Key Account Manager - Cornerstone

We are recruiting for an entrepreneurial individual to join the ambitious Cornerstone Sales team as Key Account Manager. Reporting to the Sales Manager, you will be responsible for driving growth with our most important accounts, including Waterstones. You will bring your passion and enthusiasm to our publishing list, shaping retailer strategy and working across the range of genres we publish, including some of the biggest commercial brands in the market.

This role is open to applicants with a broad range of experience – you could be an account manager looking for a new challenge, working for a retailer, or someone with a passion for books who has experience of building exemplary relationships looking for a career change. You’ll thrive here if you are results driven, ask great questions and deliver with pace and care.

The Cornerstone 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. You’ll play a key role in our team and be commercially-focused in all that you do, curious about new opportunities and developments in the marketplace – and how we make those happen at Cornerstone.

About Cornerstone: Cornerstone is a division within the iconic publisher Penguin Random House UK. Cornerstone is home to seven imprints: Century, Del Rey, Inklore, evermore, Hutchinson Heinemann, #Merky Books, and Cornerstone Press, each with its own specific focus and remit. Every Cornerstone book also goes on to become a Penguin paperback. Within publishing, Cornerstone has an enviable track record of bestsellers, prize winners and culture-shaping books, working with many of the world’s most interesting voices, often throughout their entire career. Our books span genres, categories and marketplaces globally.

Key responsibilities:

• Work collaboratively and creatively with buyers and booksellers to build a successful relationship with these key retail partners.
• Commercial ownership and driving growth through proactively feeding your expert market knowledge back into the division and working with key stakeholders to influence and drive strategy across the business.
• Working collaboratively with retail partners, consistently bringing a growth mindset and going above and beyond to secure standout campaigns for Cornerstone titles while driving broader strategic opportunities.
• Engaging with sales, marketing, publicity and editorial teams, as well as other UK account managers, to maximise sales opportunities and to help connect readers with our authors, brands and books.
• Analysing sales data to uncover commercial insights and communicating them in an engaging way which will inform and influence divisional decision-making.
• Ability to meet and exceed customer yearly sales targets and delivering on KPIs within a high performing division.

What you’ll bring:

• Solid commercial background in sales or retail.
• Proven experience managing customer relationships and accounts, ideally within a retail or publishing environment.
• A passion for publishing and bookshops in particular.
• An interest in the breadth of the Cornerstone list.
• Strong presentation skills and ability to influence.
• Attention to detail and key processes.
• Entrepreneurial spirit and a self-starter attitude.

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 PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request.

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 11th May. 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.

Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team. We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you.

£35,000 - £44,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits. 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, based in London, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.