Key Account Manager - Transworld

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Transworld is home to some of the most recognisable and successful brands in publishing, from global names Lee Child, Kate Atkinson and Terry Pratchett to standout voices including Andrea Mara, Karen Swan and Ruth Jones, alongside a dynamic non-fiction list featuring titles such as Nobody's Girl, When Gavin Met Stacey, Nuclear War and Abroad in Japan. Alongside these strengths, we are continuing to build momentum in key growth areas - including our burgeoning SFF imprint Wayward, a rapidly expanding horror list, and of course our huge strength in breakout fiction.

We're a small, high-performing sales team that works closely with editorial, marketing and publicity colleagues to bring our publishing to as many readers as possible, while maintaining a supportive and collaborative culture. We're looking for a commercially strong Key Account Manager to take ownership of key retail partnerships including Tesco and WHSmith Travel. Reporting to the Sales Manager, you'll manage some of our most important accounts, working across our full list to identify opportunities, build strong relationships and drive performance. This role will suit someone who enjoys ownership, thrives in a fast-paced environment and is curious about how to turn market opportunities into tangible results.

The Role

You will take full ownership of your accounts, developing and delivering clear, commercially focused plans to drive growth across both frontlist and backlist.

Working across formats and categories, you'll identify where opportunities exist - whether that's improving range, increasing visibility, or building stronger promotional plans - and turn those into tangible results.

You'll work closely with internal teams across editorial, marketing and publicity, ensuring our publishing is positioned effectively for your customers, while also bringing valuable market insight back into the business.

Key responsibilities:

• Own and grow key retail accounts including Tesco and WHSmith Travel, delivering against sales and profit targets.
• Develop and execute clear, commercially focused account plans, identifying opportunities to drive both immediate performance and longer-term growth.
• Take full ownership of results - proactively identifying issues and opportunities and acting on them.
• Use data and market insight to build a clear understanding of performance drivers, identifying trends, risks and opportunities.
• Apply analytical thinking to move beyond reporting - translating insight into actions that improve performance.
• Bring a broader market perspective, spotting opportunities beyond your core accounts and feeding these into the wider team.
• Build strong relationships across editorial, marketing, publicity and operations, representing your accounts whilst understanding the needs of the business.
• Influence internal stakeholders by bringing clear, commercially grounded insight and recommendations.
• Contribute to wider sales and publishing discussions, supporting a joined-up, high-performing team environment.

What you'll bring

Essential criteria:

• A strong track record of delivering sales growth, demonstrating ownership, initiative and a results-focused mindset.
• Experience managing retail accounts, with the ability to build effective, commercially driven relationships.
• Strong analytical capability, with the confidence to interpret data and turn insight into action.

Preferred criteria:

• A proactive and curious approach - actively seeking out opportunities and challenges rather than reacting to them.
• The ability to influence and collaborate across teams, contributing to shared goals and outcomes.
• Experience contributing to wider commercial or category discussions beyond your core accounts.
• A growth mindset, with a desire to learn, improve and take on increasing responsibility over time.

Disability Confident

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. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the 'What you'll bring' section. 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 with, for us to support your request.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Monday 11th May.

Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.

Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team.

We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you.

Salary

£35,000 - £44,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

Hybrid working

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 expect that you will work from our office in London 2/3 days per week.

Company: The Random House Group Limited | Job ID: 288482