Change & Innovation Manager (44601)

Change & Innovation Manager

Locations: London, Dordrecht, Heidelberg or New York
Hybrid working

Business Area and Mission

The goal of the Publishing Performance and Intelligence Group (PP&I) is to help deliver next generation digital publishing at Springer Nature and as a result, grow the number of published articles, especially in open access (OA). Working closely with the Journals Group, Production, IT, Marketing and Customer Service we will support increasing the number of transfers of articles between journals, commissioning new collections and strengthening editor engagement. As well as supporting and enhancing the end-to-end publishing process.

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) team aims to create and drive continuous improvement with PP&I teams and their respective stakeholders including Operations, Technology, Customer Services, Research Sales & Marketing, Finance, and others. We align, agree, plan and drive the implementation of new/improved workflows, processes, systems, and tools within the end-to-end publishing process.

Purpose of the Role 

The Change & Innovation Manager will, as part of the CoE team, implement strategic projects to drive operational change based on best practices and data analysis as part of the continuous improvement strategy, while supporting business as usual development within the publishing organisation.

Responsibilities

The Change & Innovation Manager is product owner of the (pre)submission to production processes and is responsible for setting a strategic direction based on research and data analysis, making game changing decisions and implementing accordingly within the organization. In the day to day business he/she will typically work closely with the internal Editorial/Publishing, Production and IT departments. Jointly they work on continuous improvement of workflows and the way our services are delivered to the customers.

The role of Change & Innovation Manager is vital to give direction to the way the Publishing organization operates and performs while having a direct impact on the way customers experience our services. A significant part of the work will consist of innovating the submission workflow, processes and user interface of the current and future publishing/crm systems. Based on research the requirements of these improvements will be defined together with stakeholders and key-users.

Key tasks/ Main result areas:

Define strategic direction for operational improvements, manage product backlog, prioritize needs, oversee & manage development stages and anticipating (internal) customer needs
Provide excellent communication acting as primary liaison for all stakeholders
Drive and support publishing and editorial operations on continuous improvement
Research and analyse operational data to identify areas of improvement
Proactive initiate projects that align and support the strategic objectives
Project manage against set timelines and deliverables
Document processes and workflow
Set, manage and translate requirements of change from business to IT
Provide (online) training to the stakeholder community during implementation of change
Implement and manage change process

Experience, Skills & Qualifications

Experience / Qualifications

Master degree or equivalent with proven consultancy experience
Knowledge of Customer Relationship Management systems a pre (Salesforce.com)
Preferred green belt Lean six sigma and or Agile scrum (product owner) certified
Project management experience
Fluent in English (both written and oral)
Working experience in an international business or environment
Proficient in using multiple systems
Good computer skills, proficiency with MS-Office-Suite, particularly MS Excel

Skills

Strong analytical skills
Self-starting, high degree of independence
Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, both written and verbal
International and cultural sensitivity
Process analysis
Consulting skills
Project management skills (eg prince2, agile scrum etc.)
Good understanding of commercial processes
A proactive problem solver, with good attention to detail
Reliable and results-oriented working style, from plan to detailed implementation
Flexible attitude
Team player

In return, we offer a competitive salary range and great employee benefits.

Please submit a CV and covering letter outlining your experience and interest for the role.