Editorial Director

Department: Editorial

Reports to: Managing Director

Level: Director; member of the Senior Leadership Team

Direct reports: Journal Editors (Cell & Gene Therapy, Nucleic Acid, Bioconjugate, Vaccines) and Editorial Assistant

Key relationships: Sales Director, Creative Director, Senior Marketing Manager, Head of Client Success, Head of Digital/Data

Location: Hybrid – three days a week in our London office (10 minutes from Waterloo Station)

Role purpose

The Editorial Director sets the strategic vision and direction for the Editorial Team, ensuring editorial output drives BioInsights’ growth and profitability. This role focuses on building readership in priority areas, aligning editorial commissioning with commercial objectives, ensuring the financial success of journals, and keeping BioInsights at the forefront of publishing innovation. 

The Editorial Director owns BioInsights’ content and the audience it builds: the product our commercial team takes to market. They lead the editorial team, set editorial strategy across the journal portfolio, and ensure every issue is both relevant to its audience and commercially viable to sell. They are accountable for editorial credibility, audience growth in priority niches, and building a team and content operation that can scale with the business over the next three years.

Why join BioInsights

This is a new senior role, created as BioInsights grows. It is a rare chance to lead a respected journal portfolio at the point where the business is expanding what it offers clients.

• Autonomy: real ownership of editorial strategy, with a seat on the Senior Leadership Team 

• Shape the department: set the direction, structure and ways of working for the editorial team

• Take us to the next stage: grow our journals and content products as we expand our offering to clients, including new formats and products.

Key responsibilities

Editorial strategy and portfolio

• Set and own the editorial strategy tied to the company’s two priorities: revenue growth and audience growth.
• Own the 12-month editorial calendar across all titles, agreed with the commercial team 5 months ahead.
• Recommend, on evidence, when a title should be grown, held or closed.

Commercial alignment

• Co-own a monthly editorial–commercial planning meeting with the Sales Director.
• Sign off each issue as viable before sales goes to market: the right topics, sufficient content and clear audience fit.
• Translate market insight from Sales and Client Success into commissioning priorities.
• Own content cost and margin per issue and per journal; share accountability for journal revenue with the Sales Director.

Audience growth

• Accountable for registered audience growth and engagement in priority niches, with Marketing as channel partner.
• Drive journal readership growth by identifying gaps and building the audience base in key subject areas.
• Use data-led commissioning insights to ensure journal content resonates with current and future audiences.

Team leadership and succession

• Line-manage the editorial team: OKRs, performance and personal development.

• Build a succession plan for every role in the team to remove the risk of journal continuity disruptions.

• Build a healthy, ambitious and accountable team culture with clear standards and metrics.

Innovation & publishing expertise

• Stay at the forefront of publishing trends, ensuring BioInsights leads in content innovation and delivery.
• Ensure the department has the right tools, technologies, and systems in place to support efficient, modern, and innovative content delivery.

Workflow and operations

• Design and own editorial workflows end to end: planning, commissioning, review and production handover.
• Own the issue schedule, with an agreed production service level with Creative.
• Introduce tools and AI-assisted workflows that raise output and quality without proportional headcount.

New product development

• Develop new content formats and products with Commercial and Marketing, from idea through business case to launch.

• Provide the editorial and audience evidence for new verticals and products.

What success looks like

By 12 months

• Journal development plan in place for every journal with content targets set and met

• 12-month editorial calendar live and agreed with the commercial team.

• Every title has named, trained cover and documented workflows.

• Succession plan in place for the editorial team.

• All Editors have objectives and development plans that are regularly reviewed.

• Audience baselines and targets set per journal.

• Editorial cost per issue and per content type reported.

Person specification

Essential

• Senior leadership of a content or editorial function in a commercially funded, client-facing business, such as medical communications, B2B life sciences media or specialist publishing.

• Has designed and run editorial workflows across multiple concurrent outputs: planning, commissioning, quality control and deadlines.

• Has led and developed a team, including building cover and succession so the operation doesn’t depend on individuals.

• Commercial fluency: works closely with sales or client services, understands content margin and pricing, and holds the editorial line under pressure.

• Has taken a content product or service from idea to revenue.

• Scientific literacy sufficient to judge life sciences content for quality and relevance, and to be credible with editors, KOLs and clients. A life sciences degree is typical but not required.

• Evidence of leading a team through change.

Desirable

• Audience development or owned-media experience.

• Peer-reviewed journal experience.

• Experience of AI-enabled content workflows.