Junior Key Account Manager, Trade & Special Sales, Childrens

Job Description

DESCRIPTION:

Simon & Schuster is one of the most successful global publishers with a strong UK presence. We publish a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction. We are the proud publishers of many brand fiction names including Philippa Gregory and Kathy Reichs. We have a thriving and rapidly growing literary list, Scribner, which is home to writers such as Graham Swift, John Irving and Cho Nam Joo.
Our non-fiction list is broad and hugely exciting. We publish in the areas of sport, popular culture, health and wellbeing, history and many more - from Hillary Clinton to Jonathan van Ness and everyone in between. We are lucky enough to publish the biggest poet on the planet, Rupi Kaur.
On the Children's side we are the publishers of global superstars Cassandra Clare and Rachel Renée Russell, home-grown bestsellers such as Ben Miller, Michelle Harrison, Abi Elphinstone and Sue Hendra & Paul Linnet, and rising stars including Nadia Shireen, Danielle Jawando and Jenni Spangler.

Job Profile:

We have an exciting vacancy for a junior key account management role within our fast-paced and dynamic sales team. Reporting to the Children's Sales and Brand Director, you will work across a number of the UK's highest profile accounts, across both high street and non-traditional channels selling in the children's list.

Your Role:

You will have responsibility for helping the team drive sales and create strategies for growth with UK retailers both high street trade and special sales with accounts such as The Works, TK Maxx and Marks and Spencer. Taking into account changes in the physical market, you will identify special sales opportunities that help S&S to reach new readers, across a wide variety of accounts and tailor product / create bespoke product to meet the needs of those retailers. You will be responsible for the management of high profile high street trade accounts, as well as playing a supporting role on those managed by the Sales and Brand Director.

You will be responsible for managing the customer support budget for your accounts, for minimizing returns and for negotiating discounts in order to both deliver sales targets and protect company profitability. In addition, you will provide excellent market and competitor feedback in order to inform both book acquisition and jacket design decisions. You will be responsible for liaising with customer service departments to ensure that logistics of delivery requirements are adhered to and correct prices are invoiced.

QUALIFICATIONS:

We are keen to hear from the widest range of candidates and we're open to different types of experience and backgrounds. If you have a working knowledge of direct selling, we would love to hear from you, but it is not essential that you have worked in trade children's publishing. We are looking for an enthusiastic and driven individual, eager to gain knowledge and experience of sales to a variety of accounts.

You will be an analytical thinker, have an eye for detail and have proven understanding of margins, profits and sales data. Your customer relationships should be second to none and you should have strong interpersonal and presentation skills. You should always be willing to take on new challenges, be flexible and determined to succeed. You will have a prowess for multi-tasking and innovative thinking and be able to work on your own and as part of a team.

A passion for children's books and a creative flair would give you an advantage.

Closing Date: Friday 16 October at 17:30

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-reo475-3-138-141-202-42 in your application.