You will own the strategy and roadmap for journal's editorial operations, setting priorities and governance for improvements across submission, manuscript evaluation and peer review, and the processes, systems and tools that support them. You will ensure editorial policies, research integrity priorities and process improvement strategies translate into practical, consistent and sustainable ways of working across the journals portfolio.

Leading two Journal Editorial Operations Managers and a wider department, you will plan workloads and budgets, develop team capability and champion the contribution of editorial operations across Journals.

Additional responsibilities and accountabilities include:

• Own the editorial operations strategy, roadmap, governance and reporting framework, including delivery of the Good Practice in Peer Review programme.
• Lead operational improvement and responsible experimentation with AI and new technology within established governance structures.
• Use operational evidence, user insight and external developments to shape priorities for online peer review systems, services and supplier roadmaps.
• Work closely with Editorial, Publication Ethics and Research Integrity, Digital Publishing, Content Management, suppliers and external partners.
• Provide clear planning, workload and budget management, while developing team capability and supporting colleagues through change.
• Monitor developments in scholarly publishing, research practice, peer review tools and competitor activity to inform strategy and delivery.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40–60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.

You will bring significant experience in scholarly journals publishing and a strong understanding of editorial operations, manuscript submission and peer review. You will be a strategic and collaborative leader who can translate organisational priorities into clear plans, lead teams through change, and build effective relationships across functions and with senior colleagues, external partners, suppliers and technology providers.

You will also be able to demonstrate:

• Experience of leading operational improvement or transformation and embedding scalable, sustainable ways of working.
• Strong programme and project leadership, including setting priorities, developing roadmaps, managing dependencies and reporting progress.
• Proven people leadership, including developing managers, planning workloads and budgets, and supporting teams through change.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder-management and influencing skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, using evidence and external insight to identify risks and recommend…