Head of Business Execution, North America
Springer Nature
- Location
- New York, NY (Hybrid)
- Posted
- September 23, 2026
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Role overview
Reporting to the President, North America, the Head of Business Execution, North America is responsible for driving operational performance, strategic execution, governance, and organizational effectiveness across Springer Nature's North America business. The role serves as the President's primary business partner and a key integrator across a highly matrixed organization, ensuring regional priorities are translated into clear plans, measurable outcomes, and sustained business impact.
The Head of Business Execution leads business planning, performance management, strategic initiatives, and transformation efforts that enable the region to achieve its growth ambitions. The successful candidate will serve as the senior leader accountable for business performance management, strategic execution, organizational effectiveness, and operational excellence across North America. Working across multiple businesses, functions, and stakeholder groups, they will bring together leaders with differing priorities to drive alignment, accountability, and execution against shared objectives. Success in this role will depend on the ability to influence without authority, build trusted relationships, and create followership across the organization. This role requires exceptional judgment, credibility, and discretion.
As a trusted thought partner to the President, North America, the Head of Business Execution will play a critical role in helping shape priorities, navigate complex decisions, anticipate challenges, and drive execution across the region. They will regularly represent the President in internal forums, lead work on their behalf, and serve as a trusted connector between regional, functional, and global leaders. A high degree of trust, transparency, and mutual confidence is essential to success in the role.
The North America business has a clear strategy and significant opportunity ahead. The challenge is not defining what to do; it is bringing together diverse cross-functional teams operating across different businesses, functions, time zones, priorities, and capabilities to execute effectively as one North America business. This individual will play a critical role in creating the operating rhythm, governance, transparency, and organizational discipline required to accelerate execution and achieve the region's long-term ambitions. This role is ideally suited to a leader who combines strategic thinking with operational excellence, who can move comfortably between executive-level discussions and hands-on execution, and who is motivated by building organizational capability rather than personal visibility. The ideal candidate will be highly collaborative, intellectually curious, transparent, and deeply invested in helping others succeed. They will be ambitious for the business, humble in their approach, and focused on creating impact through influence, partnership, and shared accountability. They will be a builder of teams, relationships, and capabilities. Above all, they will be someone who consistently puts the success of the organization ahead of their own and is motivated by helping Springer Nature achieve its long-term potential in North America.
Responsibilities
Business Leadership & Operating Model
- Own the North America operating model and lead its implementation and continuous evolution.
- Accountable for monitoring and driving performance across North America against agreed strategic, operational, and financial objectives.
- Lead operating cadence, governance forums, leadership reviews, and decision-making processes across North America.
- Establish accountability frameworks to ensure commitments, initiatives, and strategic priorities are delivered.
- Lead business planning, prioritization, and resource allocation discussions across the region.
- Shape the commercial and functional strategic direction of North America, ensuring alignment across stakeholder groups and with Springer Nature's enterprise priorities.
- Oversee business performance management, resource allocation, operational risk, and long-term value creation across North America in partnership with Finance and business leaders.
- Drive accountability for regional performance through the North America Leadership Council, ensuring strategic, operational, and financial objectives are achieved.
Strategy Execution
- Lead execution of the North America Mid-Term Plan, ensuring strategic priorities are translated into actionable plans and measurable outcomes.
- Identify barriers to execution and work across functions to resolve challenges and accelerate progress.
- Support development and implementation of new capabilities identified in the North America strategy.
- Drive alignment across publishing, content, commercial, communications, institutional, policy, finance, and operational teams.
- Monitor strategic progress and recommend course corrections as market conditions evolve.
Portfolio Strategy & Growth
- Partner with business leaders to evaluate strategic growth opportunities, investments, partnerships, acquisitions, and expansion initiatives.
- Partner with business leaders to evaluate and prioritize strategic growth opportunities, including author acquisition, content retention, portfolio development, automation, customer experience, and market expansion initiatives.
- Lead development of business cases and strategic recommendations for North America leadership and Executive Committee review.
- Ensure alignment between portfolio priorities, market opportunities, and resource allocation decisions.
- Lead or support high-stakes negotiations and strategic discussions related to partnerships, investments, acquisitions, and other growth opportunities.
Transformation & Organizational Effectiveness
- Lead cross-functional transformation initiatives that improve performance, accountability, execution, and customer focus.
- Drive adoption of new operating processes and solutions, governance structures, and ways of working.
- Create greater transparency around performance, ownership, and business outcomes.
- Build a culture of execution, continuous improvement, and shared accountability.
- Foster a culture of experimentation, innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement that enables the business to adapt and grow.
Data, Performance & Business Insights
- Establish the KPIs, dashboards, and reporting mechanisms required to manage North America as an integrated business.
- Partner with Data & Analytics, Finance, Market Research, and business leaders to ensure leadership receives actionable, regular insights.
Location
New York (Hybrid Working Model)
Application Information
- Application Deadline: October 7, 2026