General Manager - Editorial Operations - Publishing

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES: We are seeking a senior, highly motivated Manager with 10+ years of professional experience to oversee and optimize end-to-end peer review and scholarly publishing operations across a portfolio of journals. In this role, you will lead a dedicated editorial support team responsible for maintaining high publication standards, accelerating peer review turnaround times, and ensuring compliance with industry publication ethics. Reporting to the Department Lead, you will drive operational strategy, manage reviewer selection workflows, and maintain strong relationships with authors, reviewers, and external editorial boards. DESIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE: - 10+ years of progressive professional experience, with a substantial background in academic publishing, journal management, or editorial operations. - 5+ years of direct managerial or supervisory experience leading teams, managing performance, and overseeing complex workflow operations. - A Masters degree or equivalent professional qualification; an academic background in life sciences, STEM fields, or research administration is preferred. - In-depth understanding of scholarly journal publishing models, peer review frameworks (single/double-blind, open peer review), and ethical publication standards (e.g., COPE guidelines). - Advanced familiarity and hands-on operational experience with major online submission and tracking systems (e.g., ScholarOne Manuscripts, Editorial Manager, or eJournal Press). - Strong command of professional written and verbal English communication, with experience managing high-stakes international stakeholder interactions. - Proven track record of optimizing process-driven workflows, tracking journal performance KPIs, and resolving operational bottlenecks. - Demonstrated excellence in customer support, maintaining high satisfaction standards for authors, peer reviewers, and Editors-in-Chief. - Strong strategic thinking, data analysis, and change-management skills to adapt team operations to evolving academic publishing trends and open-access mandates. WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING: - Strategic oversight of daily peer review administration to consistently meet and exceed target metrics for speed, decision quality, and publication volume. - Leading, mentoring, and managing performance for a team of Reviewer Selection Editors and editorial assistants, supporting their career development and workload distribution. - Establishing best practices for identifying, vetting, and securing qualified international peer reviewers using bibliographic databases (e.g., PubMed Central, Web of Science, Scopus). - Ensuring strict adherence to editorial policies, conflict-of-interest checks, and ethical publication guidelines across all managed journal titles. - Conducting high-level data analysis on operational metrics (e.g., time-to-first-decision, acceptance rates, reviewer response rates) to drive continuous workflow improvements. - Serving as the primary point of escalation for complex editorial issues, severe reviewer delays, and publication ethics inquiries. - Partnering with Editors-in-Chief, editorial boards, and internal executive publishing teams to align operational output with long-term journal strategy. - Maintaining accurate records, managing board reporting, and ensuring data integrity within central publishing systems. - Leading key departmental initiatives, strategic software migrations, and process innovation projects.