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About the Role

This role is responsible for establishing and developing Penguin’s merchandise program, extending the Penguin brand’s cultural influence beyond publishing through carefully curated licensing opportunities and strategic shared-value partnerships.

Responsibilities

• Develop and deliver the Penguin merchandise strategy, defining the roadmap, priorities, growth opportunities and commercial objectives required to establish a scalable, long-term merchandise programme.
• Lead programme planning, forecasting and performance management, building robust business cases and commercial frameworks to demonstrate value, support investment decisions and drive sustainable growth.
• Identify, negotiate and secure strategic licensing partnerships and collaborations, developing a portfolio of high-impact opportunities that extend Penguin’s cultural influence, audience reach and commercial performance.
• Create compelling partnership propositions and pitch materials, tailoring opportunities to prospective partners and securing best-in-class collaborations across relevant categories.
• Monitor consumer, retail and cultural trends to identify opportunities for brand extension, audience engagement and merchandise innovation.
• Lead merchandise and product development, working with Brand and Creative teams to ensure products, collaborations and storytelling reflect Penguin’s heritage, values and contemporary relevance.
• Oversee the successful delivery of merchandise launches across retail, direct-to-consumer and partner channels, working closely with Brand, Marketing, PR and Commercial teams to maximise impact.
• Work closely with Legal and Finance teams to manage commercial structures, contracts, rights, trademarks and governance, ensuring all activity protects and enhances Penguin’s intellectual property and brand reputation.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with internal stakeholders, external partners, licensees and agencies, leading collaborative ways of working and ensuring the successful delivery of shared objectives.
• Act as a champion and ambassador for the Penguin brand, fostering a commercially focused, audience-centred approach internally and representing Penguin externally with partners and industry contacts.

Requirements

• Proven experience of developing licensing, partnerships or brand extension programmes, ideally from inception, across all categories.
• Strong understanding of intellectual property, trademarks, rights management and licensing business models.
• Demonstrable experience of building and launching an MLM programme from the ground up, including developing the strategy, operating model, partner network and commercial framework.
• Experience negotiating and managing strategic partnerships and licensing agreements.
• Experience managing budgets, forecasts and commercial performance.
• Experience working with consumer brands and translating brand equity into commercial opportunities.
• Strong project management and programme leadership capability.
• Excellent stakeholder management, influencing and relationship-building skills.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and inspire partners.
• Keeps a close pulse on evolving consumer trends and cultural movements.
• Established network across brands, retailers, agencies and licensing communities, with the ability to open doors and cultivate high-value partnerships.
• Passion for brand building and protecting brand integrity.

Location

• London

Work Type

• Hybrid working
• 6-month fixed term basis

Salary/Compensations

• c.£70,000

Benefits

• plus benefits

About the Company

• At Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity.
• We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself!

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.
• 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 [email protected].
• Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request.