Content Commissioning Manager

Location: UK or Poland (residents only – relocation and sponsorship not provided)

Role purpose

The Content Commissioning Manager works with the global product team and supports our position as a leading provider of high-quality ELT courses and contributes to our overall teaching and learning strategy through ensuring suppliers work delivers on the learning design(s) for the segment. Working with the Head of Learning Design, Product Portfolio Managers, the Learning Designer and other key stakeholders, the Content Commissioning Manager manages the pipeline for the learning content elements of the British Council’s proprietary learning products through all stages of product development. S/he is a highly experienced publishing professional, managing outsourcing of content. S/he ensures that content elements of product development projects are delivered within budget, on time and in accordance with defined standards, learning design, and market expectations.

Role context

E&E is a commercially run business with an income of over £700 million per annum generating financial surpluses that are critical to the overall financial sustainability of the British Council. Our work in English teaching generates annual revenues of nearly £200m annually, with activities spanning a global network of 80 English teaching centres in 50 countries, teaching 400,000 students each year, as well as an emerging portfolio of online products and services already reaching over 120 million English learners and teachers annually. Our work in examinations generates annual revenues of nearly £500m and spans English proficiency testing, including the world’s leading English test IELTS (run in partnership with Cambridge Assessment English and IDP) which is now taken by 3 million candidates worldwide each year, as well as the British Council’s own Aptis test, and a wide range of UK school, professional and other qualifications.

Main accountabilities

• Content Development: Collaborates with the Learning Design Manager, the Product Owner and other key stakeholders to scope/define and prioritise projects for the product life stage. Acts as project lead on the development of learning materials, with responsibility for managing schedules, resources and costs. Reviews products to ensure that they adhere to British Council Brand standards, EDI guidelines, project guidelines and stakeholder requirements.
• Commercial and resource management: Ensures adequate resources are in place to support content development. Plans, monitors and reports on schedules, costs, resources and risks associated with content development. Applies agreed systems and processes to plan and monitor project progress to ensure that content development is running to schedule and within budget. Identifies suppliers, tenders and procures goods and services from a full range of suppliers including packagers, publishers and media rights organisations; consultants, editorial and writing service providers; designers and illustrators; video, audio and software producers. Actively seeks to maximise value for money when acquiring resources, goods or services for the team, unit or project. Prepares project guidelines and briefs internal and external suppliers.
• Customer and market focus: Ensure products are customer-focused, and meet market and business requirements, by leading on, or contributing to, market research, product testing and piloting. Responds to issues and requests raised by stakeholders in a timely and appropriate manner. Develops and maintains a sound working knowledge of major developments and issues within the ELT market and e-learning to ensure learning materials are effective and compelling, as well as to build professional credibility, confidence and market insight.
• Risk and compliance: Supports internal monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to maintain effective publishing procedures. Monitors copyright records for British Council and third-party assets. Ensures copyright permissions are cleared before publication.
• Sector and subject expertise: Manages the pipeline for the learning content elements of the British Council’s proprietary learning products through all stages of product development. Manages the outsourcing of content from a range of suppliers, using publishing experience to ensure compliance to contract terms. Project manages learning content development ensuring projects are delivered within budget, on time and in accordance with defined standards, learning design, and market expectations. Contributes to the development and delivery of training, support and knowledge-sharing activities to build skills and capability in the content commissioning team.
• Relationship and stakeholder management: Ensures regular and effective communication and smooth working relationships between team members and external suppliers. Ensures a unified approach across the British Council in relation to product development by collaborating closely with internal stakeholders and teams in the UK and overseas. Provides advice and support to colleagues to ensure products are high quality, cost effective and based on a genuine understanding of the key priorities and best practice within product development.
• Leadership and management: Plans and prioritises own work activities to ensure effective delivery of diverse responsibilities and programme deliverables. Builds teams of external suppliers and manages in-house content developers and project managers; mentoring in-house staff as required. Makes recommendations to the management team on routes to publishing, either through full or partial outsourcing. Provides training and development for staff and new suppliers as required, building capacity to meet requirements. Manages suppliers.
• Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI): To consistently create an inclusive and anti-racist organisational culture, being aware of your own biases and taking action to mitigate against these. Ensuring people feel valued and are treated equitably, with support for people’s well-being and mental health particularly through periods of significant change. Have a deep understanding of and take accountability for putting the British Council’s approach to equality, diversity and inclusion and anti-racism into practice. To make time for and visibly engage with learning and development related to EDI and anti-racism.

Language Requirements

Written and verbal fluency in English.

Certification and Professional Qualifications

• Higher EFL qualification (DELTA, Dip. TESOL, MA or equivalent)
• Postgraduate publishing qualification desirable

Education

• First degree or equivalent qualification/experience

Role specific knowledge and experience

Minimum / essential requirements

• A minimum of three years’ experience teaching English as a foreign or second language to learners
• A minimum of seven years’ professional ELT publishing experience with a proven track record of producing multi-component, multi-level materials, and includes strategic content planning and product management at commissioning editor level
• Experience researching, conceptualising, scoping and setting up new projects.
• Project managing development of print and digital products through the full publishing process, from initial concept through to final product
• Experience of procuring goods and services and negotiating contracts from a large range of suppliers (e.g. packagers; publishers; software developers; freelance print, digital suppliers; media suppliers and copyright holders) to ensure value for money in relation to quality, cost, and ability to meet schedule commitments
• Experience of coordinating, communicating and collaborating with large, dispersed teams and remote working.
• Full time residency in the UK or Poland with unlimited right to work.

Desirable

• Knowledge across the following areas:
• Printing and distribution
• Accessibility and EDI
• Intellectual Property/copyright
• Translations of products
• Market research and testing (e.g. classroom observations, focus groups, learner/teacher interviews, surveys) and data analysis (e.g. competitor analysis, gap analysis, SWOT analysis, LMS data mining) to ensure research methods and research outputs are robust.

British Council values and behaviours

British Council values and behaviours are applicable across our organisation, in all roles and at all levels. They are important because they say what we stand for at the British Council and help us to deliver our strategy. We use them to guide our decision making, as well as guiding how we treat one another and the people we work with. These will be assessed in the selection process. Our values are: Open and Committed; Expert and Inclusive; Optimistic and Bold.

Unit: English & Exams / Product / Content Strategy

Work style: hybrid

Pay band: 8

Annual salary range: PLN 192,000 - 252,000 (Poland) £38,000 - £46,000 (UK)