Head of Customer Engagement, Academic & Publisher

Digital Science; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

A pioneering technology company, Digital Science, seeks a Head of Customer Engagement for the academic and publisher sectors. This role focuses on building strong relationships, leading transformation, and enhancing customer satisfaction through strategic engagement. The ideal candidate will excel in leadership and cross-functional collaboration to drive success and growth.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in customer success and engagement roles.
• 3+ years in a people leadership capacity.
• Experience leading teams through change.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute customer engagement strategies.
• Lead and coach a geographically distributed team.
• Monitor and report on engagement KPIs.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic Vision

Cross-functional Collaboration

Customer Engagement

Tools

CRM platforms

Salesforce

Gainsight

Job description

Head of Customer Engagement, Academic & Publisher

Head of Customer Engagement, Academic & Publisher

1 week ago Be among the first 25 applicants

About us

We are Digital Science and we are advancing the research ecosystem.

Application Deadline: 5 July 2025

Department: Customer

Location: UK (Home based)

Description

About us

We are Digital Science and we are advancing the research ecosystem.
We are a pioneering technology company, and our vision is of a future where a trusted and collaborative research ecosystem drives progress for all. We believe in better, open, collaborative and inclusive research. In creating the next generation of tools and working in partnership with the community we tackle some of the biggest challenges to research. In order to achieve our vision, we need innovative, inspiring and dynamic people to join our team. Want to join us?

Your new role

The Head of Customer Engagement, Academic & Publisher leads the team responsible for how we build trusted, lasting relationships with two of Digital Science’s most important customer groups. This role isn’t about preserving what is; it’s about building on strong foundations to thoughtfully evolve how we engage, enable, and create value for academic institutions and scholarly publishers across our portfolio of solutions.

We’re looking for a leader who’s equal parts customer strategist and people coach. Someone who brings clarity to complex environments, inspires confidence during times of change, and knows how to spot potential and turn vision into scalable systems. You’ve likely led teams through transformation before, know when to question what’s always been done, and have a strong sense of how to make engagement a powerful lever for customer success, retention, and growth.

In this role, you’ll not only shape our Academic and Publisher engagement strategy, but also coach a team navigating evolving expectations, guide cross-functional collaboration, and act as an advocate for the customer across Digital Science.

Please note - due to business need, we can only accept applications from candidates who reside in the US or the UK where we have established legal entities.

If you apply from outside of these areas, your application will not be considered.

Please be aware that we may close this position early if we receive a high volume of applications, so we encourage you to apply promptly.

What you’ll be doing

Strategic Vision & Segment Leadership

• Define and execute the customer engagement strategy for the academic and publisher segments, ensuring alignment with business objectives and future-readiness.
• Evaluate and evolve existing engagement approaches, identifying what’s working, what needs refinement, and what should be reimagined for greater consistency and impact.
• Maintain a portfolio-wide perspective across multiple Digital Science solutions to ensure customers experience clarity, continuity, and value throughout their journey.

Team Leadership & Change Enablement

• Lead, coach, and grow a geographically distributed team, building a culture of ownership, adaptability, and curiosity.
• Guide the team through shifting expectations and emerging needs, helping them develop new capabilities and confidence as engagement evolves.
• Provide regular mentoring, performance feedback, and development opportunities that emphasize both excellence and experimentation.

Cross-Functional Collaboration & Influence

• Partner with Sales, Support, and Solutions to co-design processes that support a cohesive end-to-end customer experience.
• Act as a connector across Engagement, Product, and Marketing, aligning engagement efforts to strategic goals and ensuring they’re relevant, scalable, and future-focused.
• Represent the needs of Academic and Publisher customers in cross-solution planning and leadership discussions, surfacing opportunities for alignment and innovation.

Customer Insights & Journey Optimization

• Use customer feedback, usage data, and team insights to spot friction, uncover opportunities, and challenge assumptions.
• Collaborate with Product and Marketing to inform improvements across onboarding, adoption, retention, and expansion phases.
• Build a system for translating customer experience data into clear action plans for teams and stakeholders.

Operational Excellence & Scalable Infrastructure

• Monitor and report on engagement KPIs, translating insights into clear priorities, improvements, and decisions.
• Continuously assess and refine internal systems and playbooks, ensuring they remain fit for purpose as products, teams, and customer needs evolve.
• Champion thoughtful scalability, ensuring growth doesn’t equal complexity, but rather clarity and consistency.

Escalation & Retention Strategy

• Guide the team in managing complex, multi-solution escalations with empathy, structure, and urgency.
• Lead proactive efforts to identify and mitigate customer risk, supported by clear signals and coordinated action across teams.

Proactive Engagement Programming

• Design and oversee lifecycle programs, touchpoints, and campaigns that reflect the real-world needs of academic and publisher customers.
• Evaluate program performance and adjust strategies based on outcomes, not assumptions.
  
  

What you’ll bring to the role

• 7+ years in customer success, engagement, or a related function, including 3+ years in a people leadership role.
• Proven experience leading through change, including evolving team scopes, processes, or solution portfolios.
• Demonstrated ability to assess existing structures, ask the right questions, and design better systems with clarity and purpose.
• Deep understanding of the academic and/or publisher markets, and their unique relationship expectations, success markers, and decision drivers.
• Cross-functional leadership experience across Product, Support, Sales, and Marketing.
• Proficient with CRM and engagement platforms (e.g., Salesforce, Gainsight) and confident interpreting metrics to guide focus.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills; highly capable of bringing people along in moments of ambiguity or change.
• Comfort working across multiple regions, teams, and time zones in a matrixed environment.

Not sure you meet all qualifications? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other under-represented groups tend to not apply to jobs when they think they may not meet every qualification, when in fact, they often do! We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

Living our Values

We invest in, nurture and support innovative businesses and technologies that make all parts of the research process more open, efficient and effective.

The talent we secure is fundamental to us achieving our vision and our growth plans. The values we live by are:

We are brave in the pursuit of better
We are collaborative and inclusive
We are always open-minded
We are from and for the community

We're an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Executive

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Business Development and Sales

• Industries

  Software Development

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