Key Account Manager / Key Account Director

Who we are and what we do

About Hachette UK

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

We're made up of 12 autonomous publishing divisions and over 60 imprints with a rich and diverse history and an incredible range of authors. We're also the market leader in e-books and publish a range of bestsellers in audio format, the fastest growing part of our business.

Our award-winning adult publishing divisions are Orion, which won Publisher of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards; Little, Brown; John Murray Press; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Quercus; Octopus, Bookouture and Dialogue Books. They publish fiction and non-fiction in digital, audio and print format, from the world's best and most diverse authors, including Brit Bennett, Candice Carty-Williams, Martina Cole, Michael Connelly, John Grisham, Stephen King, Stieg Larsson, Nelson Mandela, Stephenie Meyer, Maggie O'Farrell, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Colson Whitehead, and Malala Yousafzai. Hachette Children's Group publishes a wide and vibrant range of books for children across all age ranges, while Hodder Education is a market leader in resources for both primary and secondary schools.

Hachette UK is part of Hachette Livre, the world's third largest trade and educational publisher. As well as our headquarters in Carmelite House, London, and our state-of-the-art book distribution centre in Didcot, Oxfordshire, we have recently opened five new offices in Manchester, Bristol, Sheffield, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. The UK region also includes offices in Australia, New Zealand, India, Singapore, the Caribbean, and Ireland.

It's an exciting time to join our business because the publishing market continues to grow and thrive. The UK remains the largest exporter of physical books in the world and book adaptations for film and TV are the foundation of the UK's creative industries.

What you'll be doing

We have an exciting opportunity for an enthusiastic Key Account Manager or Key Account Director to join the John Murray Press sales team. In this role, you will be responsible for management of the Waterstones account for John Murray Press and Quercus, as well as working closely with the divisional sales director on forward-looking sales and publishing strategy. You will be responsible for growing sales profitably by working closely with the wider John Murray and Quercus teams including editorial, marketing and publicity, as well as the Group Sales teams across Home and International. The right candidate will be able to deputise for Sales Director at key publishing meetings, including acquisitions, covers, publishing taskforces and any other key divisional meetings, and take responsibility for exceeding budgets and sales targets for key lists and titles.

This is a busy and exciting role working across a varied lists and two of the most dynamic divisions in Hachette, John Murray Press and Quercus, both of which have ambitious growth plans. The right candidate will be a self-starter, be able to manage several different projects at once, and keen to take the next step in their career in a senior sales role.

Who we are looking for

We’re looking for a candidate with previous account management experience, as well as someone who has a wide view of the UK market. The role also calls for divisional responsibility on strategy meetings and as such, we’re looking for someone with excellent communication skills and ideally previous experience on working closely with marketing, publicity and editorial colleagues.

We’re looking for a team player with strong organisational skills, attention to detail, an ability to multi-task and prioritise, and an enthusiasm for working in a fast-moving commercial environment.

The successful candidate will be committed to building internal and external relationships, supporting divisional strategy and beating sales budgets.

Excellent Microsoft Office skills (especially Excel and PowerPoint) and data analysis skills are essential.  

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• 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.

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