Our client, develops, publishes, markets, and distributes computer software and games.

We are seeking an Information Development and Design Group Manager for their offices in Cambridge.The IDD group’s role is to identify and analyse key communications issues and design, develop, and support solutions for developer, consumer, and business communications.

This position will supervise six contractors initially, with responsibility to manage growth to fifteen or more technical writers, editors, translators, and production software engineers.

Job Purpose:

Responsible for managing all areas of information and design development in Cambridge.

The following activities will be required:

• Definition of the overall direction of the Cambridge IDD group.
• Management of staff including personnel management, resource management, reviews, training, mentoring and recruitment.
• Proactive business analysis and strategy formulation to meet business needs in consultation with management, the Director and, as required, the managers of other groups.
• Management of technical communication and software localization projects including scoping, analysis, planning, estimation, budgeting, tracking, risk management, stakeholder relationship management, and contractor management.
• Provision of monthly management and exception reports to the Director summarizing the group’s activity, progress against objectives, as well as project risks and demand for consulting and services.
• Communication and collaboration with local and global counterparts at other group companies regarding policies, procedures, operations and workflows.

Communications and Working Relationships:

This role will report to the Director of Information Design and Development.

Relationships will be built with counterparts in America and Asia, and with client project managers and stakeholders in the corporation. Vendor relationship management is also required, often in cooperation with other groups and areas.

Key Responsibilities and Deliverables:

1. Represent IDD Cambridge in information design and development discussions within multiple corporate units, ensuring that business needs are met.
2. Develop and maintain relationships through multiple functions or departments to negotiate, influence, and communicate complex data.
3. Ensure that set-up is efficient, cost-effective, secure and robust, avoiding key man dependency. Develop a strategic balance between the general requirement for knowledge transfer to software developers and consumers and the return on investment in information products and delivery vehicles.
4. Manage the growth of Cambridge IDD to meet technical knowledge requirements in the European territory.
5. Manage growth of the group’s localization capability to provide a European interface localization function for a range of hardware and network-based products.
6. Direct and track the overall direction of the European business, discussing with management, all changes that might impact strategic plans for the group.
7. Provide leadership and general management of IDD staff responsible for large technical information and localization projects, ensuring that I technical communications and localization managers prepare project plans in coordination with engineering, engineering management and other client companies.
8. Set and monitor project prioritization and manage dynamic allocation of resources as appropriate. Ensure that project details are tracked and proactively reported using designated project management systems and software.
9. Manage IDD Cambridge staff, interacting with staff on a weekly basis, face-to-face. Ensure that each IDD manager and permanent staff member has a clearly defined job role and an up-to-date skills inventory for performing that job. Create career plans with each individual, covering training and development, and changes in job role. Provide mentoring to those who want to take a management path. Provide performance appraisals and salary reviews.
10. Recruit, hire, train, and supervise IDD management and staff, as required. As appropriate, arrange for the training of existing staff to fill skills gaps, and consider use of other staff from complementary business units.
11. Supervise IDD Cambridge project managers, ensuring they keep all projects under control and provide deliverables in a timely, cost-effective manner. Manage stakeholder relationships.
12. Collaborate with R&D engineering management to develop strategic plans that support technical knowledge transfer to 1st and 3rd party software developers.
13. Assign and prioritize IDD Cambridge projects among IDD Cambridge functional units.
14. Ensure that project managers are aware of, and trained to use, relevant policies, procedures, standards, communications protocols and tools.
15. Set and monitor quality standards for information design and development work project and consultancy, providing direct, constructive feedback, creating measurable performance goals, and motivating team members to strive for excellence.
16. Proactively identify issues impeding successful delivery; drive those issues to resolution; identify and solve problems as or before they arise.
17. Provide the IDD Director with management-level reporting of progress against project objectives and schedules.

Person Specification:

Essential

Experience

• A bachelor’s in a technical or language-oriented discipline. (eg., BA, BSc).
• A minimum of ten years experience in the technical information development and localization industry in a global context
• Experienced in budget development and cost management
• Record of success in staff development and team building.
• Experienced in use of formal appraisal and performance management processes.
• Strong interpersonal and leadership skills in order to coordinate between diverse functional (sometimes remotely based) groups and lead multidisciplinary teams to achieve project goals.
• Detail and process-oriented, able to monitor and enforce compliance with existing information design standards and contribute to the creation and implementation of new standards as the need arises.
• Familiar with the general technical and process requirements of software localization projects.
• Adept at identifying and evaluating new tools and technologies related to technical information development and localization, conducting pilot projects, and justifying expenditures, when necessary, to IDD management.
• Technical, editorial and production experience sufficient to professionally guide management and staff in the authoring, editing, and publishing of technical information for developers and localization of software interfaces for the European market.
• Strong business management and planning skills, including business requirements analysis, resource allocation, and budget management.
• Ability to develop a conceptual grasp of the technical information requirements of the developer community.
• Ability to master the concepts of IDD and third-party technical documentation and localization automation software and routinely use IDD project management systems, content management systems, and databases.
• Understanding of principles of, and experience with, single-sourcing technologies, including those which apply markup subsets of SGML such as XML.
• Conceptual understanding of the source control systems used during software development.
• Ability to develop a conceptual knowledge of general object-oriented programming principles and game programming principles including, but not limited to, 3D graphics programming.
• Strong communication skills
• Strong listening and analysis skills
• Mentoring skills
• Project management
• Risk management
• Expectation management
• An interest in computing, high tech and consumer electronics
• An ability to work with highly skilled staff and management of long tenure, and gain their respect
• A general ability to work autonomously with low levels of management input, seeking guidance as appropriate
• High degree of professionalism
• An advanced degree or professional certification requiring formal training (i.e., MBA, MA, MS, Ph.D.)
• More than fifteen years of experience

Knowledge and Qualifications

• Strong business management and planning skills, including business requirements analysis, resource allocation, and budget management.
• Ability to develop a conceptual grasp of the technical information requirements of the developer community.
• Ability to master the concepts of IDD and third-party technical documentation and localization automation software and routinely use IDD project management systems, content management systems, and databases.
• Understanding of principles of, and experience with, single-sourcing technologies, including those which apply markup subsets of SGML such as XML.
• Conceptual understanding of the source control systems used during software development.
• Ability to develop a conceptual knowledge of general object-oriented programming principles and game programming principles including, but not limited to, 3D graphics programming.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong communication skills
• Strong listening and analysis skills
• Mentoring skills
• Project management
• Risk management
• Expectation management

Personal Characteristics

• An interest in computing, high tech and consumer electronics
• An ability to work with highly skilled staff and management of long tenure, and gain their respect
• A general ability to work autonomously with low levels of management input, seeking guidance as appropriate
• High degree of professionalism

Desirable

• An advanced degree or professional certification requiring formal training (i.e., MBA, MA, MS, Ph.D.)
• More than fifteen years of experience

Health and Safety

All employees are subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act. The post holder is required to pro-actively comply with their duties as described by the company policy and objectives for Health and Safety.

Confidentiality

All employees are required to work in a confidential manner in all aspects of their work.