Job Description

We are recruiting for an experienced Key Account Manager to join Penguin General to look after some of our biggest retailers, Waterstones and the supermarkets. This role requires someone with excellent customer relationship skills, tenacity and an eye for detail.
This is a 6-month fixed-term opportunity between February and July 2026.
About the team:
At Penguin General we aim to publish great books that can be picked up and enjoyed by everyone. Our many readers, like our authors, stretch around the world, and what unites both is an intelligent curiosity about the world around us, as well as a love of great storytelling.
Our publishing incorporates bestsellers and prize-winners, from Richard Osman to Robert Macfarlane, from Dolly Alderton to Emily Henry, from Dr Rangan Chatterjee to Ben Macintyre and Stanley Tucci. Our authors come from all over the world - Elif Shafak, Avni Doshi, Mohsin Hamid to name but a few - as well as being homegrown stars like Zadie Smith, Bernardine Evaristo and Sathnam Sanghera - and Penguin General has a simple mission to connect them with a large and inclusive readership.
The sales team is a small tight team who work hard and enjoy celebrating their success together. We work very closely with our editorial, marketing and publicity colleagues to reach as many readers as possible for all our books.
Key responsibilities:

• Work collaboratively and creatively with buyers and booksellers to build a successful relationship with these key retail partners.
• Proactively feeding your expert market knowledge back into the division and working with key stakeholders across the business.
• Presenting key titles to the mass market and securing support for relevant titles.
• Engaging with sales, marketing, publicity and editorial teams, as well as other UK account managers, in order to maximise sales opportunities and to help connect readers with our authors, brands and books.
• Reporting and analysing sales data and contributing to relevant divisional meetings

What you'll bring
Essential criteria:

• Solid commercial background in sales or retail.
• Proven experience managing customer relationships and accounts, ideally within a publishing environment.
• A passion for publishing and demonstrable interest in working specifically for Penguin General
• Strong presentation skills. The ability to influence.
• Commercial acumen and sales analysis skills
• An attention to detail

Application instructions
Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Monday 10th November.
Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.
Salary
35,000 - 40,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.
Hybrid working
While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will work from our office in London at least two days per week.
Company: The Random House Group Limited | Job ID: 283926

Skills Required