Finalisation and Publishing Supervisor

SUMMARY:
An experienced Publishing Supervisor is needed to supervise and plan daily manuscript post-acceptance production and publication activities for our client in the education sector.

This role will collaborate closely with authors, editors, and other stakeholders to address any editorial or production-related queries or issues, maintaining high-quality standards throughout the publication process.

POSITION INFO:
Responsibilities:

• Supervise a team of language editors, proofreaders and production staffing, assigning tasks, providing guidance, monitoring the workflow to ensure a timely completion of tasks.
• Ensure the edited and proofread manuscripts meet the standards in language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity and adherence to the journal style guidelines.
• Coordination of the editing and proofreading process for the submitted manuscripts, assign tasks to editors and proofreaders, oversee revisions based on author feedback and recommendations.
• Manage the galley proofing process, including reviewing typeset proofs for accuracy, consistency, formatting errors and adherence to journal specifications before the final publication.
• Oversee the full publication process including coordination with authors, reviewers, editors, and production teams to ensure the accepted manuscripts progress through the production pipeline according to the publication schedule to ensure the deadlines are met.
• Develop and implement production schedules, ensuring timely publication of all content.
• Identify opportunities to streamline language editing, proofreading and production workflow, implement processes.
• Provide training and coaching for language editors, proofreaders and production staff to enhance their skills, knowledge and proficiency in scholarly publishing standards.
• Quality control procedures, such as style guidance, consistency checks, quality assurance measures.
• Collaborate with the editorial, production and publishing teams to ensure effective communication, coordination and alignment of goals.
• Conduction of regular performance evaluations for the team, provide feedback on performance, and identity area of improvement or professional development.
• Staff recruitment, selecting, orientating and communicating job expectations.
• Achieve high levels of customer satisfaction through excellence in production editing, proofreading, and publishing quality manuscripts to the public and other departments.
• Control and monitoring the budget.
• Provide quality service by enforcing quality and customer service standards.
• Confer and coordinate activities with other departments as needed.

• Proven work experience as a supervisor or relevant role. 
• Proficient in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and other English-language skills.
• Accuracy and attention to detail.
• Ability to plan and execute complex production schedules with precision.
• Proven ability to direct and coordinate operations. 
• Highly effective supervisory skills and techniques. 
• Familiarity with company policies and legal guidelines of the field. 
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. 
• Strong organisational, time management and leadership skills. 
• Ability to manage and prioritise multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to work well under pressure. 

• Database user interface and query software.
• Project management software / ClickUp software.
• CRM Software.
• Microsoft Office.

• 2-3 years of experience in publishing, with previous supervisory experience.
• Bachelor's degree in People Management, Production Management, Publishing, Journalism, or a related field, or equivalent experience.
• A valid drivers licence. 

• Familiarity with HTML, XML and ePUBs. (Familiarity with publishing software and technology).

• Knowledge of scholarly publishing processes and best practices, including peer review workflows and editorial standards.

• Good language skills in official South African languages would be advantageous: Afrikaans, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sesotho, Sepedi, and Setswana.