Associate Editorial Director

This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the UK. This is a 2 Year FTC.

Role Summary

In this role you will oversee a subset of the growing PLOS journals portfolio: you will manage PLOS Biology and PLOS Medicine, with line-management of their professional Editors-in-Chief, and provide editorial oversight for a diverse set of journals led by academic volunteers across a range of disciplines in biology, human and environmental health. You will manage in line with PLOS strategy, helping to keep PLOS at the forefront of open science publishing and trusted content. You will leverage your strong relationships with the scientific community to drive engagement and develop the journals to meet the evolving needs of their global communities. You will work collaboratively with the journals’ Editorial Boards, and in-house colleagues, to create and deliver against journal strategies, using your international networks to grow PLOS’ profile and reputation.

The role is an integral part of the senior PLOS editorial leadership. As such, you will be expected to engage PLOS Leaders’ Framework—adaptive decision-making, empowering others, iterative learning, agility, resilience, systems thinking, continuous improvement, catalysing opportunity—at an advanced level. As part of that leadership, you will also own ad hoc projects across the entire PLOS journals portfolio. Priority projects currently relate to quality control, workflow optimization, cost efficiency, non-article research outputs (data and code), policy development and community engagement. You will embrace change, and lead your teams effectively through it.

Responsibilities

Journal portfolio management

• Work closely with the Directors of Editorial, Publishing, MarComms and Global Development to develop an editorial strategy for a portfolio of PLOS journals that supports PLOS’s commitments to Open Science, DEI, community engagement, trusted content and customer service
• Identify and develop opportunities to expand the portfolio in line with PLOS strategy
• Develop and oversee attainment of multi-term performance metrics for individual journals
• Partner with the Publishing Director to develop and manage annual budgets, ensuring responsible decision-making and efficient resource allocation to meet both budget and quality standards
• Work closely with Operations colleagues and vendors to oversee optimization of editorial workflows, systems and reporting
• Work closely with Marketing and Communications colleagues to ensure promotion of journal content and PLOS’ mission, and to drive journal submissions and uptake of Open Science practices
• Ensure that Editorial makes effective and efficient use of cross-journal Centers of Excellence (e.g. Publication Ethics, Editorial Board Services)
• Ensure that the portfolio shares cohesive and consistent editorial policies and quality standards, reacting dynamically to changing community needs while forefronting Open Science
• Lead cross-journal initiatives, overseeing development of systems and workflows
• Oversee Editorial participation in community initiatives, conferences and events, ensuring equality of opportunity and alignment with PLOS’ mission
• Help to ensure best-practice document hygiene and information sharing by everyone in Editorial

People management

• Lead a high-performing and cohesive team of Editorial staff (up to 4 direct reports), fostering a cross-portfolio and cross-cultural mindset
• Ensure strategy is collaboratively translated into clear tactics for teams and individual staff, and monitor progress against goals regularly
• Lead by example, modeling open and clear communication and ensuring all stakeholders understand their roles and responsibilities
• Build strong relationships with Editorial Boards within a true partnership framework
• Address underperformance swiftly, sensitively and supportively, in collaboration with Line Manager and People & Culture team
• Act as a thought-partner to, and deputize for, the Editorial Director

Diversity, equity and inclusion

• Oversee improvement of the diversity of PLOS staff, Editorial Boards, peer-reviewers and authors
• Work collaboratively with stakeholders to eliminate bias in manuscript processing and editorial decision-making
• Oversee editorial participation in internal and external DEI initiatives

Cross-sector 

• Maintain in-depth industry knowledge, awareness of market trends, innovations and evolving customer needs
• Represent PLOS at industry events occasionally (approx 1-2 events per year)

Qualifications and Experience

• PhD and post-doctoral experience (or equivalent) in a relevant subject area
• Substantial editorial experience (5+ years) with progressively increased managerial responsibility in STM publishing required
• Track record in managing a group of successful journals and teams distributed internationally
• Passionate interest in science and scientists
• Proven commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion in science and scholarly publication.
• Strong business acumen
• Wide network of contacts within global scientific communities
• Demonstrated ability to think strategically, to innovate and to implement creative solutions
• Experienced people manager with a track record of managing high-performing teams through change
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal

The base salary range we've established for these positions is £90,000- £104,000. PLOS also offers a comprehenseive benefits package sumarized below.

UK:

• Private medical insurance
• Life assurance
• Income protection 
• Personal accident insurance
• Pension with up to 10% employer match
• 25 days holidays, market competitive Maternity and Paternity leave
• Birthday and three winter holidays days off
• 2 days paid time off for volunteering per year
• Fully remote work environment with stipend on joining for home office

About PLOS 

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst in open science, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse and build upon scientific knowledge.

Our work is supported by a highly skilled global in-house team, partnerships with local scholarly organizations, and the valued contributions of a diverse, international community of scientific researchers.

We’re committed to equal opportunity

We’re working to create a more equitable system of scientific knowledge and understanding. Removing barriers to inclusion and facilitating broad participation of voices is core to our success, inside and out. 

Beyond accepting distinct perspectives, we seek and support divergent backgrounds among our staff because we know differences strengthen our teams, our work, and our communities. We strongly encourage applicants of all identities to join us as we work towards a future where science is open to all, for all. 

Visit plos.org/careers to learn more.