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The goal is impact. Together with our academic communities, we curate and seamlessly connect together the ideas that push their fields forward, so they can learn from them, add to them, and continue a virtuous cycle of scholarship.
And because we are a part of the academic community and guided in everything we do by our mission, we re-invest in our people, our publishing, and the world-leading research institution of which we are part.
About the Role
The primary purpose of the Global Accounts Director, Retail and Wholesale, is to oversee the end-to-end support of the Division's retail and wholesale operations. This role involves building and maintaining strong client relationships, developing and implementing sales strategies, and optimizing the end-to-end supply chain to ensure efficient distribution of our products to our global customers. Additionally, the director analyses market trends to support business decisions, leads an international team of account professionals, and prepares regular reports to inform business decisions. Overall, the role is crucial for ensuring the smooth operation of OUP's retail and wholesale business. This role reports to the Academic Division's Global Sales Director.
Key Accountabilities for the position:
* Client Relationship Management: Building and maintaining strong relationships with retail and wholesale clients
* Sales and Revenue Growth: Developing and implementing strategies to increase sales and revenue, including negotiating contracts
* Supply Chain Optimization: Overseeing the supply chain to ensure efficient inventory control, distribution of products and customer data supply
* Market Analysis: Analysing market trends and competition to identify new business opportunities
* Team Leadership: Leading and mentoring a team of account managers to achieve targets and customer support
* Reporting and Forecasting: Preparing regular reports on account status, sales figures, and key metrics to inform business decisions
Relationships that this role will build and strengthen:
* Clients: Retail and wholesale clients are the primary stakeholders, and maintaining strong relationships with them is crucial for business success
* Internal Teams: Collaborating with internal teams such as marketing, finance, and logistics to ensure smooth operations and alignment with business goals
* Senior Management: Reporting to senior management and providing insights and updates on account performance and market trends
We operate a hybrid working policy that requires a minimum of 2 days per week in the Oxford office.
About You
* Strong commercial acumen and ability to develop strategic sales plans across multiple channels
* Experience managing and motivating diverse sales teams across retail and wholesale divisions
* Ability to analyze market trends, solve problems and adjust strategies accordingly
* Excellence in building and maintaining relationships with major retail buyers, wholesale distributors, and key accounts
* Strong negotiation skills for dealing with terms, policies, and distribution agreements
* Ability to understand and respond to the different needs of retail vs wholesale customers
* Understanding of publishing supply chain dynamics, including printing, warehousing, and distribution
* Ability to forecast demand accurately and manage inventory levels across channels
* Problem-solving: Identifying and resolving short- and long-term supply chain issues to ensure timely delivery and availability of products
* Proficiency with sales analytics and inventory management systems
* Ability to interpret sales data and market research to inform strategy
* Ability to troubleshoot issues across end-to-end print and eBooks supply chain around data, title slippage, publishing output
* Experience in US and UK retail pricing, discounting, and management of product mix (trade, academic, and Higher Education)
* Experience in devising and implementing book / eBook retail sales campaigns
* Familiarity with publishing schedules, lead times, returns processes, and their financial impact
Benefits
We care about work/life balance here at OUP. With this in mind we offer 25 days' holiday that rises with service, plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (3-days) and a 35-hour working week. We are open to discussing flexibility in respect to working patterns, dependent on role. We also have a great variety of active employee networks and societies.
We help make your money go further by contributing to your pension up to 12%, offering loans and savings schemes through our partnership with Salary Finance, in addition to travel to work schemes and access to a wide range of local discounts.
This role comes with the added benefit of private medical insurance, a car/allowance, and a discretionary annual sales bonus.
Please see our Rewards and Recognition page for more information.
Queries
Please contact grace.mcfadyen@oup.com with any queries relating to this role.
We are committed to supporting diversity in our workforce, and ensuring an inclusive environment where all individuals can thrive. We seek to employ a workforce representative of the markets that we serve and encourage applications from all.