This position is based in Hong Kong

What it’s all about:

You are running the show for the country’s Publishing & Production team and collaborating with department heads within the country and around the world. You frequently work with the executive team to set goals, establish department budgets and define our overall vision. Your skill as a communicator helps you translate that vision to the team, and you set the standard for professionalism in everything you do. You know how Travelzoo works and what needs to change in order to maintain growth and provide a positive environment for everyone you manage. You’re collaborative, highly organized and extremely proactive in your approach to everyday tasks. You play one of the biggest roles possible at Travelzoo, and our collective success is tied to your decisiveness, drive, oversight, and leadership.

Responsibilities:

Leadership

• Ensures the Production department runs efficiently, is able to quickly zoom in to problem areas and improve the outcome and efficiency of the department
• Responsible for a country’s publishing & Production team overall – its productivity, happiness, performance, development, content quality and output, and maintaining adequate staff
• Manages the production team salary and headcount budget, as well as travel and expense budget
• Oversees hiring, training and development of the team.
• Directly manages producers in the country
• Collaborates regularly with other business leaders including Production, Product Planning, Sales, Product Development, Editorial, Operations, and fellow country production leaders, including regular scheduled check-ins with the leaders of most or all of these groups
• Manages higher-level production and publishing projects
• Called upon as a leader within the organization; can represent the company in formal settings and industry events
• Spends time understanding the various aspects of the business and collaborating with other business leaders to share learnings and trainings
• Communicates direction of production team and organizational updates
• Speaks on the team’s behalf and conveys upward the needs, ideas and trends
• Holds weekly updates with producers as well as one-on-ones
• Reports weekly to management of the team status, productivity and trending topics
• Strives to see all direct reports and direct manager in person at least once per quarter
• Raises up red flags as needed to Executives, whether client, team, revenue or personnel based
• Meets with HR regularly. Involved in performance improvement and promotion discussions
• Works with production leaders, sales leaders and others directly to address issues, minimizing the need to escalate
• Serves as production and publishing stakeholder as needed in discussions and approval processes

Content & User Experience

• Knows which accounts are missing and why they are missing, across all categories, through regular updates with team
• Has mastered and can execute training on Travelzoo writing style and quality writing and storytelling
• Sets the tone on Travelzoo writing style
• Ensures that we secure the hottest deals from the most desirable clients and merchants for our members
• Checks in regularly on content, variety, wow-ness and editorial makeup of our content, and whether deadlines are met, errors are minimized and successes optimized
  
  

Account Management

• Stays abreast of the trends within each vertical and the teams
• Oversees publishing forecast and knows status of key accounts and all accounts
• Can approve IOs and incentives as needed
• Meets with key clients on occasion as called upon

 Requirements:

• 12+ years in online content editorial and publishing or related field
• Past experience managing a large group of people and projects, public speaking, and implementing processes
• Attended management trainings and/or has an advanced degree with a management focus
• Passion for travel and deals, and able to travel 12+ times/year for business as needed
• Sound skills in reporting and monitoring performance, productivity, budgets
• Excellent communicator, negotiator, collaborator and problem solver
• Able to make tough decisions quickly and communicate those decisions effectively
• Has the “soft skills” to effectively lead and coach publishers on all levels, and guide development
  
  

The Publisher excels at:

• Taking the overall goals and direction of the organization and applying it to the publishing team
• Knowing what’s coming next in terms of products, enhancements and strategies, and developing a communication and rollout plan for the publishing team
• Building consistency in quality and approach across teams
• Identifying and evaluating talent, developing people, and maintaining a solid bench of publishers and leaders
• Leading by example in the way of maintaining high standards and communicating appropriately
• Maintaining budgets and making decisions with the budget in mind