Rights Manager
Bertelsmann
Rights Manager
Bertelsmann
Global media, services, and education conglomerate
Are you a Senior Rights Executive looking for your next step, or a Rights Manager ready for a new challenge? We are hiring for a Rights Manager to work with our Cornerstone, Ebury, Penguin General and Penguin Press divisions, on a 12-month FTC to cover a team member’s parental leave. If you bring proven experience working in Rights, then this role could be for you.
About the team
Penguin Random House UK Group Rights represents international and domestic rights across the company’s eight divisions. For Adult Rights, one team represents Ebury, Cornerstone, Penguin General and Penguin Press; another represents Transworld, Michael Joseph and Vintage; and another represents illustrated titles across the seven adult publishing divisions. A separate team represents the Penguin Random House UK Children’s division, which includes Ladybird, Puffin and Penguin imprints. Our film, TV and media team works across all divisions. The Penguin Random House rights teams help our books and brands go global
The role
You’ll have the chance to work across a wide range of fiction and non-fiction both literary and commercial, selling both translation and taking responsibility for certain international markets. We’re looking for someone who is excited to engage with team strategy for ambitious, innovative, and creative ways of increasing title sales including backlist. You’ll be part of a collaborative and growth-driven team, and report to the Head of Translation.
Key responsibilities:
Effectively and ambitiously sell translation rights in Portugal, Brazil, South Korea, Japan
Skilfully negotiate translation rights sales, achieving strong deals, through: conducting auctions, granting options, representing titles through personal contact, negotiating terms, concluding sales and managing administrative tasks, including deal administration and database uploading.
Provide dynamic representation of PRH titles at client meetings, media events, bookfairs, author events and sales trips, as required.
Report to the Head of Translation on all matters relating to the acquisition and exploitation of translation rights, including setting ambitious financial targets and presenting strategies for growing allocated markets to achieve budget.
Develop, research and share market expertise in translation markets, identifying trends, bringing publishing ideas back into the business.
Build excellent relationships with a wide range of international publishers, tracking the market to capture changes/new players and pro-actively extending customer base.
Establish strong relationships with literary scouts and co agents.
Work with senior rights sales team to help nurture and develop junior rights team members, in order that they present high quality, highly productive work.
Deputise for a team divisional rights specialist (DRS) working closely with Penguin General. This includes establishing excellent relationships with this divisional editorial team, reading widely and responding quickly with honest, solution-focussed feedback on potential acquisitions and around submissions, sales trips and bookfairs.
Work on group projects and processes
What you’ll bring
We’re looking for someone who knows how to develop and maintain relationships with our international publishers, who will bring market curiosity and achieve successful sales in their markets, always looking for new opportunities. You’ll be a confident communicator, whether that’s negotiations, pitching and presenting, or working collaboratively with internal teams. The successful candidate will be a team player who is curious, entrepreneurial and collaborative - a persuasive and ambitious ambassador for our books who will thrive in a fast-paced environment.
Essential criteria:
Experienced rights seller with proven experience in translation rights.
A track record of commercial success in skilfully negotiating rights sales and maximising revenue in your markets.
Confident and proactive in representing a large and varied list of both fiction and non-fiction titles at bookfairs, author events and on sales trips.
Ability to handle competing demands and prioritise effectively.
Excellent demonstrable communication and relationship building skills.
Application instructions
Please apply with your CV and cover letter (both in pdf format) outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Monday 16th of November 2026. The cover letter should be uploaded as an additional document.
Salary
£36,000 - £40,000 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 Embassy Gardens office at least 3 days a week.
AI
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.
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 [email protected]. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable with, for us to support your request.
Disclosure requirements pertaining to the collection of your personal data:
Responsible for processing the information provided in your application is the company specified in the job advertisement, with its registered office as indicated. The company processes your data for the purpose of establishing an employment relationship on the basis of Art. 6 (1) b GDPR / Section 26 (1) sentence 1 BDSG.
The retention period for your data is determined by the statutory time limits applicable in the respective country, beginning upon completion of the recruitment process. You can find these here.
You can contact the company’s Data Protection Officer at the above-mentioned postal address.
Further information on data protection and your rights can be found here.
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Compensation: 36000 to 40000 (GBP) (YEARLY)
Global media, services, and education conglomerate
Bertelsmann is a global media, services, and education group made up of eight autonomous divisions, including RTL Group, Penguin Random House, BMG, and Arvato. It operates across B2B and B2C markets, with activities in broadcasting, book publishing, music rights management, and business process outsourcing. Its products range from streaming subscriptions and printed books to logistics, CRM services, and AI-powered content and rights-management tools. The company differentiates itself through a decentralized, entrepreneur-led structure that reinvests profits into content and digital infrastructure via its Boost program, backed by private foundations and the Mohn family. It aims to grow organically and through selective acquisitions while leveraging large-scale data and cross-divisional synergies to deliver personalized content and service experiences at a global scale.
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