International Sales Assistant (12-month FTC)

Are you organised with meticulous attention to detail? Are you eager to join our fast moving and entrepreneurial International Sales team? We’re looking for an International Sales Assistant to join the team on a 12-month Fixed Term basis, to provide administrative and sales support to the Sales Managers looking after Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, Pakistan, and the Middle East.

The opportunity: Penguin Random House has the strongest international presence of any trade publisher, with close to twenty offices all over the world, and with ambitious plans for growth in international markets. We work across the full range of PRH adult titles including the business, fiction, classics and smart thinking sectors alongside our award-winning children’s and educational lists. 

As an International Sales Assistant, you’ll play an important role in assisting with the smooth running of the International Sales team. 

Responsibilities will include:

• Dealing with ad hoc e-mail and telephone queries and day-to-day customer sales queries, including price and availability queries, book title information and tracking shipments
• Order management: following up on orders including stock checking and order checking
• Supporting the Sales Managers in a range of tasks including preparing sales material, delivering sales reports and managing monthly meetings
• Planning and preparing for Sales Manager trips
• Working closely with the Sales team, our Operations team and with Customer Services to help deliver excellent marketing, logistics and sales support to our customers in order to grow sales
• Preparing sales materials for trips and book fairs and providing follow-up material and information to meetings
• Providing other relevant administrative support for the team on an ad hoc basis.

What you’ll bring: As International Sales Assistant, you’ll have an interest in how we sell our books to international markets, bringing to the role excellent administrative skills and the ability to pick up new systems quickly, as you’ll be working with systems which include Biblio, SAP, Power BI and particularly Excel. A sound knowledge of Microsoft Office would be an advantage, alongside strong Excel skills.

This is a varied and busy support role; no two days will be the same and you’ll need to be able to think quickly on your feet. The job includes liaising with customers and dealing promptly with their queries, so you’ll need to be flexible in your approach and have excellent written and interpersonal communication skills. You’ll be able to prioritise a busy workload effectively while still maintaining a keen eye for detail and delivering to deadlines.

This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who is looking for a step in their career which offers autonomy, independence, and responsibility.

Disability Confident: If you have opted into our disability confident scheme below is the minimum criteria you must meet to be considered for our interview scheme. Please note, there may be occasions where the volume of applicants means we can’t take all eligible candidates to interview.

Minimum criteria

• Demonstratable interest in adult publishing and International Sales
• Proven written ability showcased through your application
• Experience/ Knowledge of MS Office Excel/Word/ Outlook
• Demonstrable understanding of managing multiple stakeholders at varying seniorities
• Demonstrable communication skills

About Penguin: We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

How to apply: Please apply with your CV and Cover Letter by 23:59 on Tuesday 5th November. We encourage you to apply with a tailored Cover Letter – this is an important part of our assessment and is an opportunity for you to tell us more about your interest in the role and transferrable skills.

Please note we are looking for someone to join the team as soon as possible, but we are also happy to accommodate a reasonable notice period for the right candidate.

Salary: £27,500 plus bonus and benefits.

Competitive benefits package: Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition.

Our benefits include:

• Financial – discounted shopping, season ticket loan, rental deposit loan
• Wellbeing - healthcare cash plan, employee assistance, gym loan
• Lifestyle – taste card, tech scheme, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/what-we-offer/

Hybrid working: We’re experimenting with a hybrid way of working that suits the needs of each team. 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’ll expect you to work 2 or 3 days a week from our Embassy Gardens office in London. The exact balance of office to remote working will depend on the nature of your role and team needs, and we are open to discussing this through the recruitment process.

The recruitment process: You can read about our recruitment process at https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/how-we-hire/

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. 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 to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.

Company: The Random House Group Limited 

Country: United Kingdom 

State/Region: London 

City: London 

Postal Code: SW11 7BW 

Job ID: 274929