Sydney-based | Remote working flexibility
1-year fixed-term contract
Major education publishing account
Some flexibility required for UK/India time zones
About the business
Our client is an established global content and publishing services organisation supporting leading education, academic and commercial publishing customers.
The business delivers complex publishing, content production and learning programmes across multiple regions. The team supporting this account includes colleagues across Australia, India and the UK, with delivery managed across different time zones.
Locally, this role will support a key Australian education publishing account, working closely with programme, portfolio and project delivery teams to ensure high-quality outputs, strong client communication and effective operational delivery.
The opportunity
This is a 1-year fixed-term contract for an experienced Programme Manager to support a major Australian education publishing account.
You’ll oversee a programme of work made up of multiple projects, managing delivery, client communication, risk, quality, budgets and team performance. The work involves large-scale, multi-component educational publishing products, typically moving from manuscript through editorial, copyediting, styling, proofreading, QA and final file delivery.
This is a role for someone who understands publishing operations and knows how to keep complex content programmes on track. You’ll work closely with internal teams, external suppliers and customer stakeholders to ensure delivery remains clear, structured and aligned to expectations.
The role is Sydney based, however, remote first. Flexibility will also be important, as you’ll be working across Australia, India and the UK, so there may be some early or late calls each month, particularly around key client or programme meetings.
What you’ll be doing
- Overseeing a large programme of work made up of multiple publishing projects
- Acting as a key point of contact and escalation for the client
- Providing regular programme-level updates and leading client calls where required
- Managing delivery across onshore, offshore, nearshore, in-house and external supplier teams
- Supporting project managers and senior project managers across workflow, delivery and client requirements
- Ensuring products are delivered on time, to budget, to specification and to the required quality standards
- Scheduling and managing editorial stages across large-scale, multi-component publishing products
- Managing workflows from manuscript through to final files
- Briefing and managing external suppliers such as copyeditors, proofreaders and production resources
- Contributing to workflow development, documentation and process standardisation
- Tracking programme risks, resourcing needs, budgets, margins, vendor spend and delivery KPIs
- Supporting RFPs, pricing, contracts and programme-level reporting
- Mentoring and supporting project managers, including identifying training and development needs
- Working closely with portfolio, operations, finance and delivery teams to keep the programme running smoothly
What you’ll bring
- Strong programme or senior project management experience within publishing, content production or learning/education delivery
- Experience managing complex, multi-component publishing projects
- Strong understanding of editorial and production workflows, from manuscript through copyediting, proofreading, QA and final files
- Experience working with external suppliers, freelancers or offshore production teams
- Previous experience managing project managers or coordinating multiple delivery resources
- Confidence managing client relationships, escalations and programme-level communication
- Strong operational discipline across schedules, budgets, quality, risk and reporting
- Ability to work across multiple time zones and manage stakeholders in different regions
- A calm, solutions-focused approach
- Strong attention to detail and an ability to work within specific client processes
- Excellent communication skills and the ability to keep stakeholders informed and aligned
- A flexible, hands-on attitude and willingness to learn the customer’s way of working
Educational publishing experience would be highly regarded, particularly across curriculum, learning content, humanities, modern foreign languages, science or similar subject areas. Broader publishing experience, including academic, magazine, content production or print/digital publishing, may also be relevant if you understand structured editorial workflows and complex production delivery.
Backgrounds that could work well
This role could suit someone from:
- Educational publishing
- Academic publishing
- Learning content production
- Curriculum publishing
- Publishing project management
- Content production or editorial operations
- Print and digital publishing workflows
- Offshore or outsourced publishing services
- Programme management across complex content delivery
The hiring team is looking for someone who can bring structure, manage stakeholders and support project teams through complex delivery requirements.
What you’ll need
- 5-7+ years’ experience in publishing, content production, learning delivery or a similar operational project environment
- Experience managing large-scale publishing or content programmes
- Experience managing or supporting project managers
- Strong knowledge of editorial workflows, supplier management and production stages
- Confidence managing budgets, timelines, risk and quality outcomes
- Ability to work remotely while being Sydney-based
- Flexibility for occasional early or late calls due to international time zones
- Strong client-facing communication and escalation management skills
Why apply?
This is a strong opportunity for an experienced publishing Programme Manager who enjoys complex delivery, client ownership and leading teams through detailed programmes of work.
You’ll work across global delivery teams, support senior stakeholders and help bring structure, consistency and clarity to complex publishing workflows.
Apply now or reach out for a confidential discussion.