Associate Director, Editorial Acquisitions, AUC Press

Reports to: AUC Press Director

Purpose: The job holder will manage and direct the editorial acquisitions publishing program of the AUC press in consultation with the AUC press director and coordinate development, transmittal, and editing, layout, printing with the associate director for editorial and production services to produce new titles annually.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Coordinate development of the editorial acquisitions program to ensure a high-quality peer review process culminating in faculty review board approval for all new scholarly book projects, as well as many trade/general interest projects, in cooperation with the director and other AUC press senior staff
• Supervise several commissioning editors to jointly prepare agendas for bi-weekly publishing and transmittal meetings, including full production budget estimates and sales projections as well as pricing and format recommendations across all markets
• Negotiate contracts with authors, translators, and co-publishing partners; maintain and update as needed standard contract templates
• Cultivate international network of authors, peer reviewers, translators, and co-publishing partners in key disciplines to personally contract 15-20 new titles per year
• Ensure high quality content, design, and production of all AUC press publications, in close coordination with the associate director for editorial/production services and the managing editor, as well as other acquisitions/commissioning editors and editorial support staff
• Maintain and update as appropriate AUC press guide for authors and other house style guidelines
• Maintain and update bibliographic database on all current and forthcoming contracted publications as well as new proposals under consideration or in peer review
• Ensure appropriate presentation of the public image of AUC press in all publications and related promotional materials, advising marketing and other staff as needed
• Supervise fundraising efforts by acquisitions/commissioning editors to support individual titles, book series, and subject areas to help reduce press operating deficit
• Represent AUC press in person and virtually at academic conferences and other public events promoting individual books and authors, as well as AUC press generally
• Perform any other related duties as assigned

Requirements:

Minimum Education Requirement

• Bachelor in humanities, social sciences, or a related field
• Postgraduate degree in humanities, social sciences, or equivalent related professional experience in academic publishing

Experience

• Minimum of 10 years of editorial experience in professional book development and publishing
• Direct experience as a managing editor and/or supervision of acquisitions editors

Skills:

• Excellent command of English; also spoken and reading fluency in Arabic highly preferred.
• Ability to review, analyze, and persuasively recommend in writing manuscripts and other material for possible publication
• Ability to edit and supervise editing of scholarly as well as general interest manuscripts
• Very good knowledge of Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat and other common software programs
• Good knowledge of Biblioliveor comparable editorial project management databases strongly preferred
• Strong eye for detail and accuracy
• Good knowledge of international trends in English and Arabic publishing
• Very good knowledge of publishing history in several relevant academic disciplines
• Flexibility to travel inside/outside when needed

This position is open until November 7, 2021

Placement is based on the candidate’s experience and skills. Only candidates who make it to the short list will be contacted.

“We thank all individuals who have expressed interest in working at The American University in Cairo.”