Manager, Funder Relations (Open Access)

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join a leading scientific publisher and help us accelerate the transition to Open Access (OA) and Open Science (OS) for the chemical science community. As Manager, Funder Relations (Open Access) you will support the RSC’s efforts to proactively and systematically engage with key funding bodies globally around OA and OS policy. Your role will be to understand their needs, influence their decisions and profile the RSC as a constructive partner for collaboration.

You will be responsible for coordinating the outreach efforts with funding bodies around OA (and OS). Working with colleagues from around the organisation, you will manage and coordinate mechanisms for building funder relationships, tracking funder policies around OA (and OS) and communicating/disseminating information collated from funder touch-points across the RSC. This role demands a proactive publishing professional with excellent communication, interpersonal and relationship-building skills.

This position is located at our office in Cambridge however we will be happy to consider this role to be home based with occasional travel to our Cambridge office, if you wish to be home based please include details of your availability to come into the Cambridge office in your covering letter. Both national and international travel for conference attendance, site visits and meetings should be expected.

We are looking for:

• An excellent understanding of all aspects of Open Access publishing in terms of the models of dissemination, policy, products and service available and trends within the debate.
• Some knowledge of and experience with the funder landscape.
• Excellent influencing and networking skills
• Good collaboration skills and ability to work with cross functional teams to achieve goals
• Proven strategic abilities and ability to adapt tactical implementation to changing circumstances/priorities
• Good organisational and time-management skills are required together with the ability to work under pressure and to meet deadlines
• An honours degree in a science-related subject is desirable.

• Contacts with the relevant Open Access organisations, funding bodies and communities desirable.

Our international publishing portfolio covers the core chemical sciences including related fields such as biology, biophysics, energy and environment, engineering, materials, medicine and physics. We have been proactive in driving a transition to Open Access (OA) and Open Science (OS) in the chemical sciences, with platinum journals, flipped journals and new OA launches part of our publishing portfolio, and significant numbers of transformational (Read & Publish) agreements in place. Initiatives such as ChemSpider (the free chemical structure database) and our partnership in ChemRxiv (the preprint server for the chemical sciences) are part of our wider efforts around Open Science.

As a not-for-profit publisher, we reinvest surplus funds back into the global scientific community, supporting our mission to advance excellence in the chemical sciences.

If you would like to join us, please apply before the closing date.

Download the full job description here.