Key Account Executive - Transworld (12-month FTC)

Are you passionate about books and eager to make a mark in the publishing industry? Do you have a knack for building strong relationships and an interest in sales? If so, we want you on our team! We are seeking a motivated and enthusiastic Key Account Executive to join our dynamic Transworld Sales department!

Transworld is a commercial powerhouse known for publishing some of the greatest writers across the UK and around the world, including two of the biggest-selling books in recent years – Spare by Prince Harry and Lessons in Chemistry by debut author Bonnie Garmus. At the beating heart of Transworld is a passion for our authors, a belief in their books, and a hunger for success. We publish across many areas, including commercial and literary fiction, non-fiction and we have an unrivalled reputation for turning debuts into bestsellers and for creating 'brand-name' authors who lead in their varied genres. Our bestselling authors include Kate Atkinson, Dan Brown, Lee & Andrew Child, Terry Hayes, Ruth Jones, Sophie Kinsella, Shari Lapena, Paula Hawkins, Bill Bryson, Chris Broad and Elliot Page.

Key responsibilities:

1. Collaborate closely with your line manager, and team, to achieve sales goals and targets.
2. Provide support to the Key Account Managers across the division, including creation of customer new line forms and presentations.
3. Attend and support customer meetings alongside Key Account Manager where appropriate.
4. Collaborate and work closely with counterparts in Editorial, Marketing, Publicity and Art to gather materials for presentations.
5. Work with wider group sales colleagues, ensuring they have what they need from a Transworld perspective and also to contribute and share wider market knowledge/learnings where appropriate.
6. Handle requests from various teams across the division, e.g. reporting on specific title performance or bookseller requests.
7. Perform daily administrative tasks, performing market and title specific analysis, maintaining spreadsheets and databases and updating retailer budgets and orders alongside Key Account Managers with meticulous attention to detail.

What you’ll bring:

Essential criteria:

1. A highly motivated and enthusiastic attitude, with confidence in your abilities.
2. Comfortable in a sales environment and curious about the retail landscape.
3. Strong presentation and communication skills, both verbal and written.
4. The ability to quickly build relationships with colleagues and clients.
5. A passion for our books and the ability to inspire enthusiasm in others.
6. A can-do attitude with a willingness to learn and adapt.
7. Proficiency in using multiple in-house systems and overall computer literacy.
8. Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
9. The ability to prioritise and respond swiftly to briefs and customer requests.
10. A collaborative spirit, happy to support team members.

Preferred criteria:

1. Sales or buying experience in retail or publishing preferable.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter by 11:59pm on Wednesday 2nd April. Within your cover letter, please tell us why you would like to join the team at Transworld.

Salary

Circa £32k dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

What you can expect from us

Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition.

Our benefits include:

1. Financial – discounted shopping, season ticket loan, rental deposit loan
2. Wellbeing – healthcare cash plan, employee assistance, gym loan
3. Lifestyle – taste card, tech scheme, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/what-we-offer/

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 visit our office in London, three days per week.

About Penguin

We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

The recruitment process

You can read about our recruitment process at https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/how-we-hire/

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.