Contracts Manager (12m Maternity Cover)

This is a fantastic opportunity for a strategic and adaptable Contracts Manager to negotiate contracts for one of the biggest publishers in the UK. The role will have divisional responsibility for negotiating and drafting contracts for the acquisition and licensing of rights in cooperation with the Editorial and Rights teams. They will provide advice and support to the Contracts team in delivering a focused and quality service to the publishing divisions.

Key responsibilities 

• Draft and negotiate contracts with authors, agents, publishers and other third parties for the acquisition of publishing rights;

• Analyse U.S. and foreign rights contracts, compare to previous templates with publishers, negotiate contracts in close consultation with colleagues in the department in addition to relevant Editorial and Business teams;

• Advise and assist publishing teams of any implications with offers and to anticipate contract/legal concerns and offer strategies to resolve them by providing authoritative advice;

• Offer advice to the Rights department on contractual matters and negotiate and draft specific clauses where appropriate;

• To contribute to the development of a precedents and contracts database system for the department;

• Assist the Contracts Director and Director of Legal Affairs by providing timely management information and to assist and support them when required;

• To manage one or more assistants.

 Essential Experience

• Experienced with major acquisition and licensing agreements through working in publishing contracts

• Able to draft a wide range of agreements, for example, confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements, personal guarantee for an author’s services when contracting with a company, first serial rights agreements, author agreements with associated publicity obligations

• Experienced in building good working relationships both inside and outside a team and able to communicate information clearly to all levels of the business

• Good knowledge of copyright and contract law issues

• The ability to keep abreast of professional, legal, commercial, technological and working practice changes

Desirable Experience

• Understanding of the nature of different types of rights, in particular evolving new media rights and digital distribution issues

• Familiarity with the publishing industry

• Previous management experience

Benefits 

• Hybrid working model (2+ 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 and Pride at HC 

• 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 

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

• Subsidised canteen and retail discounts 

• Onsite prayer room 

If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly to our People Advisor at [email removed - click apply for more details] with the 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 will need to submit your application via Applied. We do not accept email applications.