Location: London Bridge Reporting to: Business Affairs Director

Are you an experienced contracts professional looking to make a significant impact across a diverse portfolio of world-class publishing divisions? We are seeking a Contracts Manager to take on divisional responsibility for negotiating and drafting acquisition contracts for HarperCollins’ Children’s Books, Farshore, and Collins Learning, alongside Collins Reference, Fourth Estate, and William Collins.

In this pivotal role, you will be a key partner to our publishing teams, providing authoritative advice and creative solutions to ensure our contracts reflect our "best-in-class" service standards. You will not only manage complex negotiations with authors, agents, and third parties but also lead and develop talent by managing two assistants within the team.

What You’ll Do

• Negotiate & Draft: Lead the acquisition of publishing rights by drafting a wide range of agreements, from author contracts to serial rights and non-disclosure agreements.

• Strategic Advisor: Act as a consultant to publishing and rights teams, anticipating legal concerns and providing clear negotiating strategies to resolve them.

• Team Leadership: Establish clear goals for your direct reports, fostering a culture of accountability and high performance.

• Commercial Insight: Use your financial literacy and deep knowledge of copyright law to support the commercial goals of your assigned divisions.

Who You Are

• Experienced: You have a proven track record in a Legal, Contracts, or Business Affairs role within the UK publishing environment.

• Resilient & Calm: You remain objective and professional under pressure, handling complex negotiations with a constructive and flexible mindset.

• Strategic Thinker: You look beyond the immediate task to consider "what if" scenarios and develop imaginative solutions to problems.

• Collaborative: You are a strong communicator who can motivate others and build relationships across all levels of an organization.

Benefits

• Hybrid working model (3 days in the office)

• 28 days holiday plus bank holidays (option to buy and sell holiday days)

• Enhanced pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave

• Private healthcare cover and life assurance

• Summer Hours 

• Free access to HeadSpace, employee assistance programme (24 hour helpline), mental health first aiders, and a wellbeing portal

• Season ticket loans (from day 1 for entry level) and cycle to work scheme

• Relocation Rent Support Loan 

• Employee networks: HC All In (open forum), Elevate (for ethnic minority colleagues), HarperParents, Menopause at Work, Pride at HC, Social Mobility Network and Neurodiversity at Work

• Unlimited training on our Learning and Development portal, management courses (up to MA level) and mentoring programmes

• Virtual GP and eyecare vouchers

• Gym membership discount

• Onsite physiotherapy (London only)

• Charitable donation matching and 2 volunteering days

• We're a certified Carbon Neutral company

• Green Electric/Hybrid Car Benefit Scheme (salary sacrifice)

• With Trees for Life we plant a tree in the Highlands of Scotland for every permanent hire

• Free e-books and audiobooks, digital newspaper subscriptions and discounts on books

• Subsidised canteen and retail discounts

• Onsite prayer room

At HarperCollins, we value authenticity and integrity in our recruitment process. To ensure a fair and accurate evaluation of all applications, we ask that all responses to assessment questions reflect your own thoughts, experiences, and capabilities.  This allows us to fairly assess your knowledge, skills, and experience to determine how they align with the role. We value diverse perspectives and genuine contributions, even if answers are not perfect. The use of AI tools or external assistance to generate responses is discouraged unless explicitly permitted for specific tasks.

If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly to stephanie.jemmett@harpercollins.co.uk with subject heading ‘Vacancy Query’ plus the job title and we will aim to get back to you within 5 working days.

Please note, if you are interested in the role you would need to submit your application via Applied. We do not accept email applications.