The Company

Usborne is an independent, family business, creating books which spark curiosity in children of all ages. These range from books for babies such as the bestselling That’s not my… series, to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Holly Bourne and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé – with everything from Magic Painting to Politics for Beginners in between.

Whilst Usborne is now a market-leader in children’s publishing and one of the best-known brands in children’s books, the company retains a friendly, family feel. If you want to work somewhere close-knit enough for people to know your name, but which has a first-class reputation around the world, Usborne is the place for you.

The Department

Usborne’s busy Export team manages the sales of English Language books to open markets outside of the UK & Ireland, North America, Australia and New Zealand. The team is made up of 5 in-house salespeople, supplemented by four external territory managers for markets including Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Latin America/the Caribbean, and Japan.

The Role

We are looking for a motivated, highly organised and proactive individual with excellent administrative and communication skills to join the team.

This exciting opportunity will involve supporting our sales to India, South Africa and Latin America as well as supporting the team with administrative and operational activities including:

• Working with the team to create monthly reports.

• Updating and maintaining our book catalogue for distribution to schools.

• Working with the Global Marketing team to create sales presentations and materials which can be used for all markets.

• Maintaining, updating and circulating book dispatch information as required.

• Organising monthly Export Team meetings.

• Updating the Export Inventory.

• Monitoring the Export email account and replying to incoming requests and queries in a timely and effective manner.

• Generating quarterly bestseller reports for all open markets.

• Organising the bi-annual Export Sales Conference.

• Provide other support to the Export team as and when required.

 Experience

This is a junior, entry level role and we are therefore not specifically seeking an individual with extensive knowledge or experience of Export Sales or publishing. However, having a strong interest in children’s books is a must.

The ideal candidate will also demonstrate:

• A good working knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 software (particularly Excel and PowerPoint).

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• A meticulous eye for detail with the ability to carry out detailed work where accuracy is essential.

• Ability to work with a wide range of stakeholders in a professional and effective manner.

• An ability to multitask (with excellent time management skills) to facilitate working on a variety of projects.

A knowledge of Biblio would be an advantage (although is not an essential requirement as training can be provided).

Location and Benefits

We offer a 35-hour working week from our Farringdon office in London, where after a successful induction period we offer a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home which we feel optimises the opportunities for collaboration and contact with our colleagues.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, for this role we also offer a range of benefits including:

• 25 days paid holiday entitlement plus bank holidays.

• Industry-leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.

• Employee Assistance Programme through Health Assured and Mental Health First Aiders.

• Healthcare Cashback scheme.

• Virtual GP service.

• Enhanced Family Friendly benefits.

• Paid Volunteer Day.

• Rewards and Discount services and shopping.

• Cycle to Work Scheme.

• 50% discount on Usborne books. 

Usborne is dedicated to building a diverse taskforce that reflects the wide range of communities that read our books globally. Decisions are made based on the individual’s skills and experiences and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics in Publishing.

We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role and therefore applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK.

Recruitment Process

After an anonymised shortlisting process, we anticipate first interviews taking place on Microsoft Teams in mid-October, with second round interviews taking place at our London office shortly after.

Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments at any point during the application and/or recruitment process.

AI notice

We kindly ask that you refrain from using any AI tools for your application.

Whilst AI is undoubtedly a useful tool in some instances, we need to see that you're able to demonstrate your ability to originate ideas and write them in a compelling manner, not just generate them using a tool.