Description:

Purpose of the Role
Reporting to the Publishing Operations Director, the Senior Project Editor will oversee the project management for selected titles across the Harper Press and Fourth Estate lists (including new editions, digital products, paperbacks and reprints).

Key responsibilities will include:

• Ensuring titles are scheduled and edited in accordance with divisional critical path and budget
• Project managing titles from handover of manuscript through to production
• Ensuring good information flow and communication between all design, production and editorial teams

Responsibilities

• Manage all aspects of the progress and commissioning of editorial work (in-house and freelance) on each project, including briefing, booking, contracting, budgeting and quality control.
• Work closely with production and editorial to see projects through to completion and delivery.
• Establish a smooth and efficient process, where the publishing schedule is up-to-date and correct at all times
• Driving the day-to-day project development.
• Project managing digital projects including enhanced e-books and apps
• Work with a network of freelance designers, illustrators and picture researchers

Scope
Decision making: Must be decisive, confident and prepared to work on their own. Taking initiative is essential. Must be prepared to make decisions, communicated to POD and relevant commissioning editor, regarding production costs, deadlines and overall quality judgements.
Responsible for: None in-house, but all freelancers.
Budget: Highly aware of the status of the overall publishing budgets and forecasts, as well as book-by-book costs.
Special working conditions: None
Contacts: Internal production, design, editorial, publicity, sales & marketing, freelance copyeditors, proofreaders and picture researches

Person Specification
A proactive team player with a positive outlook, ‘can-do’ attitude and flexibility to work within tight timeline and budget constraints, combined with a broad range of project management experience within publishing. 

• Ability to deliver great product within given time and budget
• People management skills and strong negotiating skills
• Production knowledge to ensure high quality, attractive and profitable books
• Communication skills to operate at all levels with the internal team and authors/agents

Qualifications

• Educated to university degree level or equivalent
• Highly creative and laterally-thinking

Experience

• Significant editorial management experience with complex book projects
• Experience in managing complex publishing projects/series

Skills/Competencies

• Author and agent relationships: clear communication and relationship management
• Organisational Skills.  (A) To plan and manage schedules and budgets to agreed plans, reporting and acting depending on changing circumstances. (B) Have the ability to deal with project management on a large scale
• Relationship management. To work closely with in-house team – especially editorial, publicity, sales, marketing, production and design – in all aspects of product development
• Negotiation Skills. Able to negotiate the best deals for freelance design and editorial work

In addition, it would be desirable for candidates to have financial awareness:

• Full familiarity with budgeting and cost-control processes in relation to specific projects and lists
• To understand the financial implications of decisions within the overall corporate framework

Disposition

• Deals well with a mixture of long- and short-term demands
• Positive self-starter
• Adept team-player
• Flexible