Global Commercial Licensing Manager in Bristol

We’re looking for a Global Commercial Licensing Manager to join our Sales Operations team and play a central role in how we deliver licensing across IOP Publishing. This is a fantastic opportunity to combine hands‑on contractual expertise with people leadership, leading a small, high‑performing team responsible for drafting, negotiating and processing commercial licences. You’ll ensure our agreements are accurate, compliant and delivered efficiently—while also acting as a trusted advisor to colleagues across Sales, Legal, Finance and beyond. You’ll be at the heart of how we support our customers globally, helping to translate their needs into clear, effective agreements, while continuously improving how we work.

What you’ll be doing:

• Overseeing the preparation, review and processing of commercial licence agreements, including transformative agreements
• Supporting and, where needed, leading on negotiations with customers
• Providing clear guidance on licensing queries to colleagues across the business
• Ensuring all contracts meet agreed standards, templates and policies
• Working closely with Legal on non-standard terms and contract improvements
• Managing and developing a team
• Leading and supporting a small team of licensing specialists
• Creating a collaborative, inclusive environment where people feel supported and able to do their best work
• Allocating work effectively and ensuring deadlines and service levels are met
• Coaching and developing team members to grow their skills and confidence
• Partnering across the business
• Building strong relationships with Sales, Legal, Finance, Publishing and Technology teams
• Communicating clearly with stakeholders, including senior colleagues, on risks, progress and priorities
• Supporting training and guidance for Sales teams on licensing processes and requirements
• Driving operational excellence
• Monitoring team performance, workload and service levels
• Tracking key metrics such as turnaround times, quality and backlog
• Producing clear reports and insights to support decision-making
• Proactively identifying and addressing risks or capacity challenges
• Improving how we work
• Identifying opportunities to improve licensing processes and systems
• Supporting the delivery of continuous improvement initiatives
• Contributing licensing expertise to wider Sales Operations projects

What we’re looking for:

Essential experience and skills:

• Experience working with commercial contracts or licensing agreements, including negotiation or amendment
• Previous people management or team leadership experience
• Ability to explain complex contractual information clearly and confidently
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience working across functions
• Excellent attention to detail with sound judgement
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities
• Confident user of Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, Outlook)

Nice to have:

• Experience in academic publishing or a related sector
• Background in a sales-supporting or commercial environment
• Experience driving process or continuous improvement initiatives
• Familiarity with Salesforce or similar CRM systems

Who We Are: IOP Publishing is a society-owned scientific publisher, providing impact, recognition and value for the scientific community. As the publishing arm of the Institute of Physics, 100% of our profit goes towards public and scientific good.

Financial Benefits: A competitive salary starting from £40,000 (Band C) depending on experience, an excellent pension scheme, a discretionary annual bonus scheme and a range of other useful and cost‑saving benefits available through our benefits platform.

Health and Wellbeing: 33+ days holiday (including bank holidays), plus an extra day’s leave to use for a moment that matters to you, a 35‑hour working week, life assurance, cycle to work scheme, dental insurance, health care cash plan, and a great positive working environment in our brand new office in central Bristol — modern airy and designed with all of our colleagues in mind – for work and social time.

Flexibility: A flexible hybrid working environment to suit everyone’s needs– we don’t need you in the office every day so we can consider applicants from further afield who can travel to Bristol likely once or twice per week, depending on when face‑to‑face time is needed (any travel to the Bristol office is at the employee’s own expenses).

IOP Publishing is an equal opportunity employer. Our goal is to ensure that diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are built into our identity in a way that is natural and sustainable, visible through the work we produce, our company branding, our professional networks and the communities we serve and support, which includes our employees, talent communities and candidates. We particularly welcome applicants from under‑represented backgrounds. We make recruitment and workplace adjustments wherever we can, so please let us know if there’s anything that we can do to support you. Please note that we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for candidates. If however you already have the right to work in the UK or hold an eligible work permit or visa, we encourage you to apply for this position.