Penguin Ventures, the licensing and consumer product division of Penguin Random House, is looking for an ambitious and innovative senior licensing professional to manage our Asia Pacific (APAC) markets, with a core focus on China and Japan. Reporting to the Head of International Licensing, this is a position with significant scope for growth, and will require someone with proven licensing experience and who is hungry to drive our business and relationships to new heights across the region.
Please APPLY HERE with your CV and cover letter (addressed to Lindsay) by midnight on Sunday 19th February
About Penguin Ventures
We’re off the page and on an adventure.
Penguin Ventures is the licensing and consumer product division of Penguin Random House. We take our iconic literary brands and characters: Peter Rabbit, The Snowman, Spot, Flower Fairies and more, and take them on new adventures. Anything you see – whether that’s on products, at retail, part of promotions, food and drink, exhibitions or even location-based experiences – that use our brands, has been managed and licensed through our team.
The Opportunity
- You will have overall responsibility and management for the Penguin Ventures Portfolio across APAC.
- You will lead the Asia consumer products and licensing business working across direct business as well as be supported by two local agents for Peter Rabbit Classic only in Japan and China (including rest of Asia)
- You are the direct link between our APAC Agents in China and Japan
- In conjunction with our agents you will manage, develop and deliver the overall market and category strategies for our APAC business
- You will have full P&L responsibility for APAC including budgeting, forecasting and revenue performance
- You will work closely with our agents to gain an excellent understanding of the APAC licensee portfolio & retail landscape in order to grow the business and deliver targeted revenue to the Penguin Ventures budget
- You will influence the creative and brand strategies to support the growth of the business across APAC
- You will aid brand and retail conversations working with the Head of Retail and brand teams to help drive retail initiatives with your Agents and direct business
Candidate Profile
- Excellent knowledge of the licensing industry
- An in-depth knowledge and experience managing licensing agents, ideally across APAC
- The ability to understand and pitch a clear and engaging licensing proposition that works in service to the brand and creative strategies, but also meets the needs of the licensee, retailer, and end consumer
- A strong eye for detail as it relates to contracts and financial information
- Excellent presentation skills
- A big-picture thinker who can join the dots between categories, retailers, and consumers to build a clear brand proposition and direction for development and growth
- You will be expected to attend all relevant tradeshows and where required travel to market(s) to meet with your agents, licensees and retail partners
- Local language experience would be a bonus but not a requirement
- A strong collaborator, team player with the ability to lead, manage and be managed
- A great communicator who can be persuasive in making their argument while balancing the views of others
- Calm under pressure and able to think on your feet when the situation demands
- Attention to detail especially when it comes to contracts and financial data
- A great can-do attitude with the want to grow and develop within the team
Detailed Responsibilities
APAC Management
- To manage the short- and long-term strategic growth plan for APAC
- Full management and approval of all new deals and renewals which are presented to you by our agents
- Where required deals will also need to be submitted to the Commercial Director or the Head of International Licensing for approval
- To regularly present our Global properties and brand updates, including Global best practice to our APAC agents and your direct licensees to fuel licensee growth and develop your new business pipeline
- You will be across the full deal life cycle and where applicable work with relevant teams:
– Contracts to ensure all queries with the licensee/agent are dealt with in a timely fashion through to signature of the agreement
– Be across all product development alongside the Creative team and support in dealing with any pinch-points as regards to development
– Track agent and licensee quarterly royalty performance through our reporting system Brand Comply and deal with any pinch-points as regards to reporting and payment with the Agents or direct licensees
– Work with Agents and direct licensees to secure annual forecasting to aid in the Ventures overall budget and forecasting process - Be the main point of contact for all APAC queries and enquiries within the business including the key conduit for all publishing, marketing, PR and social media conversations.
- Work closely with the Head of International Licensing on securing approval for any out of territory sales which may be presented by the agents.
Financial Responsibility
- You will own the APAC numbers as well as have a wider understanding of the team’s financial responsibilities in service to the budget including:
-A detailed understanding of your agents and licensees performance by SKU and retailer using data from Brand Comply
– An understanding of the full budget across Penguin Ventures and how this impacts the PRH Children’s budget - A deep understanding of the sales figures to help identify gaps and trends in service to building a robust strategic plan to grow the APAC business
- You will be responsible for presenting APAC budgets, forecasts and revenue numbers to the Head of International Licensing and Commercial Director as well as providing data in support of finance, senior leadership and board meetings as required
Brand & Retail
- In service to your agents, you will work with our Head of Retail & e-commerce manger to assist in driving growth with key retailers in market
- To present latest Owned Brand Team updates and initiatives to your Agents and where applicable to local retailers
- Regularly share best practice International cross category retail initiatives with your agents that amplify key brand and campaign messaging.
- Support the Head of International on Ad-Hoc project where required as well as share best practice from your markets in order to help drive international business.
Please APPLY HERE with your CV and cover letter (addressed to Lindsay) by midnight on Sunday 19th February
What you can expect from us:
Salary: Up to £50,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.
While our offices are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility about where you work is just as important for doing your best work and for your wellbeing. For this role, there are meetings and activities that you will need to attend in person at our offices in Embassy Gardens. We are open to discussing the exact balance of office to remote working through the recruitment process.
Our employees are the heart of our business. We have a range of benefits to reflect our commitment to our employees, some of which are:
• 27 days paid holiday entitlement in year one (plus bank holidays), increasing a day each year up to 30 days
• Medical cover
• Life assurance
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Discounted gym membership
• Generous pension scheme
• Summer working hours (role dependent)
• Volunteering policy and charity matching
• Employee Assistance programme
• Mentoring programme
• Extended gender neutral parental leave
• Access to books and eBooks across Penguin Random House UK
• Each site has trained mental health first aiders
• We plant a tree for every new employee to our business
Our creativity is inspired by different perspectives, so we want our culture to be one of belonging, where everyone feels welcome and where differences are celebrated.
As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we’re part of the ‘offer an interview’ scheme. This is where disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role can opt in to get to the next recruitment stage. There may be some situations where volume of applicants means we can’t take all eligible candidates to interview. We want to make sure disabled applicants can be their best at each step of the recruitment journey. If you need adjustments during the application process, we encourage you to get in touch with us at http://PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your adjustment request. Find out more about our approach here: www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/applying-for-roles-with-a-disability
We partner with The Book Trade Charity, who provide financial assistance for people looking to get into the publishing industry; you can find more information and talk directly here: http://booktradeentrysupport.org/
Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee
