Academic sales executive

Closing date for applications: Sunday 11th October 2026 at 11:59pm

Location: 3 days in office, 2 days WFH - candidate can be based out of London, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle, Sheffield or Edinburgh offices

Start date: November 2026

Help grow Kogan Page’s academic publishing through university sales, relationship building and market insight.

Kogan Page is a leading publisher of award-winning business books from global experts, academics and specialist professionals, helping organizations and individuals thrive in the evolving business world. We publish across a broad range of subject areas including Business Strategy, General Business Interest, Human Resources and L&D, Marketing and Sales, Logistics, Supply Chain and Operations, Skills and Careers, Risk and Compliance and Finance and Banking.

Kogan Page is an equal opportunities employer. We take the following actions to ensure we are a diverse and representative organization:

• We are an active member of the Independent Publishers Guild Diversity and Inclusivity Action Group and we support the Publishers Association Inclusivity Action Plan.
• We pay London Living Wage or above to all members of staff.
• We partner with Creative Access to support under-represented groups entering the creative industries.
• Our freelancers work to industry standard bias-free guidelines.
• We make our content accessible and we are one of very few publishers in the world to receive Benetech's Global Certified Accessible accreditation for e-books.
• We monitor representation across our staff and authors.
  

Being a diverse and representative organization is an ongoing process and we are continuing to improve our practices to better serve our staff, industry and readers.

The role

The Academic Sales Executive will focus on winning UK and International adoptions of Kogan Page/CIPD titles and managing and processing academic book campaigns. The Academic Sales Executive works with relevant academics generating interest in our print titles, e-books and digital book collection platform KoganPage+ with an expectancy of travel on up to 3 days per week according to business needs and demands across a designated targeted territory of universities. Additionally, attendance at key academic conferences throughout the year is also pivotal.

Key activities

• Qualifying inspection copy requests from lead generation campaigns
• Win adoptions from a pipeline of qualified opportunities across UK/European universities on key academic titles with a focus on new books/editions
• Promote KoganPage+ to the academic community through demand generation activity (face to face/virtual meetings)
• Feedback to sales and editorial teams on market trends and author needs to inform of new product/content development
• Proactively solicit author leads for editorial teams
• Work closely with marketing to feed into the strategy for marketing campaigns
• Process all campaigns and ensure timley follow-up
  
  

Key responsibilities

• Ensure Kogan Page Academic Roadmap is up to date
• Plan the Kogan Page Academic Catalogue (twice yearly)
• Keep the CRM system up to date with key academic contacts and opportunity management
• Maintain the academic sales folders in the shared drive

Knowledge, skills and experience

Essential

• Strong relationship building and communication skills
• Ability to work independently
• Resilience
• Diligence

Desirable

• Prior work in educational publishing, ed-tech, academic library and/or campus engagement would be advantageous
• Understanding of university departmental structures, academic buying cycles and curriculum planning windows
• Knowledge of digital learning technologies e.g digital platforms
• Familiarity of academic disciplines and book adoption processes
• Data-driven sales experience
• Sales and Account Management experience with a track record of hitting KPI's/targets

Academic requirements

A minimum of a bachelor's degree (preferably in Publishing or a related field) is required though equivalent vocational experience will be considered.

To apply

• Log in to your Creative Access account or register today to apply for this opportunity
• Upload your CV and cover letter as one document (applications without a tailored cover letter will not be accepted)
• Once submitted, you can no longer amend your application, so proof-read carefully
• Do not contact the company directly
• Please email any queries about this role to Creative Access at this address: recruit@creativeaccess.org.uk
• Please note you will receive an update on your application no later than 6 weeks after the closing date

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries. This includes, but is not limited to, individuals who identify as Black, Asian, or from other ethnically diverse backgrounds, or people of any ethnicity who belong to the following under-represented groups: disabled people, people with the characteristic of gender reassignment, individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, carers and asylum seekers.

Creative Access offers programmes of training, networking and support specifically designed for people from these under-represented groups.