Project Manager - Publishing

Project Manager - Operational & Organisational Transition (Publishing / Editorial Ops)
Part time | 20 hours per week | £50p/h Inside IR35 | 3 months | Fully remote or Farringdon | February ASAP start

We’re supporting a confidential transition programme inside a commissioning and publishing function. This sits outside BAU and is focused on reshaping how teams, processes and governance work while day-to-day delivery continues.

They need a Project Manager who’s comfortable inside publishing, editorial or content operations and who has previously delivered operating model and process change rather than technical or IT projects.

This is a short, defined piece of work where you’ll bring structure, pace and clarity while a future state is being put in place behind the scenes.

If you're at a loose end and can look at taking on this role for 2.5 days p/week fully remote we'd love to hear from you, thanks!

The environment you’ll be working in

You’ll be operating across:

• Publishing operations, Editorial workflows, Content commissioning teams, Commercial and finance stakeholders, Senior leadership

If you’ve worked in publishing houses, assessment bodies, education, media, membership organisations or professional services environments, this will feel familiar.

What the role involves

This is centred on operational transition, process clarity and team realignment.

You’ll be responsible for:

Transition planning and control

• Owning the end-to-end transition plan, milestones, dependencies and risks

• Running light-touch governance using RAID logs, decision logs and clear reporting

• Keeping clarity between current state and future state ownership

Team and resource transition

• Coordinating the movement of junior staff between teams without disrupting delivery

• Managing knowledge transfer, handovers and continuity of work

• Tracking onboarding timelines, resourcing gaps and interim capacity risks

Process and workflow documentation

• Mapping and documenting current and future editorial and publishing workflows

• Producing SOPs, RACI/accountability matrices and best-practice materials

• Aligning operational processes such as approvals, expenses, invoice routing and governance checkpoints

Stakeholder coordination

• Acting as the central point between commissioning, editorial, commercial, finance and leadership

• Turning high-level decisions into practical actions for teams

• Maintaining momentum where ownership is unclear or priorities compete

What they’re looking for

You’ll have experience delivering organisational and operational change in environments such as:

• Publishing operations, Editorial operations, Content commissioning, Education / assessment bodies, Professional services

You’ll be confident with:

• Operating model / Target Operating Model (TOM) change

• Process mapping and workflow design

• Knowledge transfer and team transition

• Governance frameworks, RAID and decision tracking

• Working through ambiguity and bringing structure to it

This is not a technical Project Manager role. Experience focused on software delivery, infrastructure or cloud projects won’t be relevant here.

A focused assignment where you’ll make a visible difference quickly inside a publishing and editorial operations environment undergoing change.