Publishing Operations Lead

Cochrane; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 38,000 - 52,000; Full time

Job summary

Cochrane is a remote-first organisation seeking a Publishing Operations Lead to provide senior expertise across publishing systems, workflows and production processes. The post reports to the Head of Publishing Operations within the Editorial, Production and Methods directorate.

The role requires coordinating complex publishing activities, leading testing, and resolving intricate workflow and metadata issues with internal teams and external suppliers. Some travel may be required.

Qualifications

• Substantial experience in scholarly publishing or publishing operations.
• Strong understanding of end-to-end publishing workflows and systems integration.
• Experience with publishing or workflow systems administration and testing.
• Ability to diagnose complex operational or technical problems with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Provide senior ownership of Editorial Manager and related publishing systems.
• Design and implement publishing workflows and ensure alignment with requirements.
• Lead end-to-end testing of changes, including defect investigation and validation.
• Resolve complex issues across internal teams and external suppliers.
• Offer operational input to initiatives and coordinate system changes.
• Maintain knowledge of production workflows and post-publication changes.
• Identify improvements and enhance documentation and cross-training.

Job description

Title: Publishing Operations Lead

Specifications: Permanent, Full Time

Salary: £45,000 per annum

Location: Remote first (home based) with some travel expected for in person meetings

Closing date: 7 October 2026

Interview dates: Expected to be held remotely w/c 19 October 2026

Cochrane is a global, independent network of health practitioners, researchers, patient advocates and others, responding to the challenge of making vast amounts of research evidence useful for informing decisions about health. We do this by synthesising research findings to produce the best available evidence on what can work, what might harm and where more research is needed. Our work is recognised as the international gold standard for high quality, trusted information. Though we are spread out across the globe, our shared passion for health evidence unites us and it is important that the role holder can work effectively and collaboratively with a diverse range of contacts across the world.

Our Central Executive Team supports this work and is divided into three directorates.

This role reports to the Head of Publishing Operations and sits within the Editorial, Production and Methods directorate.

Purpose of the job

The Publishing Operations Lead provides senior specialist expertise and dedicated ownership across Cochrane’s publishing systems, workflows and operational infrastructure. Working alongside the Head of Publishing Operations, the role leads and coordinates complex systems and workflow activity to ensure that publishing processes are robust, efficient, well-documented, tested and fit for purpose.

The postholder will act as a senior subject-matter expert for Editorial Manager and related publishing and production systems, with particular ownership of production and post-acceptance workflows. They will lead the assessment, configuration, testing and implementation of publishing workflow and system changes and investigate complex publishing-system, workflow, metadata and production issues.

The role will work closely with colleagues across Product, Editorial, Research Integrity, RevMan, Technology and Support, as well as external publishing suppliers, to support reliable business-as-usual publishing and the implementation of new and evolving publishing requirements, systems and workflows.

Key areas of responsibility include

• Provide senior specialist ownership and operational oversight of Editorial Manager and related publishing and production systems.
• Assess, design, configure and implement publishing workflows, ensuring system behaviour and operational processes support agreed publishing requirements.
• Lead and coordinate end-to-end testing of publishing system and workflow changes, including defect investigation, retesting and validation.
• Investigate and resolve complex publishing-system, workflow, production and metadata issues, working with internal teams and external suppliers.
• Provide specialist operational input to publishing initiatives and coordinate the implementation of approved system and workflow changes.
• Maintain expert knowledge of post-acceptance production and publication workflows, providing senior operational support for complex and unusual cases and post-publication changes.
• Identify and lead improvements to publishing workflows, systems and processes, while strengthening documentation, knowledge sharing, cross-training and sustainable ways of working.

The successful candidate is expected to have

• Substantial experience in scholarly publishing, publishing operations, production, editorial systems or a closely related environment.
• Strong practical understanding of end-to-end publishing workflows and the interaction between editorial, production and publication systems.
• Experience of publishing or workflow systems administration, configuration and implementation, together with structured testing, defect investigation and validation.
• Experience of diagnosing complex operational or technical problems and coordinating their resolution across internal stakeholders and external suppliers.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to understand complex workflows, dependencies and technical issues.
• Strong organisational and prioritisation skills, with the ability to coordinate multiple workstreams and balance operational and change activity.
• Clear and confident communication skills, a high level of accuracy and attention to detail, and the ability to work independently and take ownership of complex issues through to resolution.

Our organization is built on four core values

• Collaboration: Underpins everything we do, locally and globally.
• Relevant: The right evidence at the right time in the right format.
• Integrity: Independent and transparent.
• Quality: Reviewing and improving what we do, maintaining rigour and trust.

You can expect

• An opportunity to truly impact health globally.
• A flexible work environment which includes remote-first working (although you will be required to attend in person meetings from time to time, depending on your location and the needs of the role).
• An environment where people feel welcome, heard, and included, regardless of their differences.

Cochrane welcomes applications from a wide range of perspectives, experiences, locations and backgrounds; diversity, equity and inclusion are key to our values. We are a Disability Confident Employer which means that applications from candidates who share they are disabled, and who meet the criteria for the role, will be guaranteed an interview.

Please note that candidates appointed and based in the UK, Denmark or Germany will be offered the advertised salary. Candidates appointed outside of these locations will be offered a local salary aligned to local market rates, which will be confirmed at the point of offer.