Key Account Sales Executive (Maternity cover)

The role

We are looking for a reliable and experienced Key Account Sales Executive to manage all commercial sales relationships for the Europe region, working directly with sales agents and third-party distributors to generate new business and build print and eBook revenues.  This role will also be involved in the Rights and Translations part of the business and will be responsible for promoting the Bristol University Press (BUP) list to international rights agencies. This is a great opportunity to be involved in both sales and rights with a leading academic publisher. 

You will work closely with our marketing team on organising and attending events, creating materials for your regions, and inputting into marketing planning.  You will be confident in using Salesforce and MS Office and happy to take ownership of key reports and meetings.

This is a unique opportunity to join the mission-led Bristol University Press (BUP) as part of our sales team. As an international publisher of social science books and journals, BUP has seen impressive sales growth since it was formed in 2016 and was awarded the 2024 Independent Professional and Academic Publisher of the Year.

This is a fixed-term contract for 13 months so gives you a great opportunity to step in and make a difference, bring in new ideas and manage and grow existing relationships

What will you be doing?

• Manage the day-to-day sales accounts for books (print and consumer eBooks) setting up regular communication and feedback on sales results to the business.
• Contribute to the regional sales strategy and operational plan, providing specialist input to enhance our sales processes and activities to support the projected sales increase and to raise BUP’s profile in the market.
• Develop and regularly review sales and marketing strategies, work in conjunction with colleagues to support central activities such as marketing and title development.
• Carry out presentations on key titles to regional representatives; working with those representatives to select titles for promotions and highlights to local bookstores.
• Collate, organise, and analyse data sets, interpreting and reporting patterns and trends, highlighting and prioritising any issues for further investigation to support informed decision making.
• Develop and see through to completion promotion plans, ensuring that the most effective tools and channels are used to drive BUP objectives.
• Identify and pursue potential sales leads, setting up regular email campaigns and reporting back on opportunities for the monthly Management Team report.
• Act as an effective deputy for the Global Sales Manager, making decisions to provide immediate support and decision around sales issues.

You should apply if

You will have experience in a publishing sales role and be confident building relationships with an international customer base.

You should be able to identify sales opportunities and follow those through, with support from other internal and external agencies. Evidence of negotiating skills and deal-closing would be advantageous.

You will have excellent MS Office skills, particularly Excel, and experience of CRM systems, ideally Salesforce.

Additional information

For informal queries about the role please contact:

Julie Atkins – Julie.atkins@bristol.ac.uk

Hybrid Working: 

Postholder will need be in the office ideally one day a week, which would be a Thursday.

Contract type: Fixed term cover role (04/08/2025 - 04/09/2026)

This advert will close at 23:59 UK time on Thursday 3rd July 2025.

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