Export sales executive

Salary:£37,291 to £41,985 (depending on experience)

Role:Full time, permanent

Location:Farringdon, London

This is an exciting opportunity to drive sales and manage customer relationships internationally at an independent children's publisher.

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 of touchy-feely books, to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Ravena Guron - with everything from Sticker Dolly Dressing to Philosophy for Beginners in between.

Whilst the company is now a market-leader in children's publishing and one of the best-known brands in children's books globally, the company retains a friendly and familial 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.

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

We are looking for an enthusiastic and well organised individual to join our busy Export Team to manage sales to, and relationships with, our customers in Southeast Asia and Pakistan. This is a hands-on, wide-ranging role, which will involve managing customer orders and queries, developing marketing and sales strategies as well as providing support to and collaborating with our external Sales Representative in the Middle East and the Territory Manager covering China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

This is a brilliant opportunity to grow your international sales experience in a fast-paced, creative and friendly environment where you'll be part of a team passionate about getting books into the hands of children around the world.

Key responsibilities

• Build and maintain strong working relationships with customers, sales representatives and distributors.
• Manage customer orders and queries.
• Oversee the invoicing and account set-up process for customers, ensuring costings are prepared accurately.
• Monitor customer performance and commercial terms to ensure sustained growth and profitability.
• Develop tailored sales and marketing strategies to grow frontlist and backlist sales.
• Explore new business opportunities and provide market insights to the wider team.
• Resolve export challenges-from shipping delays to documentation issues-with a problem-solving mindset.
• Work collaboratively with internal teams at Usborne including our editorial, marketing and production departments.
• Travel to visit customers in your territories as well as attending relevant international book fairs.

What we're looking for

We are looking for someone with an excellent knowledge of book market and publishing. The successful candidate for this role will have at least 3 years international sales experience in a similar role, with a can-do, team player attitude.

The successful candidate will also demonstrate:

• Excellent relationship-building and customer service skills.
• Great communication and presentation skills.
• An ability to juggle multiple deadlines and prioritise workload effectively.
• Fantastic negotiation and influencing skills.
• A keen eye for detail.
• Commercial awareness with an ability to conduct market research, spot trends and respond accordingly.
• Strong financial acumen and numeracy skills to handle costings, price negotiations and profit margins effectively.
• Problem-solving skills.
• Confidence using Microsoft Office and Biblio

Location and benefits

We offer a 35-hour working week from our offices in Farringdon, London. After a short initial induction period we operate a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home which we feel optimises our opportunities for collaboration and contact with our colleagues. You'll need to be able to reliably commute to and work from the office on in-person working days.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, you'll also enjoy a generous and thoughtfully designed benefits package, including:

• 25 days annual holiday (plus bank holidays), rising to 30 days after 5 years
• Industry-leading pension scheme and life assurance
• Access to our Employee Assistance Programme via Health Shield and in-house Mental Health First Aiders
• Healthcare cashback scheme and virtual GP access
• A paid volunteering day each year to give back to causes you care about
• Discounts and perks through our employee rewards programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• A 75% staff discount on Usborne books (yes, really!)

Recruitment process

After an anonymised shortlisting process, we anticipate first interviews taking place in person around the week commencing 28th July 2025, with second round interviews also in person shortly afterwards.

We are looking for the successful candidate to commence the role as soon as possible.

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

Please note: We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role so you must have the permanent right to live and work in the UK.

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.

Therefore, any suspected AI usage may result in your application being rejected.

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 welcome and encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds and experiences, particularly those underrepresented in publishing.

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.