Publishing Operations Analyst

*This role is to be filled by an employee working from a remote location within the UK. This role is a 12 month fixed-term contract.

Role Summary

As a Publishing Operations Analyst, you will report to the Associate Director of Workflows and Content Transformation and work across the Publishing Operations team to improve the quality and efficiency of our publishing workflow. You must be analytical in your approach to solving problems, action-oriented in deploying solutions and know how to partner and build consensus to deliver effective changes in support of the organization’s objectives. You will collaborate with department leaders to provide analysis that supports effective vendor management, accurate performance reporting, cost management and continuous improvement. You will work on a dynamic team responsible for driving efficiencies across the end-to-end publishing workflow all in support of PLOS’s transformative mission to promote open science. 

Responsibilities 

Continuous Workflow Improvement

• Lead and participate in projects and initiatives to improve the efficiency of our publishing workflows.  
• Analyze existing and future processes to identify and execute on opportunities for improvement and alignment across our portfolio of journals.  
• Collaborate with stakeholders to develop and pilot new end-to-end publishing workflows and processes including for new products and research outputs, in line with PLOS objectives.  
• Conduct root-cause analysis to proactively identify and design solutions for inefficiencies and errors in our publishing workflows and make recommendations for improvement and standardization.  
• Spearhead development of business requirements for systems functionality necessary to support efficient publishing workflows and act as a power user - configuring systems and processes in support of these activities.  
• Collaborate with teams and suppliers across Publishing Operations and other functions to create plans for process change and ensure successful change management.  
• Define and develop appropriate metrics and measures of performance in publishing workflows that support continuous improvement, management of third party suppliers and excellent change management.  
• Partner with Research Insights and Data teams to ensure that Publishing Operations has the data required to successfully manage BAU processes.  
• Analyze cost and performance data to recommend opportunities to improve performance, simplify processes, deliver cost savings and drive efficiencies.  
•  Build consensus around change initiatives to get buy-in from stakeholders across the organization.  
• Be the expert about our end-to-end publishing workflow and model excellence in continuous improvement and change management practices.  

Teamwork

• Partner with relevant stakeholders on cross-functional initiatives and projects in support of PLOS’s objectives. 
• Represent Publishing Operations in design and deployment of new products, tools and business systems to ensure support of publishing requirements.  
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders, including but not limited to Product, Publishing, Finance, Editorial, Sales and Open Science to ensure optimized value.  
• Solve complex performance issues.  
• Ensure coverage for colleagues as necessary.  
• Foster an environment of continuous improvement: exemplify growth mindset, run regular retrospectives, provide & seek future focused feedback and embrace change.  

General

• Represent PLOS externally (e.g., at conferences, events)  
• Maintains and grows awareness of wider publishing landscape, in particular as it relates to operational and content delivery and transformation workflows.  
• Reflect the company values and culture in all written and oral communication  
• Drives creation of quality initiatives, process change initiatives, and other lean initiatives to enable their functional area to meet and exceed business objectives 

Knowledge and Skills 

• Great analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving abilities 
• Strong management skills 
• Adaptable and capable of working in various paced environments 
• Takes initiative and seeks high performance standards 
• Technological and computer knowledge 
• Proper knowledge on business policies and regulations 
• Ability to multitask 
• Self-motivated and able to work independently 
• Ability to synthesize, document, and present data effectively 

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

• Work is performed in a remote setting 
• Prolonged computer and/or telephone use  
• May require extended periods of sitting 

Qualifications

• Demonstrated scholarly publishing experience preferably in operational or business analytics functions  
• Familiarity with process improvement methodologies such as Lean Six Sigma  
• Confident in working with data in a variety of tools and applications including BI tools like Sisense and Tableau  
• Familiarity with database management software, SQL and VBA a plus  
• Ability to use data to analyze, diagnose and solve content workflow errors  
• Strong collaboration skills and ability to achieve consensus  
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, both written and oral  
• Must be highly organized, detail oriented, and proactive in solving problems.  
• Project management skills and a growth mindset  
• Must be able to work under tight deadlines while achieving a high standard of quality and accuracy.

The base salary range we’ve established for this position is (UK) £42,000 - £47,000. The final salary will depend on several factors, including the candidate’s relevant work experience, skills, education, and other qualifications; the region in which the candidate resides, and internal pay equity with current PLOS employees in similar jobs. PLOS also offers a comprehensive benefits package that will be shared with candidates in the interview process.