Job Description

In delivering social science that makes a difference the Research Divisions, Units, Institutes and Centres of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) undertake policy-oriented research from its offices in Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, and Pietermaritzburg. Our public purpose mandate is set out in the Human Sciences Research Council Act of 2008.

HSRC Publishing is a small but prolific and innovative publishing house of social science and humanities scholarship and outstanding non-fiction from and about Africa and the global south.

The publishing house has a vacancy for a Commissioning Editor. This will be a permanent appointment, and the successful incumbent can be based in either the HSRCs Cape Town or Pretoria, based office

COMMISSIONING EDITOR (1 Position)

Ref: HSRC COM ED 02/2023
Minimum Requirements

• Relevant tertiary qualification will be a post graduate degree or diploma, ideally in the Humanities or the Social Sciences or related disciplines;

• Relevant experience in the publishing industry, preferably in academic book publishing;

• Thorough knowledge of Microsoft Office, Excel, email and the internet;

• Ability to prioritize tasks and work effectively to demanding deadlines;

• Willingness to undertake local travel;

• Work with budgets, databases and planning tools;

• Demonstrate highly developed people, teamwork and negotiation skills;

• Highly organized administrative skills.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Commission and manage new scholarly book projects for all three imprints;

• Establishment of the five-year publishing plan in line with the business strategic plan;

• Assist in the planning and conceptualisation of publishing projects;

• Manage peer review processes;

• Manage commissioning and manuscript review processes;

• Manage the pre-production phase of projects including budgets, contracts and schedules;

• Identify new authors where applicable and work sensitively and efficiently with all author;

• Fulfil where needed the role of editorial board secretary;

• Manage new book handover processes from commissioning to editorial;

• Manage the administration for all author contracts, partnership and license agreement;

• Brief marketing and editorial colleagues on relevant book information;

• Manage backlist.

APPLICATIONS:

• A cover letter of motivation indicating your suitability and goals for the position.

• A detailed CV, as well a certified ID copy.

• The details of three recent referees with telephone/cell number, e-mail, contact details and institutional affiliation.

The HSRC will only consider applications that comply with the above requirements.

Please note that applicants may be required to complete a written test pertaining to this position.

Please register and submit your application on-line at

Application Instructions:

• Candidates can make use of their mobile devices or any browser to register on the Neptune recruitment site, as well as to make application for available vacancies

• Candidates will be prompted to upload their CVs; Please not that currently the system cannot accept multiple, separate, attachments, please ensure that you PDF your C.V and ALL your supporting documents into one file, and attach it when prompted to do so for your C.V document, ensuring that it complies with the file size below;

• Attachments must be less than 1MB, there is an on-screen option to resize.

Enquiries about the nature of the position, and NOT applications, may be directed to Mr Jeremy Wightman at jwightman@hsrc.ac.za

The HSRC is committed to accelerating the improvement in the proportion of its staff complement who are SA Citizens, black, female or disabled.

Closing date: 23 February 2024. We encourage applicants to submit prior to this date. Applicants who have not been contacted within eight weeks should assume that their application has been unsuccessful. Only applicants who are interviewed will be advised of the outcome of their applications.

The HSRC reserves the right not to make an appointment.

APPLICATIONS FROM RECRUITMENT AGENCIES WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED

HSRC