Rights Assistant, Adult Rights (FTC to 21st March 2025)

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to gain rights sales experience in the publishing industry? Are you organised, outgoing and keen to learn more about the role rights plays within our business? 

We are seeking a new Rights Assistant to join the Penguin Random House Adult Rights sales team on a fixed term contract to March 2025, starting as soon as possible.  

The role: As Rights Assistant, you’ll take charge of a wide range of administrative and sales tasks to support a fast-paced team responsible for rights sales for our non-illustrated adult publishing on the Vintage, Transworld and Michael Joseph lists. You will manage several projects at any one time and work to deadlines that enable the team to deliver a high quality of service to our customers. You’ll work on rights projects for many of our leading authors and will liaise with a variety of internal colleagues as well as connecting with international publishers and national newspapers. 

Your key responsibilities will include: 

• Provide administrative support, such as invoicing, processing contracts and minute-taking 

• Provide sales support including book fair scheduling, travel booking, expenses, loading of deals onto database 

• Regularly maintain team reports and data on internal systems 

• Negotiate, sell and supply production files to customers 

• Prepare rights guides in advance of book fairs and sales trips 

• Negotiate and renew expired licences 

• Mail out copies of international editions to authors 

• Work collaboratively with other assistants in the team to improve ways of working 

• Help to organise rights events such as author receptions or virtual webinars  

What you’ll bring: We’d love to hear from you if you have a passion for books and literature. You don’t need publishing experience to be considered for this role as we will provide the necessary training. You’ll need to be a fast learner with confident IT and data skills, in particular around Microsoft Office, PowerPoint and Excel. 

We are looking for resourceful individuals who can manage a varied workload and can prioritise effectively. We’re keen to hire assistants who have an eye for detail and good organisation skills, who could also develop into skilful salespeople when vacancies arise. The role requires excellent networking, communication and interpersonal skills as you will need to build strong relationships with existing and potential customers, as well as key stakeholders in-house including colleagues in Editorial, Royalties, Production and Design. 

The team: This role gives a valuable introduction and insight into this varied area of the publishing business. We are proud to represent rights in a wide-ranging list of prize winning and bestselling authors spanning commercial and literary fiction, as well as non-fiction from science and history, memoir and biography, to personal development and wellbeing. 

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: If you’re interested in joining our Adult Rights team and learning more about the role we play within the business, please apply with your CV and Cover Letter by midnight on Wednesday 3rd July. 

Interview process: Shortlisted applicants will be invited to complete a short HireVue video interview. Those successful at this stage will be invited to an in-person interview at our offices. These in-person interviews are planned for Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd July. Further details regarding any final stage interviews will be shared with candidates in due course.  

Salary: £27,500, plus 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: For this role, there are meetings and activities that you will need to attend in person at our offices in Embassy Gardens and our current temporary space in Millbank through the week.  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. Over the course of 2024 all of our London-based teams will permanently relocate to our Embassy Gardens office in Nine Elms. We’ll be happy to answer any questions on this as part of the interview 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: Penguin Books Limited 

Country: United Kingdom 

State/Region: London 

City: London 

Postal Code: SW11 7BW 

Job ID: 271786