We believe in the power and joy of learning
At Cengage, our employees have a direct impact in helping learners around the world discover the power and joy of learning. We are bonded by our shared purpose – driving innovation that helps millions of learners improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.
The Higher Ed Editorial and Learning Team is responsible for creating a content and program investment strategy that sets the global standard for relevancy, comprehensiveness, and evidence-driven pedagogical design. This includes developing hypotheses, evaluating data, analyzing audience needs and market/driven/industry trends, testing ideas, and making strategic content design decisions grounded in insights and evidence.
The Editorial Manager (EM) recruits and develops authoring talent, defines project scope, and negotiates terms for statements of work and contracts. As a problem solver, the EM delivers solutions that prioritize customer needs, career readiness, learning quality, and aligns with the Cengage Learning Platform (CLP) capabilities. The EM leads the full content development process, collaborating with a cross-functional team to ensure the on-time delivery of high-quality, career-focused, continuously updated, and commercially successful learning experiences.
The Editorial Manager also clearly articulates their strategy to cross-functional teams, develops and presents artifacts related to the strategy, and surfaces opportunities to improve content and learning functionality within CLP capabilities.
What you'll do here:
Strategic Leadership
Own the difficulty content strategy and roadmap, including new course entry investment proposals.
Handle the portfolio content budget (P&L) to lead a profitable line of content offerings and develop short- and long-term strategic business plans aligned with business priorities.
Develop strategy for high-impact courses that drive revenue retention and growth, grounded in deep market knowledge and analysis of customer needs, trends, and the competitive landscape.
Evaluate data, financial metrics, customer feedback, industry needs, and usage analytics to guide strategic decisions, make market informed proposals, and take calculated risks.
Regularly analyze portfolio plans to assess progress toward goals and evolve strategy.
Content Excellence
Establish strategy, specifications, and timelines for content development; own decision-making authority related to scope, release schedules, and budget.
Translate priorities into organized end-to-end development plans with budgets, resources, performance metrics, and key checkpoints.
Deliver quality, career focused, pedagogically sound learning experiences that improve student outcomes and address learning challenges.
Propose content updates that meet currency and pedagogical needs, ensure alignment with CLP capabilities, and advocate for platform-level innovations that enhance learning impact.
Create and maintain portfolio strategy artifacts, project start‑up documentation, and related planning materials.
Market Insight, Research, & Innovation
In collaboration with Marketing and Research, set the market research strategy for content improvement and innovation, combining qualitative and quantitative feedback, financial data, and behavioral analytics to find opportunities.
Develop understanding of competitors, anticipate competitive actions, and advise decisions with insights from instructors, students, employers, and industry representatives.
Identify, test, and refine new content ideas through focus groups, advisory boards, customer meetings, and targeted market trials such as prototypes, pilots, and proof of concepts.
Author, Stakeholder, & Relationship Management
Identify, recruit, and cultivate strong author talent and external subject matter experts.
Negotiate business terms and contract authors, subject matter experts, and industry partners to drive portfolio strategy forward. Establish and maintain relationships with key authors, content creators, and decision makers to gather insights, strengthen adoptions, and identify emerging talent.
Partner closely with authors to develop content plans that deliver on strategic intent, meet quality expectations, incorporate career readiness, and improve competitive advantage.
Cross Functional Collaboration & Team Leadership
Provide leadership across audiences, representing content needs and editorial priorities to internal and external stakeholders.
Guide and coordinate project teams, ensuring clear communication, effective collaboration, and on-time delivery of multiple offerings within scope and budget.
Advocate for platform innovations that facilitate new content development or improve existing content functionality.
Skills you will need here:
Creative and curious problem solving and collaboration
Ability to clearly articulate vision and strategy and help team members understand how their work impacts business success
Customer focus: understanding of how customer needs and challenges translate into opportunities
Demonstration of strong communication skills with keen ability to facilitate team meetings, presentations, focus groups, and interviews.
BA or BS Degree
Minimum 3 years in portfolio/product management, product development, sales, marketing, or other relevant management role
Ability to inspire change through influence; honed interpersonal skills
Self-discipline with a high degree of accountability
Strong financial analysis and modeling skills and an understanding of business metrics
Natural curiosity and willingness to learn paired with a desire for continuous improvement
Validated written and verbal abilities enabling the preparation and presentation of information and recommendations to a diverse and senior level audience
Expected travel ~20% of time
Proficiency with Microsoft 365 and Adobe Acrobat, AI tools, SAP
Preferred: Experience in Educational Technology
Cengage’s Higher Education business, Cengage, supports learning and student success by providing materials and digital solutions to faculty and students enrolled in two-year, four-year and vocational programs. We currently serve more than 10 million of the 18 million students in US higher ed. Setting a new standard of service for our customers, we deliver quality, easy-to-use course materials from textbooks and eBooks to courseware such as MindTap and WebAssign. In the US, we offer Cengage Unlimited and Cengage Unlimited for Institutions. We help instructors be better teachers, we help institutions solve problems, and we empower students to leverage the power and joy of learning to transform lives.
Cengage is committed to working with broad talent pools to attract and hire strong and most qualified individuals. Our job applicants are considered regardless of any classification protected by applicable federal, state, provincial or local laws.
Cengage is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities including during our job application process. If you are an applicant with a disability and require reasonable accommodation in our job application process, please contact us at [email protected].
About Cengage
Cengage, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education.
Compensation
At Cengage Group, we take great pride in our commitment to providing a comprehensive and rewarding Total Rewards package designed to support and empower our employees. Click here to learn more about our Total Rewards Philosophy.
The full base pay range has been provided for this position. Individual base pay will vary based on work schedule, qualifications, experience, internal equity, and geographic location. Sales roles often incorporate a significant incentive compensation program beyond this base pay range.
In this position, you will be eligible to participate in the company’s discretionary incentive bonus program. This position's bonus target amount, which is not guaranteed and is dependent on individual performance and overall company results among other factors, is provided below.
5% Annual: Individual Target$77,100.00 - $105,000.00 USD
Skills Required
- BA or BS Degree
- Minimum 3 years in portfolio/product management, product development, sales, marketing, or other relevant management role
- Proficiency with Microsoft 365
- Proficiency with Adobe Acrobat
- Proficiency with AI tools
- Proficiency with SAP
- Strong financial analysis and modeling skills and understanding of business metrics
- Demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills; ability to prepare and present to senior audiences
- Ability to clearly articulate vision and strategy and influence cross-functional teams
- Customer focus and ability to translate customer needs into product opportunities
- Creative and curious problem solving and collaboration
- Self-discipline with a high degree of accountability
- Expected travel ~20% of time
- Experience in Educational Technology
Cengage Group Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Cengage Group and has not been reviewed or approved by Cengage Group.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Paid parental leave and company-designated wellness time off (including a year-end week off) stand out as notable time-away benefits. Flexible work positioning (virtual-first/remote-first) further increases the practical value of time-off and work-life support.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Workplace mental-health support appears to be a meaningful part of the rewards package, reinforced by external recognition for mental-health practices. Wellness-oriented programs and designated wellness days contribute additional lifestyle value beyond cash pay.
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Inclusive Benefits Coverage — Benefits and policies signal strong inclusion positioning, supported by external equality recognition. Family-related supports (e.g., fertility resources and parent support) also broaden who can benefit from the package.
Cengage Group Insights
What We Do
With more than 100 years of serving learners, Cengage Group is a global edtech company that enables student choice. No matter how, where, when or why someone wants to learn, our portfolio of education businesses supports all students, from middle school through graduate school and skills education, with quality content and technology. Collectively, our three business units – Cengage Academic, Cengage Work, and Cengage Select – help millions of students each year in more than 125 countries achieve their education and career goals and lead choice-filled lives. Visit us at www.cengagegroup.com
Why Work With Us
Our employee experience centers around a shared purpose: to help millions of learners achieve their dreams and improve their lives through education. Whether you want to make a difference in the world or start a fulfilling career in edtech, we focus on providing our employees with meaningful work while empowering them with resources to succeed.








