Project Controller

Oxford University Press; Oxford; Hybrid; GBP 27,000 - 33,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension up to 12%

Travel to work schemes

25 days holiday

35-hour week

Flexible working

Employee networks

Discretionary annual payment

Job summary

Oxford University Press is seeking a Project Controller to manage procurement, licensing, and administrative support across Editorial, Design, and Media teams for Schools, Children's, and International publishing. You will coordinate suppliers, oversee costs, raise purchase orders, and ensure assets and contracts are archived and compliant.

The role blends project coordination with cost control in a hybrid Oxford office.

Qualifications

• Experience in coordinating tasks, budgets or schedules.
• Strong communication and relationship-building with colleagues, suppliers and external partners.
• Good IT skills, especially with spreadsheets, databases and project trackers.

Responsibilities

• Procure and license media assets, ensuring rights align with project needs, budgets and policies.
• Coordinate supplier onboarding, contracts, and compliance processes with accurate records.
• Monitor schedules and costs, ensuring deadlines and budgets are met across multiple projects.
• Raise and manage purchase orders and track expenditure against project records.
• Provide guidance on asset acquisition processes, sourcing, copyright considerations, and best practices.
• Archive all assets, metadata, rights information, contracts and project records for future access.

Skills

Excellent organisational skills

Strong communication and interpersonal

Numerical and analytical skills

IT skills with spreadsheets and data

Tools

Spreadsheets

Databases

Project trackers

Business systems

Job description

The Project Controller will provide project management, asset procurement, and administrative support to Editorial, Design, and Media teams across Schools, Children's, and International publishing. Working closely with colleagues and suppliers, you will help ensure that media assets are sourced, licensed, tracked, and archived effectively, enabling publishing projects to be delivered on time, within budget, and in compliance with company policies and legal requirements.

Key responsibilities include:

• Manage the procurement and licensing of media assets, ensuring the correct rights are acquired in line with project requirements, budgets, and company policies.
• Coordinate supplier onboarding, contracts, statements of work, and compliance processes, maintaining accurate records and documentation.
• Monitor project schedules, costs, and asset workflows, helping teams deliver publishing programmes to agreed deadlines and budgets.
• Raise and manage purchase orders, track expenditure, and maintain accurate financial and project records across multiple projects.
• Provide support and guidance to Editorial, Design, and Rights colleagues on asset acquisition processes, media sourcing, copyright considerations, and best practice.
• Ensure all assets, metadata, rights information, contracts, and project records are accurately archived and maintained for future access and reuse.
• Assist with picture research, cover image sourcing, and other media-related activities to support the wider publishing programme.
• Contribute to project status reporting, planning meetings, and continuous improvement activities that support efficient delivery across the department.

We operate a hybrid working policy that requires a minimum of 2 days per week in the Oxford office.

About You

You will be highly organised, detail-oriented, and comfortable managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment. You will enjoy working collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders and be confident handling both administrative and project-based responsibilities.

You will have:

• Excellent organisational skills and a strong attention to detail, with experience of coordinating tasks, projects, budgets, or schedules.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build effective working relationships with colleagues, suppliers, and external partners.
• The ability to prioritise workload effectively and adapt quickly to changing business requirements and competing deadlines.
• Good administrative and IT skills, including confidence working with spreadsheets, databases, project trackers, and business systems.
• A proactive and solution-focused approach, with the ability to manage issues through to resolution and maintain high standards of accuracy.
• Strong numerical and analytical skills, enabling you to monitor costs, budgets, and project data effectively.
• The ability to work independently while also contributing positively as part of a collaborative team.

It would be advantageous if you also have:

• Experience working within publishing, media, content management, project coordination, or rights-related environments.
• Knowledge of copyright, permissions, intellectual property, or supplier contract management processes.
• Experience supporting or improving operational processes, data quality, or workflow management activities.

This is an excellent opportunity for someone who enjoys combining project coordination, stakeholder management, data administration, and problem-solving to support the successful delivery of a large and varied publishing programme.

• We care about work/life balance here at OUP.
• With this in mind we offer 25 days’ holiday that rises with service, plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (3-days) and a 35-hour working week.
• We are open to discussing flexibility in respect to working patterns, dependent on role.
• We also have a great variety of active employee networks and societies.
• We help make your money go further by contributing to your pension up to 12%, offering loans and savings schemes through our partnership with Salary Finance, in addition to travel to work schemes and access to a wide range of local discounts.
• This role comes with the added benefit of a discretionary annual payment.

Please see our Rewards and Recognition page for more information.

Queries

Please contact [e-mail] with any queries relating to this role.

We are committed to supporting diversity in our workforce, and ensuring an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. We seek to employ a workforce representative of the markets that we serve and encourage applications from all.

In the region of £30,000 depending on skills and experience