Project Delivery Manager
As the Project Delivery Manager at de Gruyter Brill, I excelled at the intersection of product innovation, process standardization, and cross-functional leadership. This role taught me how to balance big-picture strategy with day-to-day execution, especially after the merger, where alignment and efficiency were key.
What I Did
One of my main tasks was assisting in standardizing publishing-production processes across the Berlin, Göttingen, and Leiden offices after the merger of De Gruyter and Brill. My goal was to create repeatable workflows that reduced redundancy and improved collaboration. Since I understand both Dutch and German work cultures, I helped bridge gaps between teams, making communication smoother and more effective.
My official project was developing a new wiki for the publishing production team. This initiative stemmed from a deep dive into user needs and business goals, where I led the research, discovery, and development phases to create a centralized knowledge hub. The Wiki transformed how the team accessed and shared knowledge, cutting down onboarding time and reducing errors. Transitioning this tool into business-as-usual (BAU) was a lesson in change management: from assigning owners and conducting training to measuring its impact against our targets.
Scope and strategy were at the heart of my approach. I refined project scopes and set measurable targets by analyzing process data and aligning it with departmental strategy. This ensured that every initiative, whether it was a product innovation or a process overhaul, was tied to tangible outcomes. My role also demanded a keen eye for risk and communication. I maintained transparent reporting for leads and stakeholders, surfacing dependencies, blockers, and risks early to keep projects on track and mitigate delays.
How I Grew
Leading interdisciplinary teams (spanning publishing, IT, and operations) taught me the value of pragmatic, data-driven decision-making. I set priorities, managed timelines and resources, and steered teams toward outcome-based results, all while navigating the complexities of a hybrid, multi-country environment. My ability to adapt and thrive in tool-agnostic settings allowed me to focus on what truly mattered: delivering value.
Key skills: Product & Process Innovation · Scope & Strategy · Steering & Execution · Risk & Communication · Change Management · Ways of Working
Tools: Jira · Confluence · Office 365
Featured project: Publishing Production Wiki