Managing Designer

About Springer Nature Group

Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 175 years our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood and used by our communities – enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow.

About the Brand

Macmillan Education provides world-class content in the most relevant, engaging and flexible formats to support students, teachers and institutions in lifelong learning. Visit macmillaneducation.com and follow @MacmillanEducation / @MacmillanELT

Managing Designer

Working within the Publishing Content Development team, the Managing Designer works closely with the colleagues in the Publishing and Brand Management teams from initial concept stages of a number courses, providing creative vision and direction, and establishing a strong, market-leading design and brand identity for each product and course. The Managing Designer selects, commissions, and manages third party vendors, whilst providing creative input, support and advice to both internal and external teams, ensuring that all assets are produced to the highest quality and are consistent and faithful to the brand, whilst ensuring agreed schedules and budgets are maintained.

Key tasks:

Project work:

• Understand the Investment Approval (IA) process, prepare and manage budgets for projects, ensuring that the most accurate costs possible are submitted for IA

• Make sure that relevant briefs are provided and provide continued support and advice for achieving the highest quality, while adhering to agreed budgets, schedules and processes

• Drive the development and creation of the design concept, working with the project team

• Support the Content Architect in the preparation of authoring templates based on the design concept for subsequent XML creation and capture at the authoring stage

• Champion the re-use of assets from other projects wherever possible in order to make cost and schedule savings and promote efficiency

• Maintain clear and regular communication with project team throughout, feeding into required project reports and updates, and highlighting risks as soon as possible.

• Follow and champion agreed best practice with regard to workflow at all times. Provide support and advice to project teams to ensure that key milestones are maintained and that production process is slick and efficient.

• Manage the timely delivery of all final files and assets from the vendor, ensuring they comply with agreed file formats for print and digital production.

• As each project is delivered, archive all files and supporting documentation in agreed format and structure

• Support colleagues in the wider business, ensuring that any course materials and content are supplied as required and in a timely fashion

• Attend photo shoots, image selection meetings, video recordings, as required

Freelance and supplier management

• Select, engage, brief and pro-actively manage suppliers according to the needs of the project (including reviews of work for quality control purposes)

• Complete all necessary documentation associated with contracting suppliers, including two-way feedback on quality of work

• Quality assure all work commissioned, providing clear and timely feedback, and escalate issues to Content Delivery management and project team as appropriate

• Develop clear knowledge of current supplier capabilities and proactively suggest where training and/or additional expertise is required in order to plug gaps.

Market awareness and training

• Understand Macmillan Education’s publishing strategy and the company’s business goals

• Keep up to date on ELT and general publishing issues, particularly ELT/EFL in an international context

• Participate in training courses for continuing professional development

• Keep abreast of competitor activity with a view to their potential impact on Macmillan Education’s products, as well as current trends in educational design in order to make informed decisions and advise accordingly

Key relationships:

Within the Publishing Content Development Team

• Design & Media Development Manager – Line manager

• (Senior) Managing Designer(s)

• (Senior) Media Producer

• (Senior) Development Editors

Works closely with colleagues in:

• Delivery

• Publishing Strategy and Concept

• Digital Operations

• Business Programmes Office

• Production

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

• Educated to degree level or equivalent combination of education and experience

• Demonstrable InDesign and InCopy proficiency

• Creative and innovative design skills, with an exacting eye for detail. Excellent level of visual literacy.

• Strong, clear communication and negotiation skills, both written and oral in English

• Excellent organizational skills and an ability to prioritise based on the needs of the business

• Knowledge of publishing processes for print and digital

• Able to manage budgets and schedules

• Proven commercial focus in terms of cost management

• Able to solve problems independently and deliver results in an ever-changing environment

• Flexible and adaptable, able to react quickly to changing requirements and new challenges

• A commitment to lifelong learning evidenced by a willingness to continually develop skills and knowledge

• The ability to manage a varied and demanding workload

• Experience in Publishing (ELT setting an advantage)

• Experience of commissioning and managing publishing/production/design vendors

• Experience of managing budgets and schedules

• Experience using Adobe Creative Cloud (in particular, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc.), Microsoft Office, Mac and PC platforms

• Understanding of XML

• Proven technical knowledge in terms of how content interrelates to platforms and applications

• Experience with rights and permissions

• Experience of managing multiple components simultaneously in a publishing environment

• Experience of working with company systems and data and a willingness to learn and fully engage with all such systems

• Experience of working across multiple regions in cross functional project teams

• A genuine interest in ELT/language learning and more general education

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