Director, Higher Education of Content Services ( Remote )

Job Summary

Reporting to the Senior Vice President, Publishing Services, the Director, Higher Education Content Services is responsible for managing the bid development, project personnel and delivery of content for all higher education publishing projects.

Principal Duties And Responsibilities For This Position

Bid Development

The Director, Higher Education Content Services is accountable for sustainable financial growth for higher education content services by responding effectively to opportunities. The Director, Higher Education Content Services must

• Lead the response to bids for Higher Education Content Services, including building P&Ls, establishing pricing, and providing samples and narrative responses;
• Contribute information as requested to support sales and marketing efforts;
• Maintain general subject-matter expertise and knowledge of educational trends and practices, especially in digital products.

Project Personnel

The Director, Higher Education Content Services is accountable for managing and providing professional learning opportunities for a best-in-class team higher education content professionals. The Director, Higher Education Content Services must

• Build and maintain a robust rolodex of higher education content SMEs;
• Supervise and mentor staff and contractors;
• Develop staffing plans for higher education content projects;
• Manage staffing levels and competencies in accordance with forecasted revenue;
• Manage communication among staff and represent team in communications with other Aptara departments and personnel as required;
• Provide support and model best practices for the Higher Education Content Team.

Delivery of Higher Education Content Projects

The Director, Higher Education Content Services is accountable for the delivery of higher education content projects at the highest level of quality in accordance with project schedules and budget. The Director, Higher Education Content Services must

• Develop and maintain standards for delivery of higher education content;
• Represent the Higher Education Content Team and Aptara in pro-active and clear communication with clients;
• Monitor projects to ensure client satisfaction and retention;
• Problem-solve and provide solutions;
• Ensure overall quality of higher education content.

MEASURE(S) OR INDICATORS OF EFFECTIVENESS

Performance in this position will most often be measured or evaluated by:

• Successful working relationships with clients demonstrated by feedback and renewal business from clients.
• Successful working relationships with colleagues and staff demonstrated by feedback and willingness to collaborate on future projects.
• Quality and timely delivery of project deliverables to the client.
• Attainment of budget goals.

Qualifications

• Minimum of eight years' experience within the higher educational publishing field;
• Experience in developing print and digital educational higher education materials;
• Demonstrated experience in leading teams across multiple locations;
• Demonstrated competence in personnel management and development and management of staffing plans, project budgets, and schedules;
• Established network of higher education SMEs;
• B.A. or B.S. degree required; master's degree preferred.

LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT

As a member of the leadership team at Aptara, all individuals in this position are expected to meet the following expectations and to demonstrate these behaviors in the execution of their job.

Leadership Responsibilities

• Behaves in a way that demonstrates an understanding that we are leading by example all the time.
• Sets everyone up to succeed.
• Participates in a strategic vision for the department or area of responsibility and develops and implements plans for its attainment.
• Advocates passionately projects or other undertakings that forward the vision and mission of Aptara or the team.
• Communicates concise expectations, goals, and directives in a way that they are accepted and acted on by the team.
• Effectively manages the performance of others; coaches and develops team members to meet their performance expectations.
• Encourages continuous learning and professional development.
• Identifies top talent in subcon resource pool and builds effective working relationships with them through project communication.
• Evaluates input and makes timely and valid decisions. Communicates them appropriately.

Business Management Responsibilities

• Understands the business of Aptara and approaches all decisions and actions from a total business/total cost perspective; uses sound business judgment in making these decisions.
• Is sensitive to client needs and perspectives; effectively converts client expectations into Aptara and team expectations.
• Ensures that the cost, quality, timing and technical expectations of every project or undertaking are mutually understood by team members and clients, and are achieved by team members.
• Escalates issues to managers in a clear and timely way.

Communication Responsibilities

• Communicates expectations and provides concise and consistent feedback to all team members.
• Motivates others through actions, positive reinforcement, and personal enthusiasm.
• Listens actively to team members, clients, peers and managers; stays open-minded in responding to them.
• Communicates any support needed to be effective to Vice President, Content Development in a clear and timely way.

Organization And Planning Responsibilities

• Effectively plans and manages use of time based on the priorities and goals of the organization.
• Breaks high level goals into tasks and assignments; sets priorities and manages performance on those tasks.
• Anticipates needs and potential problems and implements preventive action.
• Analyzes problems to identify context, causes and effects, and initiates appropriate containment and corrective action.
• Demonstrates creative and critical thinking by identifying alternative solutions to difficult problems.
• Learns from all problems and draws lessons from them that can be applied to other situations.

Leadership performance is measured by the willingness of others to follow; the performance levels of the team and individual team members; and by the measure of results attained.

CULTURAL COMMITMENT

The following items reflect critical components of the Aptara culture and are expected of everyone at Aptara.

Team Member Responsibilities

• Works effectively with others; looks for and takes advantage of opportunities to help others.
• Shares knowledge and information willingly and openly.
• Is more passionate about the solution than the problem.
• Actively supports the spirit of teamwork, including participation in Aptara improvement-related programs.

Personal Responsibilities

• Acts for the greater good of Aptara.
• Leads by positive example.
• Cares about the quality of work and pays attention to detail.
• Takes personal responsibility for achieving objectives.
• Demonstrates commitment to personal growth and learning and applies knowledge in a variety of situations.
• Treats other with respect: values differences and honors the perception of others.
• Demonstrates flexibility and willingness to perform above and beyond expectations to achieve objectives.
• Displays initiative in seeking new work when time is available.
• Effectively manages time and priorities.

Business Responsibilities

• Provides clients-internal and external-the highest level of customer service.
• Demonstrates fiscal responsibility: recognizes the financial implications and opportunities of every decision.
• Understands the expectations of clients-internal and external-and what impact they have on the work to be done.
• Is aware of what Aptara or the team has been contracted to do and operates within that scope, raising an alert when discrepancies are observed.
• Identifies opportunities to simplify processes, reduce costs, and improve productivity.
• Identifies and communicates potential business opportunities for Aptara.

Communication Responsibilities

• Willingly communicates and exchanges knowledge and information to assure that mutual expectations are understood.
• Actively listens to others.
• Exhibits respect for others at all times when communicating internally or externally.

Employment Type: Full Time

Years Experience: 5 - 10 years

Bonus/Commission: No