Senior Product Manager, Journals

We are currently looking for a Senior Product Manager to work within our Product Management and Innovation team. This role is advertised on an 18-month fixed term contract, with the opportunity for a permanent role at the end of the contract. We are looking for someone with experience shaping and delivering product strategy across established product portfolios, ideally within digital and commercially focused environments. You will have a strong track record of translating organisational priorities into clear, credible product roadmaps and building the relationships, alignment, and confidence needed to deliver them successfully.

In this role, you will focus on strategic product management and innovation in support of our journals portfolio. As a senior member of the Product Management team, you will work closely with journal leadership and cross‑functional teams to develop and optimise journal products and services that meet the needs of our diverse audiences. A key part of the role will be ensuring that product roadmaps are developed collaboratively, clearly communicated, and trusted. You will bring stakeholders with you, creating shared understanding, engagement, and momentum around roadmap priorities, progress, and outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver a product management strategy for journals platforms, initially focusing on the Publishing Business Modernisation (PBM) programme, ensuring alignment with the Publishing Strategy and organisational goals.
• Own and coordinate and prioritise the author workstream backlog and roadmap, making strategic decisions that balance business value, customer needs, and technical feasibility.
• Ensure the long‑term development and integration of off‑the‑shelf and bespoke functionality delivers superior user and business value.
• Collaborate with Journals leadership and subject matter experts, UX designers, and technology teams to create high‑quality, engaging experiences.
• Develop product roadmaps and manage any adjacent project interdependencies, ensuring timely delivery of milestones.
• Build and maintain strong working relationships with key stakeholders across editorial, publishing, technology, sales, marketing, and customer services.
• Act as a trusted partner to the Head of Journals, Head of OA Journals, and other senior leaders to define, prioritise and implement platform and product strategies.
• Champion a customer‑centric approach to product development, ensuring that stakeholder needs and user experience are central to decisions.
• Develop business cases and ROI analyses for new product initiatives.
• Ensure all platform and product enhancements reflect a clear understanding of user needs, pain points, and behaviours in the scholarly publishing domain.
• Lead the development of compelling product propositions and value communication for diverse journals customer segments.

Main Requirements

• Good degree level or equivalent in Business Administration, technology, science or a related field. (degree in chemical sciences or related subject is desirable but not essential)
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in product management.
• Proven track record of successfully launching and managing the lifecycle of digital products and services.
• Proven commercial and financial acumen, with understanding of various digital learning, licensing and packaging models.
• Experience working and managing relationships with third‑party platform providers.

This role is contractually based at our Cambridge office; however we are currently embracing hybrid working, and therefore you will have the opportunity to also work mostly from a UK location other than this, as agreed with your line manager. Applicants should be aware that an expectation exists that employees will attend our Cambridge or London offices at least twice a month or more frequently if required.

When applying, please provide an up‑to‑date CV and a supporting statement (no more than 500 words) indicating how your skills, knowledge and competencies match the requirements outlined in the job description.

At the RSC, we recognise the benefits of a diverse workforce and welcome applicants from a range of backgrounds to apply. We particularly encourage applications from disabled and ethnic minority candidates. As a part of the Disability Confident Scheme, we endeavour, where possible, to offer an interview to candidates meeting the essential criteria of the role, who has a substantial physical/mental impairment which impacts their ability to carry out day‑to‑day tasks.

We are committed to making our recruitment processes accessible to all and as part of this, we are flexible in the ways we give and receive information. If you would like to apply using a different format, please contact the Recruitment Team at jobs@rsc.org or on +44 (0) 1223 432229 and we will do our best to put any reasonable adjustments in place.

If you have any questions, please contact us at jobs@rsc.org.