Publications Director, Cooperative Research Program

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 105,000 - 164,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision insurance

Retirement plan

Job summary

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC seeks an experienced Executive Editor to lead planning, production, and governance of publications across digital and print formats in a hybrid work setting.

This role directs editorial policy, manages staff and vendors, ensures accessibility and ethics compliance, and drives innovative publishing technologies, including AI-enabled tools, to advance scholarly communication.

Qualifications

• Broad knowledge of publishing and production workflows.
• Experience with editorial policies and ethical standards.
• Ability to lead diverse teams and manage vendors.

Responsibilities

• Directs production of publications and manages workflow.
• Recruits, trains, and supervises staff; oversees vendors.
• Sets editorial standards and monitors compliance.
• Guides accessibility, privacy, and copyright practices.
• Reports performance metrics to senior management.

Skills

Editorial management

Scholarly communication

Project management

Staff supervision

Workflow optimization

Policy compliance

Education

Bachelor's Degree in English/Journalism/Communications

Tools

AI-enabled publishing tools

Content management systems

Digital asset management

Job description

Job Description Summary

Responsible for publishing the organization's books, journals, magazines, and other content products, both digital and print. Duties are significant in scope, of high volume, and highly complex and technical in nature. Manages in-house staff and oversees services provided by vendors. Determines composition, design and graphics requirements and directs writers, editors, graphic artists, and production activities. Responsible for manuscript preparation and production in accordance with style specification and quality standards.

Incumbent directs the planning, execution, and staffing of major publication activities of significant breadth and complexity. Responsible for managing (directly or indirectly) a major unit's publishing efforts. Incumbent brings industry-level expertise to function and provides innovative solutions to complex functional problems to impact success. Oversees the adoption of emerging publishing technologies, according to institutional policies, including artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled editorial and production tools, ensuring appropriate transparency, accountability, quality control, copyright compliance, privacy protections, and ethical safeguards. Incumbents have supervisory responsibility for staff, establishes policies and procedures to ensure the effective and efficient operation of assigned functions, and is accountable for the performance and results of the team.

Incumbent directs the planning, execution, and staffing of major publication activities of significant breadth and complexity. Has complete authority to take whatever action deemed advisable or necessary and is typically responsible for managing (directly or indirectly) all of a major unit’s publishing efforts. Incumbents bring industry-level expertise to function and provide innovative solutions to complex functional problems to impact success. Incumbent has full supervisory responsibility for staff, establishes policies and procedures to ensure the effective and efficient operation of assigned functions, and is accountable for the performance and results of the team.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES

• Directs, plans, and oversees production of publications. Oversees office workflow and production schedules.
• Recruits, trains, and manages staff and arranges for supplemental services as needed. Provides leadership, mentoring, and guidance. Conducts workforce and staff development planning. Develops employees to successfully perform current responsibilities and supports development of staff for future roles. Cultivates a work environment that fosters teamwork. Interprets and ensures consistent application of organizational policies. Initiates personnel actions, including performance and compensation reviews and disciplinary actions.
• Establishes and implements editorial and production policies, standards, and procedures. Determines appropriate level of editing and design for publications. Evaluates emerging industry practices and technologies and updates organizational standards as appropriate. Ensures transparency, accountability, confidentiality, bias mitigation, copyright compliance, and adherence to organizational standards for publication ethics.
• Communicates with and provides guidance to staff, authors, reviewers, and National Academies' members regarding manuscript and publication processing policies, procedures, and status. Ensures that published materials conform to National Academies' and TRB's standards and fulfill contractual funding and delivery requirements.
• Oversees purchasing of vendor services, ensuring quality of work and competitive pricing, fulfillment of contractual requirements, and management of related contracts.
• Performs a variety of complex editorial duties. May serve as chief editor or editor on a variety of publications and content products.
• Prepares reports and statistics and provides analyses to senior management. Uses publication performance indicators and other quantitative and qualitative information to evaluate effectiveness and inform decision‑making.
• Oversees granting of permissions.
• Identifies, recommends, and implements new technology and standards, as appropriate.
• May manage financial aspects of publications. Oversees financial operations and budgets and ensures budgetary parameters are adhered to. Develops financial projections and evaluates operational efficiencies to support strategic publishing objectives.
• May oversee related areas such as electronic publishing, web publishing, content management systems, digital preservation, and accessibility activities and dissemination and marketing of publishing products.
• Ensures publications and digital products comply with applicable accessibility requirements and best practices, including Section 508, WCAG standards, accessible document design, EPUB accessibility requirements, and evolving industry standards. Establishes quality‑control procedures to ensure content is accessible to diverse audiences, including users of assistive technologies.
• Supports organizational goals related to open science, public access, transparency, and dissemination of research outputs. Ensures compliance with applicable sponsor and organizational requirements related to public access, data sharing, and scholarly communication.

Nonessential Job Duties

Related duties and special projects, as assigned.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

Comprehensive knowledge of publishing, editorial management, scholarly communication, research dissemination, and production operations.

Substantial Knowledge Of

• Editorial, production, and publication workflows for digital and print publication.
• Publication ethics and reproducibility requirements.
• Accessibility standards and best practices for digital and print publishing, including Section 508 compliance, WCAG standards, accessible document design, and inclusive publishing principles.
• AI-enabled publishing technologies and their appropriate application within editorial, peer review, production, and dissemination workflows.
• Ability to develop governance frameworks that address quality assurance, ethics, copyright, privacy, transparency, and risk management.
• Digital publishing workflows, metadata standards, content management systems, digital asset management, search optimization, analytics, and multi‑format content delivery.
• Artificial intelligence and automated publishing technologies, including appropriate applications, governance frameworks, risk management, quality assurance practices, copyright considerations, privacy protections, and ethical safeguards.
• Copyright, permissions, licensing, and intellectual property management.
• Open science, public access requirements, and evolving trends in scholarly publishing.
• Ability to analyze publishing performance metrics and use data to improve operational effectiveness and publication impact.

Demonstrated Ability To

• Solve problems of variety and complexity using originality and ingenuity.
• Serve as a resource to others in the resolution of complex problems and issues.
• Operate using substantial latitude for independent judgment and action.
• Work in complex environments with a high degree of organizational effectiveness.
• Work successfully in a team environment and to form and maintain effective teams.
• Develop relationships with co‑workers and employees in other National Academies' departments through effective communication.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with a proven ability to effectively interact with all levels of employees. Excellent project management skills. Excellent negotiation skills.

Minimum Education/Training Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in English, Journalism, Communications, or related field, or equivalent knowledge.

Minimum Experience

Eight years of related professional experience, four of which were in a supervisory/management capacity.

Physical Capabilities

Ability to work at a computer for extended periods of time.

Required Licenses, Certification or Registration

None.

Supervisory Responsibilities/Controls

Reports to Executive Editor or other Director. Independently establishes goals and objectives. Supervises staff and freelance personnel.

Compensation & Benefits

An estimated compensation range for this position is $105,230 - $164,420. Compensation offered to the selected candidate will be based on the candidate’s relevant knowledge, skills, and work experience, commensurate with compensation of current employees in comparable positions with similar knowledge, skills, and work experience, and subject to budget parameters. Note it is not typical for a candidate to be hired at the higher end of the range. This is a benefits‑eligible position. Our Benefits Plan offers competitive and comprehensive benefit options, including medical, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, disability coverage, retirement and savings benefits, leave benefits such as paid holidays and paid personal leave, transportation subsidies, and education assistance.

Work Environment

Hybrid Office/Telecommute environment, expected onsite percentage 60%, with occasional travel between National Academies’ facilities and to off‑site meeting/sponsor locations.

Equal Opportunity Employer

It is the policy of the National Academies to recruit, hire, transfer, compensate, and promote people in all job categories and to administer all other personnel actions, terms and conditions of employment in a manner that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws. It is also the institution's policy to recruit, hire, promote, and provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with disabilities and covered veterans who are otherwise qualified.

Any qualification to be considered equivalent, in lieu of stated minimum, requires the prior approval of the Office of Human Resources.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed by employees assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required of personnel so classified. Some functions in this description may be specific to a particular unit of the National Academies and not applicable to other units

Job Family

PUBL

Employee Type

Employee

Scheduled Weekly Hours

37.5

City/State

Washington, District of Columbia