Application Specialist

Who we are:

We are William Reed.

We are the leading expert in the global Food & Drink industry.

From manufacturing through to retail and hospitality – we provide the inspiration, insight and connections to power our customers’ success.

Our specialists are deeply engaged in their markets and are recognised as the most trusted professionals in their field.

For 160 years, our diverse portfolio of trusted brands has delivered the information our clients need, reaching audiences through outstanding digital media, insights, prestigious awards, innovative exhibitions, events and print.

Fulfilling our role in the 21st century has meant harnessing digital channels to deliver insightful journalism and high-value data to businesses the world over. Guided by our Mission & Values, our Group’s activities now include category defining digital and print media, innovative business events and conferences, prestigious awards and informative conferences. We offer compelling research and powerful insights to our customers as well as providing recruitment and e-learning solutions within our core markets.

Position:

We currently have an exciting opportunity for an Application Specialist to join our team. The successful candidate will be responsible for the integration and ongoing maintenance of access and entitlement strategies and solutions using SaaS based configuration platforms on B2B websites at William Reed.

Requirements:

Key responsibilities & tasks:

The Application Specialist will be responsible for taking the business requirements documented by our Project & Product Managers and creating elegant solutions within the configuration tool set, to optimise conversion to registration and paid subscription.

The role will involve working within the Access and Entitlement Team and with William Reed’s in-house developers and designers who support and maintain the existing web applications.

The candidate will have a keen eye for details and will champion maintaining consistency across all instances of our platforms. You will be comfortable producing on-going documentation to support the implementation and evolution of our solutions, using tools such as JIRA and Confluence.

The candidate will be a diligent problem solver who can learn quickly, adapt to changing requirements and think creatively to deliver solutions to often complex concepts. Confidence in product knowledge gained over time is key and it is expected that you will be to challenge and offer suggestions for better solutions where appropriate.

Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

The Application Specialist must have the following essential skills, knowledge or abilities:

• Strong experience working on SaaS based platform configuration toolsets.
• Have excellent analytical skills and a methodical approach to problem solving.
• Have a technical background and have worked closely with back-end developers and front-end web designers and coders.
• Prior experience and understanding of Customer registration and data acquisition strategies (progressive profiling), metering concepts, subscription conversions, renewals, corporate subscriptions, KPI reporting and GDPR.
• Strong organisational and administration skills.
• Strong attention to detail.
• Effective interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills.
• Have excellent documentation skills and a clear, concise written manner.
• Ability to cope under pressure in a professional and calm manner.
• Have a methodical and pragmatic approach and can think through complex concepts.
• Ability to present complex subjects in understandable terms.
• Adept at creating practical solutions to daily business challenges.
• Ability to balance multiple projects simultaneously.

It is considered beneficial that you:

• Have prior experience working in Access and Entitlement solutions such as Piano.io, Abacus ADvance, etc.
• Have experience of publishing.

Other information

We provide a supportive work environment and are committed to maintaining a healthy work/life balance for all of our employees. Working for William Reed means that you will be joining a stable organisation that is committed to developing its employees and brands.

We have offices in Gatwick and London, UK; Montpellier, France; Singapore and Chicago, US. In line with the Company’s current Agile Working Policy, the successful candidate would be eligible to work part of the week from our Crawley office and to work remotely for the rest of the week.

We warmly welcome and encourage applications from talented individuals of all backgrounds and characteristics. If you need any support in accessing this opportunity, please do not hesitate to discuss this with us.

Company benefits include

• Competitive Salary
• 25 days annual leave in addition to bank holidays
• Contributory Pension
• Life Assurance Scheme
• Group Income Protection
• Opportunity to participate in the Company’s Agile Working Policy

We look forward to hearing from you.