Vendor Manager, Publishing Operations

*This position is fully remote/home based. Applications will be accepted from candidates based in the UK and the following US states: FL, IL, MA, MD, NY, PA, TX, VA.

Role Summary

PLOS is a nonprofit, Open Access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and medicine by leading a transformation in research communication.

As the Publishing Operations Vendor Manager, you will play a critical role in ensuring PLOS’s publishing workflows are supported by a diverse, high-performing network of external partners. You will lead vendor strategy across the publishing lifecycle, ensuring supplier capabilities align with organizational needs. With a focus on quality, scalability, and continuous improvement, you will foster strong partnerships, oversee procurement and contracting processes, drive best practices in vendor management, and support long-term operational resilience.

Supervisory Responsibilities

N/A- This role will involve management of vendors but will be on the individual contributor track and will not have direct line reports.

Responsibilities

• Oversight of vendor use in end-to-end workflows, ensuring a joined-up and efficient approach
  • Seek continuous improvement in removing departmental silos and promoting cross-functional vendor scoping (e.g. take steps to move vendors to operating across the workflow from submission to publication, rather than siloing on the basis of department).
  • Limit risk to PLOS by ensuring a healthy diversity in the suppliers that support our work, while maximising efficiency and quality
  • Maintain awareness of relative strengths offered by suppliers that offer publishing support, and develop risk-reward scenarios for changing suppliers/opening requests for proposals (RFPs)
• Management of vendor contract renewal
  • Serve as primary point of contact with suppliers/vendors in contract negotiations (cascading to relevant teams/legal where needed)
  • Track contract end dates and alert teams to pending end of contract three months before renewal date
  • Work with internal stakeholders to review and update tasks, volumes and quantifiable and reportable SLAs based on forecast submission and publication volume.
  • Develop forecast of supplier-side headcount (including optimal seniority of roles, where options exist) likely needed to support outsourced work
  • If needed, support negotiation between in-house teams and suppliers to finalise headcount and budget
  • Work with legal to update contracts
• Management of RFP process
  • Serve as primary point of contact with suppliers/vendors in RFP process (cascading to relevant teams/legal where needed)
  • Support Director of Publishing Operations & Customer Care and Director of Editorial in pricing negotiations and budget requirements.
  • Work with external consultant to develop short list of suppliers to approach for RFP
  • Support internal stakeholders in drafting RFP documentation and setting success criteria
  • Serve as primary point of contact with suppliers who are submitting proposals
  • Support internal stakeholders in reviewing proposals and interviewing suppliers
  • With external consultant, support internal stakeholders in selecting supplier who is best placed to deliver services to meet PLOS’ needs and within budget
  • Work with internal stakeholders and legal to develop contract (process as outlined above in contract renewal process)
• Vendor onboarding
  • Serve as primary point of contact with new suppliers/vendors in onboarding process
  • Establish onboarding best practice guidance, including a rollout plan and communications templates
    
    
• Work with internal teams to establish KPIs, service level agreements (SLAs) and auditing framework
  • As part of new contract or contract renewal process, work with internal stakeholders to develop/review plans for monthly quality assurance audits to track adherence to SLAs
  • Serve as primary point of contact with suppliers/vendors in sharing auditing results and developing remedial plans where service falls below agreed levels
  • Where service falls below expected standards, support in-house teams in remediation and review vendor plans to improve performance
  • Work with the Engineering and Product teams to prioritise development of data, reports, and other tools needed to track accountability via auditing process
  • Proactively identify opportunities to reduce in-house time spent auditing
  • Maintain PLOS-side feedback tracker, and coordinate the sending of feedback to suppliers
  • Escalate contract breaches to legal for advice
• Establish a culture of excellence in vendor relationships
  • Develop, maintain and share resources and best practices for vendor management, including how to set appropriate SLAs and audit levels, and how to collect and share feedback
  • Lead training sessions for PLOS staff to share best practices for engagement with vendors
  • Support regular site visits both with external consultant and key contacts from relevant teams.
• Capacity planning
  • Regularly review number of tasks sent to suppliers to ensure volume is as outlined in contract
  • Work with teams to amend contract and headcount as needed
  • Confirm appropriateness of vendor-side headcount once forecasts and reforecasts of submission and publication numbers are available
• Maintain awareness of new supplier-side tools and technologies
  • Regularly meet with suppliers to review tools and technologies that they are developing to support efficient peer review
  • Regularly meet with journal teams (publishing, operations, editorial, production, R&R, publication ethics, customer care) to understand what technologies might be most helpful in supporting efficient peer review and publication
  • Liaise with Digital teams to ensure cross-functional alignment
  • Support demonstrations of potentially useful tools to PLOS teams

Knowledge and Skills

Vendor Procurement and Relationship Management

• Experience in sourcing vendors and managing RFI/RFP processes and onboarding
• Experience in developing and maintaining long-term, collaborative relationships with vendors such as editorial service providers, production partners or copyediting/typesetting vendors.
• Experience in drafting and enforcing service level agreements (SLAs); auditing and analyzing vendor KPIs such as turnaround times, quality scores, and author/editor satisfaction; and managing budget.
• Demonstrated experience in managing multiple vendors across global time zones and high-volume journal portfolios

Publishing Workflow Knowledge

• Understanding of end-to-end publishing workflows including manuscript submission, peer review, production, copyediting, typesetting, and online publication. Familiarity with publishing standards (e.g., JATS XML, DOI registration, ORCID integration), ethical publishing guidelines (e.g., COPE, ICMJE) and compliance issues (e.g., data privacy, accessibility)

Technology and Systems Proficiency

• Familiarity with manuscript tracking systems (e.g. Editorial Manager), production platforms, and content management systems
• Familiarity with tools to increase the accuracy and efficiency of editorial processes and technical checks
• Experience with tools for data tracking and reporting (e.g. Tableau)

Cross-functional and Cross-cultural Collaboration

• Proven ability to collaborate with editorial, production, product and legal teams to align vendor operations with business needs
• Skilled in working across cultures and time zones, with experience managing diverse vendor and stakeholder relationships

Communication and Reporting

• Clear, professional communication style suited to managing both internal stakeholders and external partners
• Strong documentation and reporting skills to track vendor activities and support audits or reviews

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in developing and maintaining productive relationships with editorial and/or publishing services providers
• Advanced degree or certifications in a relevant field (e.g., in procurement, operations, or project management) a plus

Physical Requirements and Work Environment

• Prolonged periods stationary at a desk and working on a computer.
• Some national and international travel will be required.
• Some flexibility to work across time zones.

The base salary range we’ve established for these positions is (US): $75,000 - $83,000 or (UK) £50,000- £54,000. PLOS also offers a comprehensive benefits package summarized below.