We are pleased to announce an opportunity for a Sales Director to join our dynamic team at Transworld on a fixed-term basis for 12 months.

As a key member of the Transworld Executive team, you will have a valued voice in the strategic development of our division, influencing both title-by-title sales and imprint development. You will work closely with our Editorial, Marketing and Publicity teams, as well as the divisional MD, to define the ambition and scope of new acquisitions. Leading a team of talented sales professionals, you will leverage your market expertise to identify new growth opportunities and drive our division to even greater commercial success.

Transworld is a commercial powerhouse known for publishing some of the greatest fiction and non-fiction authors around the world. Some of our bestselling authors include Prince Harry, Kate Atkinson, Dan Brown, Lee & Andrew Child and Jacqueline Wilson. Transworld is in an exciting development phase under new leadership and with an increasingly global vision so this is a perfect moment to contribute and actively build that future from the ground up.

Key Responsibilities:

Sales:

• Ensure the group-wide strategic objectives and goals are achieved and that the divisional sales team is working in pursuit of these aims.
• Develop strong retail partnerships and relationships to maximise the publishing house and Penguin Random House sales.
• Create and drive an innovative strategy to grow and sustain publishing house sales across all formats and retailers.
• Lead, challenge, motivate, and engage your sales team to deliver maximum performance for the publishing house.
• Ensure the sales team are active participants within the publishing house and fully engaged within the wider sales team.
• Work inclusively with colleagues across our non-trade, online and WHSmith/Mass sales teams as well as our colleagues in Dublin, Ireland to ensure they’re informed and focused on delivering the publishing house’s goals.
• Collaborate closely with international colleagues, appreciating the varying demands of the global market.
• Equip the sales team to support the publishing company with market insight and communicate an understanding of all elements of the UK retail environment.

Strategy:

• Serve as a leading voice within your team and publishing house, working in close partnership with the publishing team on all aspects of the publishing business.
• Interpret the UK market, bringing a voice of retail and the wider consumer base to the publishing process.
• Demonstrate a talent for working collaboratively while being comfortable challenging processes and decision-making when appropriate.
• Bring a progressive and commercially minded viewpoint to all acquisition and publishing decisions.
• Be instrumental in determining and carrying out the publishing house’s future strategy from a sales perspective; devising ways in which the business can grow, innovate, and become even more commercially successful.
• Own the UK sales budget and work with your sales team to develop processes to reach financial targets.
• Develop a working partnership with editorial, marketing, and publicity teams to ensure a seamless publishing vision that delivers a clear consumer proposition.

Sales Management:

• Responsibility for your team – this includes all aspects of people management, including ensuring the quality of their work, ensuring they are properly trained and developed in line with their abilities, and ensuring all team members receive regular feedback and effective PDRs.

What you’ll bring

Essential criteria:

• Proven experience of managing customer relationships and accounts, ideally within a publishing or creative environment.
• Extensive negotiation experience and the ability to manage retail relationships.
• A strong understanding of the publishing industry and how to work in partnership with an innovative publishing team.
• The ability to build and own an ambitious sales budget with growth potential.
• Extensive people management experience and skills.
• First class communication skills – both verbal and written.
• Excellent influencing skills along with the ability to build long-term relationships.
• Superior negotiation skills combined with a personable manner.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Sunday 17th August.

Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.

Salary

Circa £85,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits.

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will work from our office in London at least 3 days per week.

Company: The Random House Group Limited | Job ID: 281827