Editorial Content Manager - Maternity Cover

Taylor & Francis; Abingdon; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading academic publishing company in Abingdon seeks an Editorial Content Manager for approximately 12-14 months. The role involves managing a team of Content Specialists to enhance the editorial office function, ensuring quality and compliance across academic publications. Strong project management, communication skills, and knowledge of academic content management are required. A flexible hybrid working model is available.

Benefits

25 days annual leave plus birthday off

Hybrid working model

Private medical insurance

Employee assistance program

Pension scheme

Qualifications

• In-depth knowledge of academic content management.
• Excellent communication skills with stakeholders.
• Significant project management experience.

Responsibilities

• Manage and develop Content Specialists.
• Sustain relationships with vendors and partners.
• Drive change within the team.

Skills

Project management

Communication skills

Data analysis

Process improvement

Team leadership

Tools

Power BI

Microsoft Office

Job description

Job Description

Taylor & Francis Editorial Operations (Programmes & Delivery - Academic Content) is currently recruiting for an Editorial Content Manager (maternity cover). It is anticipated that the role will last approximately 12-14 months.

The successful candidate will manage a team of Content Specialists, supporting the governance of outsourced editorial office function for F1000 and T&F open access journals, including design, development and delivery of ambitious process improvements across all submission to dissemination tasks, aiming to transform services to customers (authors, Editors, Reviewers) that encounter our submission to dissemination process at Taylor & Francis.

This team sustains oversight of all submissions for editorial quality and ethical compliance, managing specialised and complex queries.

This role also contributes to the development and implementation of Editorial & Ethical policies, serving as a subject matter expert for policy interpretation across our journal portfolio, and supports critical manuscript decision‑making processes (reject / revision / accept), particularly for ethically complex submissions, open data policy compliance, or those requiring specialised assessment.

Closing date: 5th December 2025.

What You’ll Do

• Manage, motivate, and develop Specialists; this role is responsible for the recruitment, performance management and training of the Specialists reporting into them.
• Sustain an interconnected relationship with supplier management, vendor partners and other Academic Content teams and services by providing clear, effective and prompt feedback.
• Drive and champion change within the teams and allocate resources appropriately; ensuring effective team working and prioritisation to accommodate competing demands.
• Develop and deliver the peer‑review strategy regarding speed, compliance and customer service quality, in‑line with KPI targets.
• Deliver outstanding service to our stakeholders; explore both internal and external best practice to identify new and innovative approaches.
• Act as point of escalation for the Editorial operations team. Blockers and risks are escalated appropriately to the Director of Editorial Operations only after tenacity and creativity have been applied.
• Participate in the evaluation of new functionality, industry initiatives, and emerging submission and peer‑review best practice.

Qualifications

• In‑depth knowledge of best practice administration and management of academic content submitted to online submission platforms (preferably in Journals, Academic Publishing).
• Ability to use Power BI and proficiency with Microsoft Office packages. Advanced Excel skills is an advantage.
• Excellent communication skills with an ability to tailor your style whilst presenting data and ideas; it will be essential to communicate well with stakeholders and translate the data into meaningful insight.
• Significant project management experience, including monitoring performance and building effective teams within an open access journals publishing environment.
• Clear understanding of process improvement principles; delivery of increased capacity with minimal impact on head count is a standing objective.
• Ability to run, create and analyse reports with complex data sets.
• Demonstrable analytic skills to model and visualise complex data sets.

Skills and Behaviours Required

• Strong communication and influencing skills, both verbal and written.
• Team player and self‑starter with a positive outlook who easily builds positive relationships.
• Ability to handle and communicate information sensitively and professionally.
• Actively cultivate up‑to‑date knowledge of industry standards and developments to inform best‑practice procedures. Commercial awareness is a distinct advantage.
• Self‑reliant and motivated to look beyond the immediate task, see the bigger picture and identify opportunities to grow and do things better, providing added value to stakeholders and peers alike.
• Calm and logical response under pressure.
• Responsibility for managing own workload.
• Ability to prioritise appropriately and work to deadlines.
• Attention to detail.
• Customer focus.
• Accountability for managing own learning, taking responsibility to identify and develop skill gaps and active knowledge sharing regarding peer‑review systems and data manipulation.

Location

We believe that great things happen when people connect face‑to‑face. That's why we work in‑person with each other, or with customers and partners, three days a week or more. When you’re not spending time together in one of our offices or other workplaces – like at conference – you get the flexibility and support to work from home or remotely.

The successful candidate will be able to utilise our balanced working model. We ask that candidates live within a commutable distance of the Milton Park (OX14 4RN) office to ensure they can make it to our office locations 3 days per week.

This is a fixed‑term maternity contract and will last for approximately 12‑14 months.

Benefits

• Excellent work/life balance with a fantastic, flexible working culture.
• Hybrid working with 2 days per week worked from home.
• 25 days annual leave per year plus a day off for your birthday.
• 3 additional discretionary days off during the holiday season at the end of the year.
• 4 paid volunteering days each year.
• Company‑funded single cover private medical insurance.
• Employee assistance programme – offering 24/7 well‑being support.
• Share Match – plan that matches every share purchased with two free shares.
• Pension scheme.
• Life assurance, plus optical and medical care.

Training and Professional Development

We’re passionate about ensuring you have all the tools and resources at your fingertips to reach your short‑term and long‑term career goals. We’ll support you in your journey by working together on your own bespoke Taylor & Francis Development Plan, ensuring you have the resources, tools, support and coaching that will get you where you want to be.

Interview Process

After submitting your application, we may get in touch for an initial screening conversation or ask you to complete a short video interview to help us better understand your skills, experience and motivation. Following this, you will be invited to attend a competency‑based interview, either virtually or in person. Typically, we then finish the interview process with a final, second‑stage interview before extending an offer to the successful applicant.

We want all our candidates to shine in our recruitment process. Please let us know if there is anything we can do to ensure you can show us your best self. This could include having the application form in a different format, more time for questions or anything else – please ask us, we are happy to be flexible!

Being Yourself at Taylor & Francis

If you’re excited about working with Taylor & Francis to foster human progress through knowledge, we invite you to apply even if your existing skills and experience don’t fit every item listed above. At Taylor & Francis, we are at our best and most successful when colleagues can be themselves and make a contribution regardless of their identity or background. As a colleague, you will have the opportunity to further innovate and develop in areas that you are passionate about. Our goal is to empower you with the resources, incentives, and flexibility you need to enjoy success at work and to live a healthy, balanced life.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Taylor & Francis is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe in and value diversity of people and thought, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment where all colleagues can learn and succeed as their true selves. Taylor & Francis recruits, develops and retains colleagues without regard to any protected personal characteristics or other non‑merit based factor.

You must have the right to live and work in the UK.

More information

To find out more about our business and the great career opportunities, please go to our Careers Site.