Publications Director, Cooperative Research Program

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

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Job summary

National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine seeks a senior publishing leader to direct major publication activities, oversee in-house staff and vendors, and ensure high-quality digital and print products.

The role emphasizes policy, accessibility, ethics, and open science, with responsibility for budgeting, governance, and the adoption of AI-enabled tools within transparent editorial processes. Hybrid work arrangement with ~60% onsite in Washington, DC.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in English, Journalism, Communications, or related field.
• Eight years of related professional experience, four in supervisory/management capacity.
• Comprehensive knowledge of publishing, editorial management, scholarly communication, and production operations.
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (Section 508, WCAG) and publication ethics.

Responsibilities

• Directs, plans, and oversees production of publications and staff workflows.
• Establishes editorial and production policies and ensures quality and ethics.
• Manages vendor services, contracts, and procurement.
• Uses performance metrics to inform decision-making and improve impact.
• Oversees open science, public access, and dissemination of research outputs.

Skills

Editorial management

Scholarly communication

Publishing workflows

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's Degree in English/Journalism/Communications

Tools

AI-enabled publishing tools

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

1. Directs, plans, and oversees production of publications. Oversees office workflow and production schedules.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Oversees purchasing of vendor services, ensuring quality of work and competitive pricing, fulfillment of contractual requirements, and management of related contracts.
6. Performs a variety of complex editorial duties. May serve as chief editor or editor on a variety of publications and content products.
7. 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.
8. Oversees granting of permissions.
9. Identifies, recommends, and implements new technology and standards, as appropriate.
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. 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.
13. 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.

Job Specifications

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.

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.

Job Details

Job Family: PUBL Employee Type: Employee Scheduled Weekly Hours: 37.5 City/State: Washington, District of Columbia

About the National Academies

The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and National Academy of Medicine work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering,and Medicine to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The National Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine.

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.