Sales assistant, UK consumer sales

Closing date for applications: Monday 16th of February 2026

Salary: £27,000

Location: London

Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house, established in 1986, with authors who have won the Nobel, Pulitzer and Booker Prizes, and is the originating publisher and custodian of the Harry Potter series. Bloomsbury has offices in London, New York, New Delhi, Oxford and Sydney. Within Bloomsbury’s Academic division, it publishes under Bloomsbury, as well as under a number of prestigious and historic imprint names.

Our mission is to be a creative, entrepreneurial, independent publisher of books, audiobooks and digital content of excellence and originality and to bring these works to a worldwide audience. Our purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and inspire readers of all ages and backgrounds. We champion a life-long love of reading and learning and seek to help build a reading culture with all the benefits which that brings society.

We are looking for an enthusiastic, well-organised and confident communicator with excellent time-management skills and attention to detail to work within our fast-moving UK Sales department. Sales Assistants perform a key support role within the wider UK Sales team working across all Bloomsbury Consumer titles. The role will include assisting on the day-to-day administration and operations of the team and our customers. This particular appointment will support one specific area of publishing, i.e. Adult publishing and will report in to the Senior Key Account Manager, UK Sales. This is a superb opportunity to join a high performing UK Sales team of a top 5 UK publisher and to work in a vibrant and successful publishing sales environment.

The role

• General support for the Adult Consumer, Special Interest and Head of Zeus Sales Team
• Administration support for supermarket accounts
• Fielding queries and processing orders
• Preparing presentations for retailers and internal briefings
• Preparing sales figures for the Sales team and senior sales colleagues on request
• Responding to ad hoc requests for book samples/Advance Information (AI) sheets/book jackets
• Assisting at events and signings across the Sales department and organising stock
• Absence cover for colleagues as required e.g. holidays/flexi Fridays
• General ad hoc admin and UK Sales tasks for whole team

Knowledge, skills and experience

• Excellent communicator who is confident with dealing with people at all levels, particularly on the phone and over email/video
• Excellent attention to detail and focused on efficiency at all times
• Strong time-management, prioritisation and organisational skills with keen awareness of deadlines
• Ability to adapt to changing daily tasks
• Strong numerical and written skills
• Proficient in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Teams, and beneficial to have knowledge of internal systems such as Biblio and Nielsen Bookscan
• Experience in publishing or book trade environment helpful

The role is based at our London office 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP on a hybrid-working pattern of 2 days office based / 3 days home based (or fully office based if preferred). Allocated office days for this role are: Monday/Tuesday.

This position is eligible for Bloomsbury’s Rental Deposit Loan Scheme. To assist candidates who want to start and to establish a career in publishing, Bloomsbury offers an interest-free rental deposit to support securing somewhere to live. The rental deposit loan can be up to £3,000 and will be paid back over 2 years.

Please apply with a CV (Word or PDF format only) and answer the application questions via our website detailing how you meet the requirements outlined above for this role by 23:59 Monday 16th of February 2026.

For best results, please use a desktop to apply as some mobile browsers may not fully support the application portal.

Bloomsbury reserve the right to close the role early if we exceed the required number of applications

Bloomsbury Benefits

As well as a fantastic opportunity to join a global award-winning organisation, Bloomsbury offers the following competitive benefits package:

Working Pattern

• Hybrid working pattern of: 2 days office based / 3 days home based (or fully office based if preferred)

Holidays

• 25 days holiday
• 3.5 days Christmas company holiday

Other Benefits

• Two paid Personal Wellness Days
• Flexible Fridays – take Friday afternoon off by working an additional 3 hours and 30 minutes earlier in the week
• Work Anywhere Fortnight - For two weeks of any calendar year. The minimum period for Working Anywhere is one week, the maximum period is two weeks.
• Season Ticket Loan
• Learning & Development - Free access to LinkedIn Learning, BookMachine Campus, InRehearsal & IPG Skills Hub
• Share Save Scheme
• AXA Healthcare Plan (Private Medical Insurance)
• Ride to Work Scheme
• Peppy Health App
• In-house Doctor
• Eye Care Voucher Scheme
• EAP Advice and Counselling

Company culture – Employee Voice Meetings, Staff Networks (Bloom, Accessibility, Mental Health, Pride, and Parents, Guardians and Carers, Multi-Faith) and Mental Health First Aiders trained across the UK offices, Publishing Events and access to free Publishing Resources

For additional benefits see below

Bloomsbury is a place where anyone of any background, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability, or socio-economic status can thrive, feel comfortable, and be heard and accepted. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are willing to make any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please flag to the recruitment team if required

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK.

The Book Trade Charity provide financial assistance for people looking to get into the publishing industry; you can find more information and talk directly here: http://booktradeentrysupport.org

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

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