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About the Role

We are seeking a commercially ambitious and entrepreneurial Sales Manager to lead and grow a diverse and high-performing sales list. This role involves managing Key Account Managers, building 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.

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
• Stakeholder Management
• People Management
• Publishing Strategy
• Retailer Strategy

Location

• London

Work Type

• Hybrid

Experience Level

• Commercial leadership
• People management experience preferred

Salary/Compensations

• £50,000 - £57,000

Benefits

• Bonus
• Benefits

About the Company

• Cornerstone is a division within Penguin Random House UK, comprising seven imprints: Century, Del Rey, Inklore, evermore, Hutchinson Heinemann, #Merky Books, and Cornerstone Press.
• Cornerstone has a strong track record of bestsellers, prize winners, and culture-shaping books, working with diverse global voices across various genres.
• All Cornerstone books are published as Penguin paperbacks.

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.