Team Lead, Reviewer Engagement

Location: ​​Pune 

Reports to: Head of Reviewer Engagement 

 About the Springer Nature Group 

Springer Nature opens the doors to discovery for researchers, educators, clinicians and other professionals. Every day, around the globe, our imprints, books, journals, platforms and technology solutions reach millions of people. For over 180 years our brands and imprints have been a trusted source of knowledge to these communities and today, more than ever, we see it as our responsibility to ensure that fundamental knowledge can be found, verified, understood and used by our communities – enabling them to improve outcomes, make progress, and benefit the generations that follow.   

About the Brand

Springer Nature Technology and Publishing Solutions is the technology and publishing solutions arm of the Springer Nature Group. We leverage our insight in the publishing domain and acquire, produce and deliver content across media and markets using our Technology and Publishing Solutions. With a focus on technology driven solutions and deep insight in the publishing domain, Springer Nature Technology and Publishing Solutions offers a range of services that help our Group brand acquire, produce and deliver content in the most efficient ways possible. We are driven by over 1000 professionals in Technology, Research & Analysis and Marketing shared services.

About the Role   

Springer Nature works with over 1m peer reviewers to ensure that the content that we publish can be trusted by the academic community. The Team Lead, Reviewer Engagement is responsible for leading a team dedicated to recruiting and managing peer reviewers for Springer Nature journals. They will oversee a team of Specialists and Associates, ensuring the recruitment pipeline – from screening and onboarding to reviewer support – is efficient, effective, and aligned with the organization’s goals. 

Beyond day-to-day team management, the role involves strategic planning, process improvement, and developing initiatives to build engagement with the research community, creating opportunities growth and career development for the reviewers. The Team Lead will collaborate closely with the Head of Reviewer Engagement and the Communications Manager on outreach efforts, performance monitoring, and strategies to maintain high reviewer engagement and satisfaction. Reviewer satisfaction is a critical success metric for the role, with Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) forming core KPIs. 

Roles Responsibilities

Team management: Ensure team resources are effectively deployed to meet the needs of the organisation and individual team members. Responsibilities include: 

• Recruiting, training and managing a high-performing team of recruitment specialists and associates. 

• Driving and coordinating recruitment priorities for the team, ensuring a high-quality service is delivered in a timely manner and that targets are met. 

• Promoting a culture of continuous improvement; ensure that all team members can contribute to the development of recruitment processes through feedback and identification of opportunities for improvement. 

Deliver and implement the Reviewer Engagement strategy: Work with Head of Reviewer Engagement to develop the reviewer recruitment strategy. Responsibilities include: 

• Collaborating with the Head of Reviewer Engagement and Reviewer Communications Manager to develop the recruitment strategy within the team. 

• Updating and developing training resources for the recruitment team to maintain best practices. 

• Providing monthly reports on team progress against KPIs. 

• Identifying and implementing changes in practice to improve performance against KPIs. 

• Contributing to the development of tools and services that help internal and external colleagues identify suitable candidates. 

Recruitment process management: 

• Overseeing and continuously developing the recruitment pipeline, from screening to onboarding and performance management. 

• Engaging internal and external stakeholders to develop pools of candidates to support recruitment needs, ensuring that goals and processes are clearly communicated to all parties. 

• Contributing to continuously improving tracking, recruitment and performance review processes. 

Support Editorial Board recruitment.  

• Data management and analysis 

• Using pre-defined criteria, develop datasets based on fields to identify candidates for recruitment 

• Creating scalable performance management process that our internal teams can use to optimise the performance of editorial boards in collaboration with our reporting and technology partners 

• Customer Engagement. Engaging EiCs, EBMs and internal publisher teams with the recruitment process, ensuring that goals and processes are clearly communicated to all parties 

Key Relationships 

• Work with the Head of Reviewer Engagement to develop and deliver the recruitment strategy. 

• Manage a team of recruitment specialists and associates. 

• Collaborate with various departments to develop pathways for candidate recruitment. 

• Liaise with external and internal teams to ensure that recruitment processes are optimized and relevant to needs. 

• Work with the business intelligence team to ensure that recruitment data needs are met. 

Experience, Skills & Qualifications 

Experience - 4+ years

Skills:

• Line management experience (remote management preferred). 

• Experience of STM journal publishing, with a good understanding of peer review and the role of external peer reviewers 

• Experience in recruitment, with a good understanding of recruitment processes. 

• An understanding of the needs of candidates and a passion for professional development. 

• Experience in stakeholder management at all levels of seniority. 

• Experience in working with and building productive relationships with external stakeholders. 

Qualifications       

• University degree, preferably in a relevant discipline. 

• Additional certifications in recruitment or management (desirable, not essential). 

Please Note- In accordance with our internal career movement guidance, 12 months in current role is a requirement before applying to a new role