Director, Publishing Platforms

posted on Apr 14, 2023
closing date: 2023-05-14

Company: American Chemical Society

Location: Washington, DC

Job Link

Division and Unit Overview

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is the world’s largest scientific membership association and one of the top ten peer-reviewed science publishers in the world. The Publications Division of the ACS has all of the characteristics of a medium-sized commercial STM publishing company: its primary competitors for authors, market-share, and talent are Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer/Nature. It is one of two ACS divisions charged with serving a dual function: generating substantial revenue – currently over $200M – to support the Society’s programmatic activities and fulfilling a core mission of the Society by advancing knowledge in the field of chemistry and the chemical enterprise.

Position Summary

The Director of Publishing Platforms will oversee all aspects of our submission, peer review, and editorial operations systems and technologies. Working closely with business leaders from across the organization, the incumbent will drive our submission and peer review technical strategy to ensure associated products and platforms align with the goals of the Publishing Division and support the needs of all journal publishing functional areas. The incumbent will also lead development of our author experience strategy, which will guide the transformation of our journal publishing technologies.

The Director of Publishing Platforms manages a pool of contracted resources, third party vendors, and a team consisting of a Program Manager (to be hired), Product Manager (to be hired), Sr. Manager of Technical Operations, and Lead Operations Engineer. This team manages the day to day operations of our submission and peer review environments, including release management, site-level configuration, and disaster recovery planning. The Director of Publishing Platforms will report to the Senior Director of Platform Development & Operations, and will collaborate closely with colleagues from across Digital Transformation, IT, and the Division’s Journals Publishing Group.

The ideal candidate will have a strong background in product/platform development and management, and will poses a deep commitment to user experience and operational excellence.

Position Accountabilities

  • Oversee all aspects of submission, peer review, and editorial operations systems and technologies.
  • Directly manage associated capital and operating expense budgets, as well as department/staff budgets.
  • Directly manage ACS Publications’ relationship with technical vendors, following vendor management best practices.
  • Develop and maintain product and platform roadmaps to address end-to-end author experience and operational efficiency.
  • Establish an advisory group of internal stakeholders across ACS Publications to ensure strategic alignment, prioritize resources and development efforts accordingly.
  • Monitor industry trends and conduct user and market research to ensure ACS Publications remains competitive.
  • Track and report on team success and key performance indicators.

Education/Experience and Knowledge Requirements

  • Advanced degree or equivalent combination of education, certification, and experience in IT, product development, operations, engineering, or technical/customer support.
  • 10+ years of relevant experience including 6 or more years of management experience.
  • Extensive experience working on large, innovative, transformational projects and a proven ability to bring cross-functional teams together around a shared vision.
  • Extensive experience collaborating with business stakeholders, internal resources, and third-party vendors.
  • Strong communication skills, both oral and written, and an ability to document and communicate in both business and technical terms.
  • Strong understanding of scholarly publishing workflows.
  • Strong customer service and user experience orientation.
  • Collaborative working style, effective at working with globally dispersed teams to advance projects.
  • Willingness and ability to travel up to 20% of the time.

This position will be primarily based in either our Washington, D.C. office or Columbus, OH office. Remote candidates still encouraged to apply.  

ACS employees work a hybrid work schedule, consisting of working onsite, three days per week. ACS employees are in the office on Tuesday and Wednesday with the third in-office day scheduled in consultation with the manager. While always welcome to work in the office, employees may work the other two days of the week from a location of their choice. New employees are immediately eligible for this hybrid work arrangement. ACS offers relocation assistance, if applicable.

EEO/Minority/Female/Disabled/Veteran