Senior Product Manager/Publisher
About the Team
The primary literacy team is a dedicated, fun, supportive and knowledgeable group of people who work creatively to produce literacy resources for Primary-age children and their teachers. It's a matrix team with people from many job functions working together to create resources which really work in classrooms. In your team you'll work with fellow product managers, editors/content specialists, content delivery managers, digital development and platform specialists, marketers, designers and a broad range of external suppliers. You'll report into the Head of Primary Literacy and Professional Development and this role is based in Oxford.
About the Role
We are looking for an energetic, independent and experienced Senior Product Manager/Publisher who is passionate about primary education and bursting with ideas to take over the day to day management and future development of one of the UK's leading primary reading schemes, and to research, develop and deliver new projects in primary literacy from start to finish. In this role you will be an entrepreneur within a large business, and your innovative, fast thinking and proactive approach to opportunities will shine through.
As a senior member of our publishing/product management team, you will be required to keep your finger on the pulse of the primary literacy market to identify emerging opportunities and gaps, and develop market winning print and/or digital proposals which meet customers' needs. You will come up with innovative new ideas, research and develop proposals, and lead cross-functional teams to deliver products to market on time, to budget and to the highest quality. You will be responsible for project budgets, P&Ls, and delivery of revenue and profit targets for your projects, and will contribute to overall strategy and publishing plan for the literacy list.
Alongside the development of new propositions you will take responsibility for an ongoing live service with a large customer base, ensuring customer feedback is responded to, developments are timely and appropriate, ongoing sales and marketing plans are supported, rights and licences are managed, and customer retention and revenue targets are met.
This role includes line management of three Content and Learning Specialists (editorial team).
A day in the life???
In this role you will be required to undertake the following activities:
Market Understanding & Relationship Building
Maintain and build your network of contacts and influencers in primary education to ensure that new proposals are well thought through and meet the market's needs
Identify and engage potential partners, including series editors, consultants, experts, 3rdparty businesses and key author talent to develop and deliver new propositions
Negotiate contractual agreements as appropriate on a project by project basis
Develop and execute market research to test propositions with core customer segments and ensure these propositions meet market need, including desk and field market research in collaboration with internal and external market research teams
Track, analyse and anticipate competitor activity, and respond accordingly
Financial and Data
Work with and manipulate data to make strategic decisions about brands for which you are responsible (e.g. understanding purchasing patterns, usage patterns, pricing structures and business models, and being able to make data driven decisions based on your analysis)
Build P&Ls for your projects, collecting and managing costs and forecasts, and calculating profitability ensuring projects are commercially successful
Develop strategic roadmaps for existing products which maximise profitability, drive new revenue and increase market share
Contribute to the wider strategy process for primary literacy
Contribute to the annual financial planning process by analysing data on existing services, and working with sales and marketing colleagues to forecast future revenue
Proposition Development and Execution
Identify commercially viable publishing opportunities, develop the vision for new products/services and communicate these to get buy-in from internal and external stakeholders
Ensure propositions (including print, digital and professional development offerings) are fully researched and validated, customer value propositions and market segments are well defined and risky assumptions around propositions are fully tested using market research and/or prototyping so they win in the market
Work closely with sales and marketing teams to develop and/or refine Customer Value Propositions for propositions demonstrating why we will win in the market
Work with digital development/platform teams to ensure all requirements and dependencies for platform development and digital content development are well defined, prioritised in the overall platform roadmap, budgeted and tested for release
Present new propositions for sign off in regular product council/publishing meetings
Collaborate with sales and marketing to define messaging and collateral for key propositions
Manage teams of publishers and editors to commission, develop and deliver publishing proposals on time, to desired quality and to budget, and lead cross-functional teams from across the business involved in product creation
Work with our internal supplier management team to find the best suppliers for projects
Brief customer-facing teams (in particular post-sales service teams, sales, marketing) on products, services and the changing market environment
Service Management
Be the face and advocate for the brands you manage, responding to queries from sales, marketing, global and customer support teams, and championing your brands in internal and external forums as appropriate
Regularly catch up with sales and marketing colleagues to build sales and marketing plans, assess performance of key brands and devise tactics for revenue growth
Gather and monitor customer feedback on live services and work with colleagues to devise the roadmap for these services to maximise customer satisfaction, prioritising releases of functionality and content with our platform team
Answer escalated customer queries, and write customer facing communications about key brands and the primary market in collaboration with marketing and sales
Manage the negotiation and renewal of licences and rights with high profile partners to ensure continuity of content for subscribing customers
Monitor, report and act on the ongoing performance of services against key performance indicators including usage, renewal rate, adoptions and revenue against targets
People Management
Manage and develop three content and learning specialists, ensuring that goals are set, future talent is developed, performance is regularly reviewed and wellbeing is maintained
Support wider team members to problem solve and build a positive working culture
Qualifications
Who are we looking for?
Someone with the following skills and qualities:
Proven print and digital publishing skills and demonstrable experience in working with cross-functional teams to create and deliver commercially successful propositions to market which meet customer needs
Commercial and financial planning skills: the ability to independent create P&Ls, manage costs and financially manage projects
Proven line management experience, with an empathetic and constructive approach to managing and developing people
The ability to see strategic 'big picture' trends and changes to identify attractive market segments and key sources of competitive advantage
A passion for data, and the ability to manipulate and use data to make decisions
Communication, relationship building and influencing skills both within the company and with external stakeholders, the ability to present confidently to a range of audiences and make strong, evidence based decisions
Excellent organisational and project management skills: the ability to plan and manage projects, budgets, and the workload/resourcing of line managed staff
Knowledge of the primary education sector and market
Creative, innovative and forward-thinking