Department: Literacy Program
Level: Associate
Reports to: Quality Reading Materials Officer (QRM Officer)
Country profile: About Room to Read
Founded in 2000 on the belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children®, Room to Read envisions a world free from illiteracy and gender inequality, where all children have room to read, learn and grow – creating lasting change. Through our Literacy Portfolio, we train and coach teachers of the early grades in literacy instruction; create and publish quality books and curricular materials in local languages; and establish children’s libraries filled with diverse children’s books that can be enjoyed at school and home. Our Gender Equality Portfolio supports adolescents, particularly girls, in developing life skills that promote gender equality, helping them to pursue lifelong learning and make informed decisions.
We support young people of all genders to overcome gender biases and build the knowledge and skills to create a gender-equal world. Room to Read collaborates with local communities, partner organizations, publishers, and governments to test and implement innovative models that can be integrated into the education system to deliver positive outcomes for children at scale. To date, Room to Read has benefited more than 50 million children in 28 countries.
Learn more at www.roomtoread.org.
Position Overview
The Senior Associate, Reading Resources & Publishing Activation plays a critical role in stewarding Room to Read’s reading resources and activating publishing knowledge to benefit a broader ecosystem of learners, educators, schools, and communities.
In a context where Room to Read has strong internal capacity in publishing and content development, this role does not lead to publishing production. Instead, the position is expected to engage deliberately with selected stages of the publishing workflow in order to build practical, professional insights. These insights are essential to ensuring that resource activation, outreach initiatives, and professional exchanges reflect the depth, standards, and realities of publishing practice.
The role focuses on two core areas:
- Stewardship of reading resource systems, including Room to Read–approved booklists, digital and physical collections, and inventory; and
- Proposing, designing, and leading pilot initiatives that activate reading resources and publishing knowledge through multiple channels. These channels may include digital platforms (such as Literacy Cloud), community-based initiatives, professional exchange spaces, and other emerging or future modalities.
While Literacy Cloud is a key strategic medium at present, the role is intentionally designed to remain tool-agnostic, enabling adaptation to new platforms, partnerships, and delivery models as Room to Read’s strategy and the literacy ecosystem evolve.
The position contributes to technical discussions with education, publishing, and other stakeholders related to reading resources and literacy activation, under the guidance of the QRM Officer. Performance is assessed not only by outputs delivered, but also by the extent to which reading resources are meaningfully used and engaged.
The position reports to the QRM Officer and works closely with Instructional Design and Teachers’ Support, Program teams, and external partners.
Responsibilities
1. Reading Resources & System Stewardship (30%)
- Coordinate the development, updating, and dissemination of annual Room to Read–approved booklists, including both Room to Read–published titles and market-sourced books.
- Ensure consistency, accuracy, and alignment across reading resource systems, including printed booklists, online catalogs, digital collections, and related platforms.
- Support the organization and refinement of digital reading collections, including Literacy Cloud, according to agreed classification logics (e.g. language, genre, themes, special collections such as DEAIB, SDGs, STEM).
- Track, manage, and consolidate inventory data in coordination with relevant teams, ensuring data quality for planning, allocation, and reporting.
- Synthesize user feedback and usage insights from digital and non-digital channels to inform continuous improvement of reading resource systems.
2. Publishing Immersion & Professional Insight Building (10%)
- Engage with selected stages of the publishing workflow to build professional understanding, including:
- participation in manuscript and illustration discussions at appropriate stages;
- attendance at professional working sessions with authors, illustrators, translators, or publishers;
- participation in trainings or professional development activities for writers and illustrators, as assigned.
- Work closely with the QRM Manager and relevant team members to:
- understand emerging challenges, trends, and lessons from publishing practice;
- translate these insights into informed activation strategies, outreach activities, and professional exchanges.
- Ensure that activation initiatives and professional engagements are grounded in authentic publishing standards and practices.
3. Reading Resources Activation & Ecosystem Engagement (40%)
- Propose ideas, coordinate design and pilot initiatives that activate reading resources and publishing knowledge through multiple channels, including:
- digital platforms (e.g. Literacy Cloud);
- school- and community-based reading initiatives;
- professional forums, workshops, and learning exchanges.
- Collaborate with schools, libraries, community organizations, and education partners to expand access to and meaningful use of reading resources.
- Proactively explore and develop collaboration opportunities with organizations producing similar or complementary reading and learning resources.
- Facilitate or coordinate professional exchange spaces that strengthen dialogue within the reading and publishing ecosystem.
4. Technical Coordination & Stakeholder Engagement (10%)
- Participate in technical discussions with education, publishing and other stakeholders related to reading resources, digital platforms, and literacy activation, as assigned by Line Manager.
- Coordinate with Instructional Design and Teachers’ Support and Program teams to align reading resources with instructional approaches and curriculum-related initiatives.
- Support donor-related engagement and learning documentation related to reading resources and activation initiatives, as required.
5. Planning, Reporting & Learning (5%)
- Track progress of assigned activities and contribute to periodic reporting related to reading resources and activation efforts.
- Analyze usage and engagement indicators across channels to assess the effectiveness of activation initiatives.
- Document learning, insights, and recommendations to strengthen Room to Read’s approach to resource stewardship and ecosystem engagement.
6. Other Responsibilities (5%)
- Perform other tasks as assigned by Line Manager.
Qualifications:
Required
- Bachelor’s degree in education, languages, publishing, communications, library and information science, or a related field.
- Minimum 3 years of relevant professional experience in publishing, literacy, education, reading promotion, or digital learning resources.
- Demonstrated understanding of the publishing workflow, with the ability to engage in informed, professional discussions with authors, illustrators, translators, publishers, or other content creators.
- Proven ability to translate professional or technical knowledge into activation initiatives, such as outreach activities, learning events, professional exchanges, or resource-based campaigns.
- Strong organizational and coordination skills, with the ability to manage multiple workstreams while maintaining quality and coherence across systems.
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Vietnamese, including the ability to communicate confidently with both professional peers and non-specialist audiences.
- Ability to work collaboratively across teams and with external partners, and to operate with a high degree of professional judgment and autonomy.
Preferred
- Experience working with reading resources or content systems, including booklists, collections (print and/or digital), catalogs, or learning resource platforms.
- Hands-on experience in children’s book publishing, reading promotion, school libraries, or literacy-focused programs.
- Experience working with digital reading platforms or resource-sharing systems (e.g. online libraries, content repositories, or learning platforms).
- Experience designing or facilitating professional learning spaces, such as workshops, forums, or knowledge-exchange events related to books, reading, or education.
Compensation:
We are committed to building and sustaining an engaged workforce through competitive compensation packages and generous benefits. Benefits vary based on the local requirements and best practices in the country where the position is based, but all employees are provided with comprehensive medical coverage, and paid time off, which we strongly encourage employees to use.
Application Procedure:
- Directly submit your application to email: [email protected] with the email subject: “ ASSOCIATE QRM 2026 – YOUR FULL NAME”
We regret that we are not able to send personalized responses to all applicants. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Applications are accepted until the position is filled.
Child Protection Principles
- Room to Read is committed to the education and welfare of children and protecting them from abuse and exploitation
- Room to Read has zero tolerance for child abuse and exploitation.
- All children have the right to be free from abuse and exploitation, including neglect, maltreatment, and physical, mental or sexual violence, injury or abuse.
- All children should be treated with respect and dignity.
- The well-being of the child is Room to Read’s first priority when dealing with all identified or suspected cases of child abuse.
- Room to Read shall integrate child protection into all its organizational strategies, structures and work practices.
Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Principles
- Room to Read Representatives must create and maintain an environment that prevents sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
- Room to Read has zero tolerance for adult sexual exploitation and abuse.
- Sexual exploitation and abuse are serious violations of fundamental human rights and will not be accepted or tolerated.
- All adults should be treated with respect and dignity.
- Room to Read implements a survivor-centered approach, putting the survivor’s rights and dignity at the forefront.
- Survivors referred to available professional assistance (e.g. mental health counselling), upon consent.
Room to Read is an equal opportunity employer committed to identifying and developing the skills and leadership of people from diverse backgrounds.
Room to Read is a child-safe organization; all personnel must adhere to Room to Read’s Child Protection Policy, Child Protection Code of Conduct and Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Policy.