Job Information
HarperCollins Publishers Sales Executive (7m Maternity Cover) in London, United Kingdom
Sales Executive (7m Maternity Cover) HarperCollins Publishers
Employment Type Contract February - September 2025
Location Hybrid · London, UK 3+ days office based
Salary £28,500 (GBP)
Team Group Sales
Seniority Junior
- Closing:12:55am, 19th Jan 2025 GMT
Perks and benefits
Work from home option
Healthcare
Retirement benefits
Wellness programs
Employee Assistance Programme
Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
Extra holiday
Professional development
Mentoring/coaching
Paid volunteer days
Flexible benefits scheme
Cycle to work scheme
Candidate happiness
8.65 (27318)
Job Description
Introduction to the role:
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join our HQ, Pavilion and Mills & Boon, and Avon divisions, providing support to Key Accounts. This role involves working with retailers, the publishing divisions, as well as the wider UK sales team, and there is sales account responsibility for Mills and Boon series.
The successful candidate will possess an extremely high level of organisation and attention to detail, as well as an ability to rapidly acquire a high level of competency on company systems and confident use of Microsoft Office applications, notably Excel. Most of all we’re looking for personable, bright individual who can learn quickly and use their own initiative.
The role offers great sales experience, including shadowing the account handlers for major UK retailers and the potential for the right candidate to begin looking after some accounts directly.
Working across the HQ Fiction and HQ and Pavilion Nonfiction lists, as well as the Avon list, it’s a real opportunity for gaining an unmatched insight into the commercial UK Trade book market. As well as being heavily customer-facing, the role will work across major Fiction and NonFiction Brands and Genres, from authors including Adele Parks, Linwood Barclay, CL Taylor, Davina McCall and Paul Ainsworth.
Core responsibilities:
Administrative support to the HQ & Avon Sales team
Compile sales reports and circulate relevant sales information across the team
Customer communication for Mills and Boon series titles
Distribute advance samples / proofs to retailers / team
Create internal and external PowerPoint presentations
Answer internal and customer queries quickly and effectively
Ad-hoc administrative tasks e.g. formatting presentations, creating graphs and charts through Excel
Liaise with the Field Sales team, Divisional Sales teams, Marketing, PR, Distribution and Editorial, Commercial Finance
Process customer orders in a clear and timely manner, liaising with Glasgow distribution, credit control and customer services to ensure the effective distribution of orders so that invoices may be raised and books despatched in the business’ best interests
Raise any required marketing PO’s
Collating data from customer reports across the business
Keeping abreast of the commercial book market and being an ambassador for HQ and Avon titles
Experience required:
Sales admin experience
Customer service experience
Experience of maintaining and developing working relationships
Knowledge Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Experience of producing sales presentations
Experience of working in a busy environment and managing priorities
Account experience desired but not essential
Skills required:
Ability to communicate at all levels, both written and verbally
Professional, reliable, able to work quickly under pressure and use own initiative
Effective team player
Organised, efficient, proactive and able to hit deadlines
Good attention to detail
Willing to take on new challenges
Keen interest and passion for books particularly across commercial fiction and non fiction.
At HarperCollins, we value authenticity and integrity in our recruitment process. To ensure a fair and accurate evaluation of all applications, we ask that all responses to assessment questions reflect your own thoughts, experiences, and capabilities. This allows us to fairly assess your knowledge, skills, and experience to determine how they align with the role. We value diverse perspectives and genuine contributions, even if answers are not perfect. The use of AI tools or external assistance to generate responses is discouraged unless explicitly permitted for specific tasks.
Benefits
Hybrid working model (3 days in the office)
28 days holiday plus bank holidays (option to buy and sell holiday days)
Enhanced pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
Private healthcare cover and life assurance
Summer Hours
Free access to HeadSpace, employee assistance programme (24 hour helpline), mental health first aiders, and a wellbeing portal
Season ticket loans (from day 1 for entry level) and cycle to work scheme
Relocation Rent Support Loan
Employee networks: HC All In (open forum), Elevate (for ethnic minority colleagues), HarperParents, Menopause at Work, Pride at HC, Social Mobility Network and Neurodiversity at Work
Unlimited training on our Learning and Development portal, management courses (up to MA level) and mentoring programmes
Virtual GP and eyecare vouchers
Gym membership discount
Onsite physiotherapy (London only)
Charitable donation matching and 2 volunteering days
We're a certified Carbon Neutral company
Green Electric/Hybrid Car Benefit Scheme (salary sacrifice)
With Trees for Life we plant a tree in the Highlands of Scotland for every permanent hire
Free e-books and audiobooks, digital newspaper subscriptions and discounts on books
Subsidised canteen and retail discounts
Onsite prayer room
If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly tostephanie.jemmett@harpercollins.co.uk (recruitment@harpercollins.co.uk) with subject heading ‘Vacancy Query’ plus the job title and we will aim to get back to you within 5 working days.
Please note, if you are interested in the role you would need to submit your application via Applied. We do not accept email applications.