1 Unspecified Opportunity in Greater London

Salary: £36,000 p.a. pro rata (full time, 5 days per week) with 5% increase April 1st annually

Pop Up Projects is a non-profit social enterprise with a mission to transform lives through literature and publishing. Want to join them?

Pop Up Projects, a London-based national children’s literature development agency and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, seeks a dynamic, enterprising and experienced project or programme manager to join our team.

This highly communicative, creative and entrepreneurial role will be pivotal in delivering our flagship non-profit creative and cultural skills programme, Pathways into Children’s Publishing, which over two years will train a next generation of illustrators from under-represented backgrounds to develop the skills and relationships needed to access careers in children’s publishing. They will also develop and manage Pathways Plus, a spin-off year-round programme of paid-for masterclasses, short courses and professional development events.

The current pathways manager is departing in August 2022. We are therefore seeking someone with experience of course, programme and/or project management to finalise and manage delivery of the 2022-2024 Pathways Into Children’s Publishing course. They will also simultaneously manage the Pathways Plus programme, which consists of an average three days per month of paid-for classes and courses.

About Pathways

Pathways into Children’s Publishing is a two-year, non-academic, publishing industry-focused course for talented aspiring and emerging illustrators from backgrounds that are under-represented in children’s publishing. Following a successful pilot (2019-2011) the second and future iterations of the course are now in development, with the next course commencing December 2022.

Knowledge, skills, experience

The right candidate will have:

• Strong experience of developing, delivering and/or managing learning or training programmes or courses (in any context, but ideally within an arts including publishing, CC Skills or higher education context)
• Outstanding relationship management skills (capable of working with 100+ learners and professionals and 25 stakeholder i.e. publishing and academic institutions)
• A passion for equality and inclusion in children’s literature, advocating for and empowering artists of colour, disabled artists, neurodivergent artists, artists from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, and LGBTQ+ artists
• Above all, you must be hard working, exceptional at multitasking, and adept at line managing others to coordinate planning and logistics across the two programmes, which will be running concurrently from January 2023
• An ability to build and maintain multiple types of stakeholder e.g. industry, academic and creative practitioner relationships
• An appetite for trialling, learning from and improving new creative and cultural learning and training experiences
• An enthusiasm for outreach and promotion, marketing and sales
• High levels of responsiveness, problem-solving and entrepreneurship
• Strong content-creation, presentational and communications skills
• Diligence and attention to detail, and in managing complex logistics

You will be working within a small team (of 10 staff members) who are focussed on delivering an ambitious programme of work in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and (occasionally) internationally. Work days for this particular role will include some Saturdays, year-round, and regular travel across the UK.

Please call us on 07830801650 if you need the job description in an alternative format.

Responsibilities

Supported throughout by the pathways coordinator, the pathways manager will:

• Manage and participate in the final stages of recruitment i.e. interviews and selections of and offers to Pathways Into Children’s Publishing 2022-2024 mentees
• Trial and finalise (with an external design agency) and then curate content for our new LearnWorlds learning management platform, through which a majority of Pathways Into Children’s Publishing and Pathways Plus activities will be delivered
• Work with the Executive & Creative Director to put all the people in place to tutor and mentor on Pathways Into Children’s Publishing 2022-2024, commissioning and concluding planning and design of all masterclasses, short courses and professional development events
• Manage relationships, contracts and logistics with multiple stakeholders, partners and professionals involved in funding, planning, delivering and hosting both Pathways Into Children’s Publishing and Pathways Plus programmes
• Build strong supportive relationships with Pathways Into Children’s Publishing mentees, putting in place (supported by external agents) a framework to support their progression and wellbeing through the course, ensuring high retention rates
• Pilot, develop, promote, facilitate, evaluate our first full-year Pathways Plus programme, working closely with the Marketing & Comms Team on associated marketing and sales campaigns and tasks
• Oversee regular internal comms e.g. via regular newsletters to participants and stakeholders (e.g. publisher and university affiliates) and maintain up-to-date content on our website, especially in the new ‘Showcase’ area which will profile past and present Pathways Into Children’s Publishing mentees
• Contribute to the longer term vision and development of both Pathways Into Children’s Publishing and Pathways Plus

Terms of contract

The successful applicant will be offered a permanent full-time contract, subject to an initial probationary period of three months. Once in post, they will work with the Executive & Creative Director and Finance & Operations Manager to establish annual KPIs, which will form part of (thrice-yearly) appraisals.

There will be required overtime, including some Saturdays, with time off in lieu (TOIL). Holiday entitlement will be 25 days per calendar year, plus bank holidays, as well as an average 10 working days off during closure of the Pop Up office over the Christmas and New Year period.

Applicants must be eligible to work in the UK, with supporting documentation, and will be required to work in the London office two days per week.

Application process

Please click 'apply' to find out more and apply.

The deadline for applications is 12pm Monday 20th June 2022. A first round of 30 minute interviews will take place on Thursday 23rd June. A second round of 75 minute interviews will take place on Tuesday 28th June. All interviews will be conducted online. The successful candidate will be offered the position by Wednesday 29th June.

If you have any questions please email medhat@pop-up.org.uk.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.