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About the Role

Cornerstone is seeking a commercially ambitious and entrepreneurial Sales Manager to join their Sales team. This role involves line managing two Key Account Managers and defining strategies for growth and sustained success within a diverse and high-performing list. The position requires building influential customer partnerships, shaping publishing strategy, and utilizing data to identify growth opportunities. The ideal candidate is results-driven, asks insightful questions, and delivers with pace and care. The Cornerstone sales team is a close-knit group that collaborates with editorial, marketing, and publicity to maximize readership.

Responsibilities

Develop and deliver clear sales strategies to drive growth across frontlist and backlist.
Identify and scale opportunities across formats (physical, digital, audio) and routes to market.
Use data and market insight to inform decisions, from acquisition through to long-term backlist optimization.
Lead and develop, alongside Key Account Managers, on strategic engagement with key customers.
Bring a broad understanding of the UK market, working across all major channels and adapting strategies accordingly.
Act as a key commercial voice within Cornerstone, contributing to acquisition, pricing, positioning and publishing strategy.
Play an active role in acquisition, brand, covers and backlist meetings.
Provide clear, data-led insight to support editorial, marketing and publicity decisions.
Build strong relationships across editorial, marketing, publicity, design and production.
Work collaboratively to deliver integrated publishing campaigns.
Operate with agility in a fast-paced, evolving environment.
Line manage and develop team members, fostering a high-performance, collaborative culture.
Contribute to building an engaged, ambitious and commercially focused sales team.

Requirements

A strong track record of delivering commercial growth with a proactive and results-driven approach.
Experience managing key retail accounts and building senior-level customer relationships, with the confidence and credibility to influence at all levels.
Excellent understanding of the UK book market and routes to market, combined with genuine curiosity about how different channels and formats perform.
Strong analytical capability, with the ability to translate data and market insight into clear actions and opportunities.
Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders, building collaborative relationships across editorial, marketing, publicity and beyond.
The ability to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, operating with pace and agility in a fast-moving environment.
Previous people management experience, with the ability to motivate, develop and bring out the best in others.
Experience working across multiple formats (print, digital, audio), with an interest in how they interact to drive overall performance.
Experience leading or owning a category, list or area of business, demonstrating ownership, initiative and commercial judgement.
A growth mindset, with a desire to continuously learn, challenge thinking and push both yourself and the business forward.

Skills

Sales Strategy
Commercial Growth
Key Account Management
Customer Relationship Building
Market Insight
Data Analysis
Cross-functional Collaboration
People Management
Strategic Thinking
Agility
Pace
Publishing Strategy
Retailer Strategy

Location

London

Work Type

Hybrid working
Full-time

Experience Level

Commercial leadership

Salary/Compensations

£50,000 - £57,000 plus bonus and benefits

Benefits

Bonus
Benefits

About the Company

Cornerstone is a division within Penguin Random House UK.
Cornerstone comprises seven imprints: Century, Del Rey, Inklore, evermore, Hutchinson Heinemann, #Merky Books, and Cornerstone Press.
Cornerstone has a track record of bestsellers, prize winners, and culture-shaping books, working with diverse voices.
Cornerstone books span genres, categories, and marketplaces globally.

Equal Opportunity

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.
We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk.
If you would like to be considered under our Disability Confident Scheme during this recruitment process, please indicate this in your cover letter.