Job Roles at Oxford University Press Southern Africa

Job Description
Oxford University Press is looking for a Managing Editor who will work closely with Publishers and Content Specialists across the Higher Education and Vocational teams to project manage the production of products, including print and digital versions, for publication to deadline and within budget. The Managing Editor does quality control at each stage of the process and edits and proofreads if required, manages, and maintains relationships with a pool of freelance editorial and typesetting suppliers in line with the company policy.

The Managing Editor will be reporting to the Publishing Services Manager. This post is based in Cape Town.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Project manage multiple projects simultaneously, adhering to deadlines and prioritizing tasks effectively
• Manage schedules according to strict and tight deadlines
• Apply editorial quality control measures
• Maintain mutually beneficial relationships with external suppliers, and internal staff
• Manage cost against approved budget
• Maintain accurate records and detailed reporting on project progress
• Adhere to company policies and protocols, notably systems and administration

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

• Relevant degree level qualification
• Relevant working experience
• Excellent English language skills, written and spoken
• An ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• An ability to operate on the SAP system
• Knowledge of the publishing industry advantageous
• Proofreading
• Editing
• Contact building and negotiation
• Budget monitoring and project management
• A good understanding of pedagogy and knowledge of teaching methodology

Attributes:

• Action and delivery oriented
• Deadline driven
• Expert project manager
• Solid understanding of publishing systems and processes
• Displays ethical behaviour
• Works effectively and accurately under pressure

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About the role

We currently seek a highly motivated and efficient Academic Library Consultant to join the dynamic and growing team responsible for promoting OUP’s market-leading online resources (such as the Oxford Journals, Oxford English Dictionary Online, Oxford Reference Online and Oxford Scholarship Online) across the academic, public, and commercial library sectors throughout the Middle East and Africa. This role will have direct responsibility for developing and growing new and existing customer relationships to support the long-term development of the market and increase the Academic Division’s market share.

Based in Johannesburg and reports to the Regional Manager (RM).

Principal Accountabilities

• Promotion - Promote all OUP journals and online resources to institutions in order to maximise interest in territory, to enable Academic Division UK to grow sales.
• Planning - Plan all pre and post contract support across territories, markets, and resources to contribute to regional strategy.
• Communication - Establish and maintain regular communication with OUP Dubai and UK-based AD teams and departments, to work knowledgeably and efficiently, including, but not limited to, campaigns and internal projects that help to promote OUP UK’s titles globally and across the wider Asia, Middle East and Africa region.
• Market Research - Coordinate regular research in territory to find new promotional possibilities to identify areas of interest and new customers to feedback to AD.
• Travel & Expense budget - Input into annual budget preparations for Travel & Expenditure so that overhead budgets are agreed and adhered to.
• Industry and product knowledge - Maintain a demonstrably thorough knowledge of the electronic information publishing industry, its products, markets and trends and OUP’s position in it, to help maintain our competitive advantage.  Likewise, maintain a comprehensive knowledge of OUP’s electronic product offering as it develops.
• Training - Participate and contribute to department training sessions, and plan meetings as required for attendance with your line manager for feedback reports, to achieve department training objectives. 
• Pipeline management and systems engagement - Maintain thorough real-time pipeline and record all customer interactions in Academic UK sales tools, including SalesForce and Tableau so that accurate records are maintained with up-to-date sales forecasting via accurate pipeline value, confidence level and expected close date.
• Key Performance Indicators KPI’s - achieve all your individual KPI’s agreed with your line manager throughout the year.

About You

The successful candidate will be a confident communicator with Good Sales Experience and negotiating skills, highly organized and able to work to tight deadlines.

You should also possess a good level of IT literacy and have experience of online information publishing, especially in a sales environment.

You will ideally be: 

• Previous experience of marketing and/or promoting of academic journals or online resources and online courses
• Extensive sales experience required 
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and account management skills
• Educated to degree level or equivalent
• Highly results-oriented, and a confident communicator with strong negotiating skills
• Highly skilled in using software packages such Excel, with a proven aptitude to learn and work with new systems
• Extremely organised and able to effectively manage a high volume, complex workload through prioritisation of tasks in line with departmental objectives
• It would be desirable if you have knowledge of the electronic information publishing industry, its products, markets and trends.