Head of sales

Closing date for applications: 20th November 2025

Salary: £40,000 - £45,000 dependent on experience and location (+bonus +benefits)

Location: Sheffield or London

Contract: Permanent

We have an exciting opportunity for a head of sales to join the John Murray Press Sales team.

Hachette UK is a creative powerhouse and the UK's second largest book publishing group. Our mission is to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity.

John Murray Press is one of the fastest growing and most profitable divisions of Hachette UK. After almost 10 years of continuous growth, the addition of several exciting new imprints, as well as the integration of Quercus, we have a rare opportunity to join our Sales team.

We pride ourselves on being entrepreneurial, curious and excited about discovering and nurturing new voices that can shape and shake our world. We are home to an impressive range of bestselling and prize-winning books from exciting literary debuts, crime fiction and celebrity-led titles, to lifestyle, memoir, and thought-provoking non-fiction with a global outlook on history, economics, science and philosophy. Our authors include Billy Connolly, Miriam Margolyes, Ken Follet, Mick Herron, Matthew Syed, Stephen Hawking, Bear Grylls, Jen Sincero, Jonathan Freedland and Susie Dent, to name but a few. In this role you will working leading the Specialist Sales Team to achieve ambitious growth and profit targets.

Who we are looking for

Reporting to the Sales Director, this is a senior role responsible for Specialist Non-Fiction lists, including: Jessica Kingsley Publishing, Sheldon Press, Hodder Faith, Laurence King, JM Business, JM Languages, JM Learning. In this role, you will oversee the UK and International sales of these lists, and work with the Sales Director and other key stake holders including the MD, editors, Group Sales contacts. You responsible for setting and exceeding ambitious sales budgets and profit targets. In addition, you will be involved in all aspects of the publishing process, from acquisitions, to covers, to print sign-off. You will also oversee the management of two direct reports and be a member of the Senior Leadership Team. The right candidate will have direct experience of selling specialist or academic lists, and a strong knowledge of these markets. You will need strong analytical skills, be able to work well under pressure, and have a natural ability to build relationships with senior internal colleagues and external customers.

This is an important role leading the sales strategy for the highly profitable Specialist lists. The right candidate will be at the heart of the publishing process, and be a senior, influential voice. The role includes management of two direct reports, including a Sales Executive and Sales Manager.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including AgeWise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

This role can be based at our London or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org

Please make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.