Head of Sales, Open Markets

Head of Sales, Open Markets HarperCollins Publishers

Employment Type Full time

Location Hybrid · London, UK 3+ days office based

Salary £57,000 – £62,000 (GBP)

Seniority Senior

• Closing:11:59pm, 9th Nov 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

Job Description

Introduction to the Role

As the head of the Open Markets sales team, you will lead the team who sell to our international customers and distributors across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. You are responsible for managing the performance of HarperCollins adult and children's titles in these markets to drive growth for the business as a whole.

You will have an excellent understanding of international markets and publishing and be able to feed this expertise into our publishing divisions in order to shape acquisition and publishing strategy.

You will have a wealth of management experience and be able to successfully lead a team, developing and supporting team members where necessary.

You will be part of the senior team within Group International Sales and contribute to the overall strategy of our export business.

Key Tasks and Accountabilities:

• Accountability for the performance for HarperCollins across open market territories, delivering on agreed targets and objectives with a focus on profitable selling.

• Management and development of a team of Sales Managers.

• Excellent customer relationships, which foster collaboration and understanding, and drive business growth and profit

• Knowledge of the wider Group business to inform strategic priorities within the team

• Membership of HarperCollins group international sales leadership team

Skills Required:

• Trade publishing sales experience, at senior manager level, required

• Significant management and leadership experience, required

• Experience of international markets

• Ability to act autonomously and to manage budgets, targets etc in conjunction with international Sales Directors

• A leader within Sales and within the business, demonstrating both individual accountability and a commitment to coaching and developing those around you, inspiring a strong team spirit and a high-performance ethos.

• A happy traveler, knowledgeable about international markets, publishing, and trends, and committed to getting to know your markets from the ground up

• Good communicator, in person and remotely

• Financially aware; able to make informed predictions and analyse results to inform future decisions

• A team player; effective with all colleagues, willing to help others where necessary, and contributing as widely as possible to our international success.

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

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.

If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly 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.