As an Acquisitions Editor for Criminology & Criminal Justice, you are responsible for strategically filling the pipeline with new content as well as expertly managing your list of active titles. This role lays the foundation for what we build and then market and sell in US College. New approaches and paradigms, author talent recruitment, and consistent updating and revising of core content is the lifeblood of our products and technology platforms. You pull together your knowledge of course markets, the competitive landscape, curricula, instructional design, discipline trends, and the author’s scholarly and creative process to chart a vision and strategy for your discipline that colleagues across US College can understand, support, and champion. You provide leadership at the discipline level, bringing alignment and clarity to our highly collaborative, cross-functional work.

You constantly look to improve your prospecting and list management skills in order to drive better results and root out inefficiency. You back up strategic insights with data analysis and market evidence and then use that knowledge to research, pilot, and implement editorial and market development efforts that drive adoptions and usage.

You work closely with product management, content development editors, product and field marketers, marcomm, and sales to develop and launch our products. An attention to detail and eye for quality are critical to your success, along with an ability to home in on a product’s unique value proposition in a way that clearly articulates how we solve student and instructor problems. You embrace a digital mindset and look for ways to innovate at the nexus of content and technology.

This position is fully remote.

Key Responsibilities

• Market intelligence—be the expert on our customers, both instructors and our ultimate buyers, students. Know who are they, how they make decisions, and understand their key adoption/purchasing criteria. Interact with customers as much as possible—on campus, at conference/customer engagement events, both in-person and virtually.
• The competitive landscape—understand the competition in each course market you oversee, including content/coverage requirements, technology use, instructor resource expectations. Stay on top of who’s innovating and how, from pedagogy and authorship to competing courseware platforms.
• Curricula expertise—understand each course market’s needs when it comes to content/coverage, pedagogy, instructional design, learning outcomes, importance of professional standards/accreditation, and use of technology and translate this knowledge into the products you sign, revise, and develop to reflect evolving market trends. Understand how diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) needs to be included in each course market.
• Author’s process—understand how teacher-scholars do their work and innovate when it comes to a book idea, approach to course material, narrative content, pedagogical features, and updating/revising. Drive improvements with how we work with and train authors to deliver content that takes full advantage of our technology offerings. Manage conflict and have difficult conversations with authors.
• Content acquisition—focused on priority signing targets, recruit author talent, develop first-rate book proposals, write-up clear and persuasive contract proposals, capably negotiate and sign contracts, and take on “warts and all” Publishing Decision discussions about key first editions in development.
• List management—arrange revisions, strategically set schedules, drive efficiencies, provide author care, and take a holistic view of the entire list to ensure optimal cycling, profitability, and product differentiation.
• Market research—run surveys, reviews, focus groups, and 1x1 interviews in key markets to vet the accuracy and depth of content and determine a UVP’s appeal. Collaborate with Content Dev team to set strategy on market research across products and platforms; analyze feedback and data from dashboards and reports to inform decision-making. 
• Market development—feed into product marketers’ plans, execute on “front-end” activities, and actively participate in customer engagement events. Assess lead scoring and conversion rates to help devise better ways to do market dev outreach.
• Marketing communication—provide product and content information for titles promoted via marketing communication activities.
• Content development—work closely with content development editors to set goals and then support CDE ownership of the project and schedule; act as consultant, troubleshooter, and sounding board.  
• New product launches—work closely with product and field marketers to launch your products/titles and present product information at national sales meetings.
• Thought leader—be known externally for making sense of the higher ed publishing industry, your discipline and course markets, and your titles/products.
  
  

  Key Attributes:

  • Expertise – you have a depth and breadth of knowledge and know-how in your specialized field and model best practices within your area of specialization.
  • Ownership – you own goals and objectives for yourself and your team, demonstrating sound judgment, solving problems, and driving for results. You seek feedback and information to better prioritize and analyze potential solutions to actively resolve issues.
  • Partnership – you build relationships, internally across SAGE teams and departments, and externally with authors, SMEs, and customers, to help achieve your goals.
  • Alignment – you set performance goals and objectives as a way to kick off conversation and learning so your team achieves alignment around how they will reach targets. You recognize the impact of change and listen for differing perspectives, yet achieve alignment across the team with careful thought and dogged persistence.
  • Collaboration – you work well within and across groups/teams to maintain high levels of momentum and alignment with our key projects and initiatives. You clearly convey messages and elicit feedback to enable appropriate and right-sized levels of cooperation and coordination. You regularly give feedback to and request feedback from your colleagues and team members.
  • Analytical – you are systematic and apply a structured way of thinking to our business, staying focused on execution. You make data-driven, evidence-based decisions, can handle ambiguity, and make timely assessments.
  • Innovative – you are curious and try new/different/unique ways to deal with challenges. You look to innovate in both big and small ways at the product, platform, and process levels.
  • Resilient – you bounce back and learn from mistakes, operate well under pressure and tight deadlines, and your dedication to SAGE’s mission ensures you stay focused on what matters
  • Accountable – you have integrity, set clear expectations, and deliver on what is planned
  • Ethical – you believe in and live SAGE’s core values and make decisions that always consider respect for people

At least 3-4 years of book acquisition, development, and/or marketing/sales experience, preferably in higher education textbook publishing.

Compensation at SAGE is influenced by several factors, including but not limited to skill set, nature and level of experience, qualifications, and other relevant considerations. We anticipate the minimum full-time salary range for this position to be between $64,000 to $80,000. Please note that the compensation details listed in U.S. role postings reflect the base salary only and do not include bonuses or benefits. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range and additional aspects of the compensation/benefits package for this position during the hiring process. If your desired salary falls outside of this range, we hope you'll still apply as there may be other positions that better align.

In addition to compensation, SAGE offers a highly competitive and comprehensive PPO medical, dental, and vision care benefits package with SAGE covering most of the premium costs. Unique program benefits that support a healthy life, a company-sponsored anniversary trip every 5 years, a 401(k)-matching program of 100% up to 5% of pay, and other significant meaningful benefits. In alignment with our value for education, SAGE offers financial support for bachelors and graduate-level degree programs as well as learning for personal interest.

SAGE offers freedom and autonomy in your day-to-day with hybrid or remote work, depending on the role. Join the nearly 2,000 SAGE employees worldwide who deliver products and services that serve to fulfill our noble goal of education and dissemination of knowledge globally. We’d love to meet you!

SAGE U.S. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Charter

SAGE Publishing is committed to being an inclusive employer where all individuals are treated with fairness and respect, regardless of age, disability, gender identity, marriage and partnership status, pregnancy and parental responsibilities, race, religion and belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

We believe that diversity is a cornerstone of a vibrant culture. We want SAGE to be an organization where the most talented staff and high-potential staff are recruited, have the opportunity to grow, and want to work. We strive to achieve a better representation of diverse talent at all levels, including leadership, across our workforce.