Implementation Specialist, Systems Optimisation

Job Title: Implementation Specialist, Systems Optimisation

Location: London, Dordrecht or Pune

Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 180 years our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood and used by our communities – enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow.

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Springer Nature’s Group Publishing Operations team (GPO) performs and oversees manuscript screening operations across Springer Nature's journals portfolio. GPO also manages the various peer-review systems used by authors, editors and reviewers as part of submit-to-accept processes.

Our 'article-level' activities are largely supported by 400+ BPO staff across multiple locations. Our 'journal-level' activities are largely supported by ~50 Springer Nature staff across multiple locations, who also contribute to projects in one of three main areas: technology, transformation and quality.

The Implementation Specialist will manage their own portfolio of journals and partner with Publishing teams to run their journals in a ‘Production-ready’ way, while facilitating submit-to-accept workflows and compliance with policies.

In collaboration with the Manager, Systems Optimisation (as well as the rest of the Systems Optimisation team and the wider GPO team), the Implementation Specialist will also advocate for and communicate on the development of all systems GPO uses/manages/supports, in line with the needs and priorities of various stakeholders (incl. GPO) and the business.

This role will be in our London, Dordrecht or Heidelberg office on a hybrid working model.

Journal care

• Gather system requirements from publishers, editors and service providers

• Set up, maintain and administrate peer review systems

• Conduct presentations and training sessions for internal and external stakeholders

• Ensure quality of article-level activities and act as an escalation point for individual journals

• Develop and maintain relationships with stakeholders (Publishing, Editorial, Production, Technology & Operations staff, as well as external editors, reviewers, authors and service providers)

• Maintain journal-specific records and documentation

Systems Optimisation

• Advocate for and advise on (as needed) the development of all systems GPO uses/manages/supports to increase automation and improve processes

• Track the development of systems in line with business needs and priorities

• Communicate with stakeholders on the development plans and progress against roadmaps

• Collaborate closely with GPO’s Technical Support and Automation & Analysis teams to support (respectively) the eradication of recurring technical issues, as well as the development of system-supported solutions for tasks which require regular automation

Other responsibilities

• Be an advocate for continuous improvement, quality and efficiency. Foster a culture of openness, transparency and collaboration within the team and with our stakeholders

• Contributing to (sometimes interconnected) business projects.

• Working with a wide range of global stakeholders.

• Previous experience in a publishing and/or support role.

• Business analysis and data analysis.

• A technically minded approach to solutions.

• Ability to translate the needs of the business into new projects.

• Understanding of publishing workflows.

• Excellent organisation skills to contribute to multiple concurrent projects and competing priorities.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to communicate with individuals at all levels and on a global scale.

• Excellent numeracy skills with proven attention to detail.

• Excel and PowerPoint proficiency.

• Good problem solving/logic/analytical skills.

• Proactive and able to lead projects alone…