Specialist, Content Developer - Secondary English and Primary Literacy

The Modern Foreign Languages, English and Vocational team produces top-quality English resources for both  Primary and Secondary students and their teachers as well as market-leading MFL and Vocational courses. We are responsible for many successful and well-loved courses including Dynamo, Viva, Bug Club and Rapid. This is an opportunity to join a friendly, high-performing team and to help children and young people realise the life they imagine through learning.  

We are committed to equity of opportunity, and we welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the educational publishing industry. We are keen to help people develop their strengths and provide plenty of opportunities for learning within the role and company.  

About the role

Specialist, Content Developer is our top-level editorial role and is ideal for someone who has strong editorial experience. You will work closely with other members of the wider team, as well as with suppliers and freelancers. You will develop a strong understanding of customer and learner needs and use this expertise to create high-quality resources for our portfolio. This role aligns with industry level titles such as Advanced Content and Learning Specialist.

You will initially be spending most of your time on our Secondary English and Primary Literacy lists, supporting our existing products and services and potentially creating new resources to meet customer needs. We are looking for someone who is flexible and willing to help out across the wider team portfolio as needed, with potential opportunities to work across the different subjects and age groups in our list longer-term (MFL, Secondary English, Primary Literacy, Vocational).

Specialist, Content Developer is an autonomous and varied role. Typically a Specialist, Content Developer in our team will carry out activities such as:  

• Managing digital and print educational content through the entire publishing process, ensuring that it is delivered on time, within budget and that it fully meets the needs of teachers and students. 
• Briefing, training and leading freelancers and suppliers and being an escalation point for content and process queries.
• Maintaining a deep knowledge of customer and learner needs and applying this knowledge to your work.  
• Building an in-depth knowledge of our digital content creation tools and using that knowledge to think creatively about how to best shape our content for  an excellent user experience that meets learning outcomes.  
• Working with cross-functional teams including Digital, Rights and Permissions, Design, Media, Technology, Production, Professional Development and Sales and Marketing.  
• Taking a proactive lead on improving processes within your area of responsibility and working collaboratively with colleagues and suppliers to create, challenge and improve team workflows and processes across the wider team.  
• Thinking laterally and proactively providing solutions to everyday problems, identifying any key risks to the project, and escalating these as appropriate.  
• Supporting customers through responding to queries escalated to our team and managing corrections and updates to products as needed.
• Supporting Sales and Marketing colleagues by making sure product messaging is up to date and relevant.
• Supporting Product Managers with customer research.  

This is a hybrid role (mixture of home and office-based working), with 1 day per week based in our Oxford or London office. Occasional travel to Oxford or London for in-person team events will be expected. 

We are looking for people who demonstrate these strengths and behaviours:  

It is essential that you: 

• Have proven editorial and project management skills and extensive hands-on experience of working with educational content for Primary and/or Secondary school learners in a publishing environment;  
• Have experience of briefing, overseeing and working collaboratively with freelancers and/or suppliers;  
• Have a passion for supporting teachers and young learners;
• Have an aptitude for working with technology, including working with digital tools and platforms and using AI to find efficiencies;  
• Have excellent interpersonal skills and enjoy working with others;  
• Are proactive, able to take responsibility and to work autonomously on your given area, whilst also being willing to help out wherever you’re most needed;  
• Have proven organisational, problem-solving and project management skills, while working on complex projects and/or multiple projects and deadlines at once.

It would be an advantage if you:

• Have previous experience of editing or overseeing content for at least one of Secondary English or Primary Literacy;  
• Have experience of working directly with authors to develop manuscripts to ensure they fully meet learners’ needs;
• Have experience of working directly with customer-facing teams to help them support customers;
• Have current or recent experience of working in an in-house editorial role;
• Have a strong understanding of the UK Secondary English market and/or the UK Primary Literacy market and the needs of teachers and students in these areas. 

Benefits and Rewards 

We know you’ll do great work, so we give a lot back with some of the best benefits in the business. We know that one size doesn’t fit all, so our workplace programmes meet the different needs of our diverse teams, and their families too. Please see our attractive UK benefits here: Pearson Jobs – Benefits.

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