Sales Director, Cornerstone
Cornerstone are one of the fastest growing publishing companies at Penguin Random House and we’re looking for a Sales Director to lead their UK Sales Strategy.
About Cornerstone
Cornerstone is a dynamic and forward-thinking publishing house that actively seeks opportunities and sets ambitious goals while maintaining the highest standards. We are home to some of the most successful and influential writers from around the world. Our publishing includes Waterstones’ 2022 Book of the Year’ The Story of Art Without Men’ by Katy Hessel, as well as James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’. We publish the sporting elite from Alex Scott, Caster Semenya to Kevin Sinfield, national treasures like David Jason and Michael Palin, and fiction giants Robert Harris, James Patterson, Harlan Coben, Lisa Jewell, Tom Hanks and Taylor Jenkins Reid. We often bring huge celebrity memoirs to market, such as Bono, Tyson Fury and Barbara Streisand. Cornerstone’s breadth of publishing is unmatched, and we take pride in truly publishing books for everyone with the overall mission being to entertain and inform, connecting our authors and their stories with as large and inclusive a readership as possible.
The Opportunity
As the Cornerstone Sales Director, you’ll report to the Deputy Group Sales Director, UK and join her senior team, contributing to our day-to-day retail strategy. You will have your own impactful team of 4, responsible for positioning and selling Cornerstone titles profitably across the UK books market, as well as liaising with colleagues who are also responsible for selling your titles. To be a strong leader here is not just about commercial success; we want leaders that can build teams, nurture talent, and develop the careers of colleagues from all backgrounds.
Candidate Profile
We’re looking for someone who loves being part of a wider team, who is thoughtful and adaptable, enjoys building strong relationships and understands how to bring the vision of a creative environment to align with the needs of our customers. To be successful in our sales team, we want individuals who are passionate about their contribution, inherently want to do the best by our authors, and bring as many of them to market across the vibrant UK retail landscape; whether that be on-line, in supermarkets or on the high street.
In this role you’ll also be part of the Cornerstone Senior team which means playing a key role in shaping the future of this market-leading publishing house. You’ll need to be culturally astute to be credible with your publishing colleagues, authors, agents, and customers. We’ll want you to speak up and express your opinions, even when this challenges the status-quo, to help strengthen decision-making across the publishing process.
You’ll be proactive and forward thinking, a bold change-maker, always curious about new opportunities and how the market is evolving. Looking to the future means that you’ll make decisions with the bigger picture in mind, and you’ll always use data and market research to drive the Cornerstone and UK Sales strategy forward.
If this sounds like the right challenge for you, we want to hear from you. Please apply with your CV and cover letter by midnight on Sunday 4th June.
What you can expect from us:
Salary: competitive salary depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits.
While our offices are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility about where you work is just as important for doing your best work and for your wellbeing. For this role, there are regular meetings and activities that you will need to attend in person at our offices in Vauxhall. We will be happy to discuss this in more detail with you during the recruitment process.
Our employees are the heart of our business. We have a range of benefits to reflect our commitment to our employees, some of which are:
• 27 days paid holiday entitlement in year one (plus bank holidays), increasing a day each year up to 30 days
• Medical cover
• Life assurance
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Discounted gym membership
• Generous pension scheme
• Summer working hours (role dependent)
• Volunteering policy and charity matching
• Employee Assistance programme
• Mentoring programme
• Extended gender neutral parental leave
• Access to books and eBooks across Penguin Random House UK
• Each site has trained mental health first aiders
• We plant a tree for every new employee to our business
Our creativity is inspired by different perspectives, so we want our culture to be one of belonging, where everyone feels welcome and where differences are celebrated.
As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we're part of the offer an interview scheme. This is where disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role can opt in to get to the next recruitment stage. There may be some situations where volume of applicants means we can't take all eligible candidates to interview.
We want to make sure disabled applicants can be their best at each step of the recruitment journey. If you need adjustments during the application process, we encourage you to get in touch with us at http://PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your adjustment request. Find out more about our approach here: http://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/applying-for-roles-with-a-disability
We partner with The Book Trade Charity, who provide financial assistance for people looking to get into the publishing industry; you can find more information and talk directly here: https://btbs.org/grants
Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.