UK Sales Director (12 Months FTC)
About Walker Books
Walker Books UK is part of the vibrant international Group that includes Candlewick Press, Holiday House, Peachtree and Pixel + Ink in the USA and Walker Books Australia. Renowned for its truly original publishing and outstanding quality, the Walker Books Group is home to a wide range of children's and young adult books.
Award-winning authors and illustrators for the group include Angie Thomas, Sydney Smith, M.T Anderson, Patrick Ness, and Jon Klassen. We are also enormously proud to publish beloved family brands including Lucy Cousin’s Maisy, Michael Rosen’s We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram’s Guess How Much I Love You and Martin Handford’s Where’s Wally?
About the Role:
An exciting opportunity has arisen to lead our UK sales team on a fixed-term contract. You will manage the UK sales team, including the in-house and field sales teams, across all aspects of trade sales, to ensure the maximisation of sales. You will work closely with marketing and publicity across key campaigns, and will work with editorial across all aspects of the publishing process.
The ideal candidate will be able to demonstrate experience in a senior sales role within publishing.
Key responsibilities:
- To manage the UK sales team, and help to manage and deliver the UK sales budget
- Produce monthly reports on UK Trade performance by key property and retailer
- Develop, implement and monitor UK retailer strategies on key properties and brands
- Work with UK sales team, Group Commercial Director and Group CFO to produce annual UK Trade Frontlist and Backlist budgets and reforecasts.
- Work with Group Commercial Director on monitoring, reporting on and reforecasting of annual UK Trade Frontlist and Backlist budgets
- Regular liaison with US company sales director and other US colleagues as required
- Provide market feedback to all relevant company colleagues, including developments in UK retail landscape
- To fully understand and communicate when relevant to Walker business and Group Leadership the current Children’s Books market, backed up by Nielsen Bookscan data
- Provide acquisition figures to editorial for UK Trade projected sales and set print run quantities
- Feed into acquisitions, covers and publishing process
- Adhoc tasks as required
Please note the above is not an exhaustive list and does not necessarily include all the duties the job holder may have to perform. This job description may be amended to meet changing needs of the business.
Skills and Experience Required:
To be successful in this role, you will be able to demonstrate evidence of the following skills and/or experience:
- Understanding of publishing process and product knowledge
- Understanding of UK market and key customers
- Financially and commercially astute, with strong IT skills including Excel
- Ability to plan, prioritise and manage a varied workload
- Highly self-motivated
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- People management experience
- Strong negotiation and presentation skills
- Knowledge and enthusiasm of children’s book publishing is not essential but would be advantageous
What we offer:
- Hybrid working (at least two days in the office per week) once you have successfully passed probation
- 22 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays (with annual leave increasing with length of service up to 27 days)
- Enhanced Pension Scheme
- Health Insurance and Health Cash Plan
- Life Assurance
- Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay
- Access to an Employee Assistance Programme
- Cycle to Work Scheme
- Plus, other great benefits!
We are an equal opportunities employer and believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce encourages creativity and innovative working environment. We are committed to equal treatment and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. It is important that our teams represent all our readers, their families and their communities and we welcome and encourage all applications.
If you have any queries about this role or require any reasonable adjustments for your application or throughout the recruitment process, please let our team know by contacting us at recruitment@walker.co.uk.
Please note we reserve the right to close vacancies before the closing date where we have received sufficient applications. We recommend submitting your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.