Job Title: Director Academic Affairs
Location: Delhi, India
About Springer Nature
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 Role
Government and Academic Affairs is a key function in India, which is the third largest producer of scientific and academic research. The role of Director Academic Affairs reports into the India Country Manager and is created to lead engagement with government, funders, universities and researchers, all crucial to the company’s success, including at the senior leadership level. The role exists not just to create early awareness of policy trends, but to actively influence them through partnerships and jointly conducted research. The director should be accepted as a thought leader, both by government officials and key opinion leaders, and by the broader research community, and have high visibility at events, and in relevant media.
The public policy manager will report into the director, the director will be part of the global Academic Affairs team, having a dotted reporting line to the VP Academic Affairs, and work closely with Springer Nature leaders across the business in India (and their teams) to harness everyone’s capabilities and relationships to maximise impact for the company. At the same time the director will gather information and provide analysis, intelligence, and publishing recommendations back to colleagues. To achieve this, the director will need the ability to lead complex projects across divisions with senior decision makers.
An essential partner to the VP, Academic Affairs and the India Country Manager, the director will lead SN academic activities in India, establish new relationships, tracking as well as influencing policies and ensuring information collated from academic touchpoints is used in decision making across SN. The Director Academic Affairs will be part of Springer Nature’s Senior Leadership Team in India
Key tasks include:
Work with the whole of the India research community (researchers, universities, research institutes, academic societies, academies, government and funding bodies, partners and others) on issues of common interest, including Open Access (incl. India policies and funding), Transformative Agreements, research integrity, research/researcher assessment, achieving improved DEI in academia, international collaborative research, research security, SDGs, and other initiatives that contribute to improving the research environment.
Create a community-wide understanding of SN commitment to its role in delivering reliable and well on the above and leading on improvements.
Lead in making Springer Nature into a recognized contributor to an improved research environment by working with others across Springer Nature (journals, books, solutions, editorial, marketing, comms, with a special focus on proprietary OA journals) bringing together different relevant threads (policy, processes etc), to develop a joined-up understanding of essential needs and trends across the group and outside in the community.
Connect the internal and external pictures to weave a clear narrative and identify areas of future development to ensure what we do is driven by market needs.
Responsibilities
Outreach and Strategic Partnership
Own relations with target organizations in India, including at senior leadership level, and ensure interactions and relationship status are tracked in global AA database and CRM
Identify key stakeholders and initiatives where Springer Nature should engage with further improvements of the research environment. Work closely with editorial teams to build relationships and co-operative arrangements with government and funding bodies, universities, research institutes and other key stakeholders.
Actively represent Springer Nature externally as the “face” of our commitment to improving the research environment, through keynote speeches, conferences, seminars, thought pieces, cross-collaboration working groups and other initiatives
Represent Springer Nature’s view and influence policy makers positively and, conversely, represent Indian viewpoints to internal stakeholders
Orchestrate inclusive, multi-divisions’ solution approach to optimal interactions with academic partners in the region along with internal stakeholders
Initiate and own strategic analyses of policy trends and make recommendations based on these for academic affairs priorities and broader company strategies
Lead dissemination of key findings from academic and government interactions to stakeholders across SN, potentially including but not limited to meeting summary distribution to senior stakeholder email circ, Hive group, newsletter and ad hoc webinars/ blogposts.
Internal Contributions
Be a key contributor to strategies for systematically establishing and sharing connections between research institutions and relevant parts of the SN organization, including Institutional Sales, Publishing & Editorial, Research Solutions and Platform teams. Identify and facilitate initiatives that leverage SN expertise and capabilities
Bring community insights, needs and opportunities back to Springer Nature colleagues and champion proposed collaborations, particularly with the Journals, Books, and commercial area (especially incl. OA team) and Research Solutions.
Map the external market, align Springer Nature’s engagement and address gaps.
Work with different teams as the advisor to screen, qualify and manage potential academic partnerships, and potential deeper collaborations.
Run the Team’s Hive postings and blog contributions
Experience, Skills & Qualifications
Experience:
Must have a large and powerful network in the academic community
Experience working with government bodies and agencies
Experience working in journals publishing and/or academic communication
Respected as a thought leader in the community
Extensive knowledge of and experience with the research landscape
Experience and understanding of the strategic imperatives in scholarly publishing
Experience and understanding of the challenges of the Open Research/ Open Science landscape in India and beyond
Proven experience in successfully managing and influencing people
Experience in developing, leading and implementing strategy
Skills/Knowledge:
A strong passion for the role of science and research in wider society
Ability to bridge international and Indian perspectives
Strong leadership skills
Cross department outreach; within India and internationally
Ability to actively influence policy, perceptions
Collaborative; team player; non-territorial
A thorough understanding of the scientific and research process
Ability to work with others to influence, define, develop policy and initiatives related to improving the research environment internally and externally (esp. relating to Open Science)
Good listening, advocacy, analysis and relationship management skills
Proven experience of working in a complex global matrix
Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Strong presentation skills
Highly self-motivated, resourceful and achievement oriented
Qualifications
Highly Desired: A higher degree and research experience
Highly Desired: journals publishing experience
At Springer Nature, our mission is to be part of progress – and that begins with inclusion: of people, perspectives, and ideas. We believe that diverse perspectives drive progress, and we are committed to creating an environment where people and ideas can flourish. If you have any access needs related to disability, neurodivergence or a chronic condition, please contact us so we can make all necessary accommodation. Find out more about our DEI work here https://group.springernature.com/gp/group/taking-responsibility/diversity-equity-inclusion
For more information about career opportunities in Springer Nature please visit https://springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatureCareers/
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Job Posting End Date:
6-02-2026
