Contracts Manager/Senior Contracts Manager (10 month FTC)
Hachette UK is looking for a dynamic and confident Contracts Manager or Senior Contracts Manager (parental leave cover), working across John Murray Press and Quercus in their Contracts & Business Affairs team.
What you’ll be doing
Reporting to the Director for Contracts & Business Affairs, the successful candidate will work closely with the John Murray Press and Quercus publishing teams as well as with colleagues in the Contracts & Business Affairs Department to:
• ensure contracts are drafted and negotiated to high standards working within company policy and KPIs
• advise editorial and publishing teams on contractual elements of acquisitions
• draft and review contracts, and negotiate amendments as needed
• draft, check and amend other contractual paperwork, including addenda, novations, reversions and cancellations
• handle internal and external contract queries
• take part in IP creation projects in an advisory role
• assist in training and developing junior colleagues in the team
• build and maintain successful working relationships with colleagues at all levels of the Contracts & Business Affairs Department, Quercus and John Murray Press and other relevant HUK teams
•use initiative, within the parameters of company and Group policies, to find creative solutions to unusual problems arising from complex negotiations
•deliver training to editors and others at Quercus and John Murray on Contracts & Business Affairs Department processes and guidelines
The role may also include line management responsibilities.
Who we are looking for
- Proven experience in contracts (or business affairs/legal) in the publishing, media or entertainment sectors
- Advanced drafting skills
- Ability to conduct effective negotiations
- Thorough understanding of copyright and contract law; relevant knowledge of other intellectual property law e.g. trademarks.
- Advanced skills in Microsoft Office 365
- Knowledge of, or aptitude for, relevant applications/systems
- Commercial awareness and financial literacy
- Ability to communicate and build positive working relationship with contacts at all levels
What we offer
Our staff are our greatest asset and our benefits reflect this. In addition to 28 days annual leave days per year + bank holidays, we have an extensive list of benefits that include: a wide-ranging training library, development programmes including mentoring, Cycle to Work vouchers, eye care vouchers, up to 70% off book purchases, a charity book shelf, 2 community days per year, many employee networks to join, summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months!), season ticket loans, rent deposit loans, generous pension schemes and much more!
The role will be based at our London office, Carmelite House, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.
Who we are and what we do
Hachette UK is a leading UK publishing group. The group is made up of eleven autonomous publishing divisions and over fifty imprints with a rich and diverse history. The Contracts & Business Affairs Department powers the creative success of Hachette UK’s publishing divisions through technical expertise and sound commercial partnership. The department comprises a team of 20 who handle approximately 3500 contractual paperwork requests per annum, which include a wide variety of contracts with a focus on head agreements.
We are looking for a Manager or Senior Manager, dependent on experience, to work particularly with the John Murray Press and Quercus divisions of HUK.
Founded in 2004, Quercus has already won the prestigious ‘Publisher of the Year’ award and built a reputation as a hit-maker: daring, ambitious, socially conscious and collaborative.
John Murray have been publishing original thinking and distinctive writing since 1768, and publishes authors from Miriam Margoyles to Amitav Ghosh, Randall Munroe to Fiona Mozley and Andrea Wulf to Liza Klaussmann.
Our Commitment
Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.
If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.
The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org