Rights Manager (12-month-FTC)

Penguin Random House; London Borough of Wandsworth; On-site; GBP 36,000 - 40,000; Full time

Job summary

Penguin Random House UK is seeking a Rights Manager to lead translation rights in multiple markets. You will negotiate terms, manage relationships with international publishers, and drive sales across fiction and non-fiction.

The role covers collaboration across Cornerstone, Ebury, Penguin General and Penguin Press divisions and reports to the Head of Translation. You will engage in auctions, options, and direct negotiations, with a focus on expanding markets, backlist opportunities, and

Qualifications

• Proven experience in selling translation rights.
• Track record of commercial success in negotiating rights sales.
• Ability to manage relationships with international publishers.
• Experience representing titles at book fairs and author events.

Responsibilities

• Sell translation rights across international markets, including Portugal, Brazil, South Korea, and Japan.
• Negotiate rights terms and close deals with publishers, while handling deal administration and data entry.
• Represent PRH titles at client meetings, book fairs, author events, and sales trips.
• Report to the Head of Translation on acquisitions, targets, and market strategies.

Skills

Rights negotiation

Translation rights

Relationship building

Market knowledge

Job description

• LegalEntity: The Random House Group Limited
• Compensation: GBP 36,000 - GBP 40,000 - yearly

Job Description

Are you a Senior Rights Executive looking for your next step, or a Rights Manager ready for a new challenge? We are hiring for a Rights Manager to work with our Cornerstone, Ebury, Penguin General and Penguin Press divisions, on a 12-month FTC to cover a team member’s parental leave. If you bring proven experience working in Rights, then this role could be for you.

About the team

Penguin Random House UK Group Rights represents international and domestic rights across the company’s eight divisions. For Adult Rights, one team represents Ebury, Cornerstone, Penguin General and Penguin Press; another represents Transworld, Michael Joseph and Vintage; and another represents illustrated titles across the seven adult publishing divisions. A separate team represents the Penguin Random House UK Children’s division, which includes Ladybird, Puffin and Penguin imprints. Our film, TV and media team works across all divisions. The Penguin Random House rights teams help our books and brands go global

The role

You’ll have the chance to work across a wide range of fiction and non-fiction both literary and commercial, selling both translation and taking responsibility for certain international markets. We’re looking for someone who is excited to engage with team strategy for ambitious, innovative, and creative ways of increasing title sales including backlist. You’ll be part of a collaborative and growth-driven team, and report to the Head of Translation.

Key responsibilities:

Effectively and ambitiously sell translation rights in Portugal, Brazil, South Korea, Japan

Skilfully negotiate translation rights sales, achieving strong deals, through: conducting auctions, granting options, representing titles through personal contact, negotiating terms, concluding sales and managing administrative tasks, including deal administration and database uploading.

Provide dynamic representation of PRH titles at client meetings, media events, bookfairs, author events and sales trips, as required.

Report to the Head of Translation on all matters relating to the acquisition and exploitation of translation rights, including setting ambitious financial targets and presenting strategies for growing allocated markets to achieve budget.

Develop, research and share market expertise in translation markets, identifying trends, bringing publishing ideas back into the business.

Build excellent relationships with a wide range of international publishers, tracking the market to capture changes/new players and pro-actively extending customer base.

Establish strong relationships with literary scouts and co agents.

Work with senior rights sales team to help nurture and develop junior rights team members, in order that they present high quality, highly productive work.

Deputise for a team divisional rights specialist (DRS) working closely with Penguin General. This includes establishing excellent relationships with this divisional editorial team, reading widely and responding quickly with honest, solution-focussed feedback on potential acquisitions and around submissions, sales trips and bookfairs.

Work on group projects and processes

What you’ll bring

We’re looking for someone who knows how to develop and maintain relationships with our international publishers, who will bring market curiosity and achieve successful sales in their markets, always looking for new opportunities. You’ll be a confident communicator, whether that’s negotiations, pitching and presenting, or working collaboratively with internal teams. The successful candidate will be a team player who is curious, entrepreneurial and collaborative - a persuasive and ambitious ambassador for our books who will thrive in a fast-paced environment.

Experienced rights seller with proven experience in translation rights.

A track record of commercial success in skilfully negotiating rights sales and maximising revenue in your markets.

Confident and proactive in representing a large and varied list of both fiction and non-fiction titles at bookfairs, author events and on sales trips.

Ability to handle competing demands and prioritise effectively.

Excellent demonstrable communication and relationship building skills.

AI

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.

Disability Confident

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 [e-mail]. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request.

Additional Information

Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data:

Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG.

The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here .

You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address.

Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here .