Contracts Assistant, Children's Books

Job Description

Contracts Assistant, Random House Children's Books

We are currently seeking a Contracts Assistant to join our Random House Children's Books contracts team. The Contracts Department represents an unrivaled roster of celebrated titles across an editorial breadth that includes exciting picture books for babies and toddlers, to established series for beginning readers, to award-winning novels for young adult readers and every reading age and interest in between. The division partners closely with agents, authors, and publishing entities to finalize the acquisition of rights.

The Contracts Assistant is an integral part of the drafting, negotiating, and full execution of contracts and provides the opportunity to interact with various departments across the division. The applicant will support the Senior Contracts Manager while liaising with legal, royalties & accounting, and the various contracts teams.

The Role:
• Draft and negotiate contracts and contract amendments, and handle rights reversions
• Manage contracts inquiries from other departments such as Editorial, Subsidiary Rights (a team that sells translation and other rights), and Royalties
• Route contracts and amendments to appropriate parties for signature
• Conduct contract research
• Generate, maintain, and distribute any status reports
• Scan files and perform other file/database maintenance
• Liaise with Finance to ensure data for payments or changes to payment due dates is accurate
• Coordinate with team and internal resources to optimize the efficiency of processes and workflow
• Support additional project work as needed

The Essentials:
• A self-starter with impeccable attention to detail when drafting and reviewing contracts
• It is essential that the candidate possesses a proactive and independent approach to work, including a strong ability to problem solve autonomously
• Able to apply organizational methods and strategies to meet deadlines and manage a busy inbox on Outlook.
• Timely follow-up skills with the contracts team, authors, agents and other departments and able to prioritize and complete multiple projects in a rapidly changing, details-focused environment
• A curious mind that enjoys research projects
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Highly proficient in Microsoft Word, Adobe (PDF), and Excel and an avid interest and ability to learn new applications
• A history or interest in legal, journalism, communications, literature or a related publishing field are a plus

Entry-level salary for this position is $45,000. Full-time employees are eligible for our comprehensive benefits program, kindly include your cover letter and resume in our application system.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-g3v3qn-3-137-187-233-42 in your application.