Canongate Books is one of the UK’s leading independent publishers: B Corp certified and shortlisted for both Publisher of the Year and Independent Publisher of the Year at this year’s British Book Awards.
We are looking for a Head of UK sales or Deputy sales director (depending on background and experience) with excellent market knowledge and trade relationships and a passion for pitching our list to a wide range of customers.
This is a maternity cover contract for a minimum period of nine months, starting in October 2026. The successful candidate will lead our relationships with major UK and Irish accounts and rep teams and play a key role in all elements of Canongate’s sales, including acquisitions and numbers, scheduling, budgeting and reporting. They will work with the sales director and the wider sales team to grow Canongate’s sales, delivering against budgets and targets and identifying and acting on opportunities to increase and broaden sales.
Key responsibilities will include:
– Directly managing Canongate’s relationships with Waterstones, Gardners and our Irish and special sales reps, as well as the mass market and UK independents through our membership of the Independent Alliance.
– Sharing UK trade updates, trends and market insights with the Canongate team and providing context, competitor analysis and additional reporting where appropriate.
– Attending acquisitions, covers and scheduling meetings and being the key voice of sales within these meetings, as well as providing cover for the sales director at the numbers meeting when required.
– Providing UK sales numbers for acquisitions projects, setting the UK sales budget and stretch targets and providing additional updating, forecasting and reporting as required, including writing the UK board report.
– Managing opportunities, costings and approvals for Canongate’s special sales business.
– Line management of a sales assistant.
The ideal candidate will have had direct personal responsibility for selling to a range of UK accounts over multiple seasons and enjoy existing relationships with key contacts at these accounts. They should have had demonstrable involvement in acquisitions, numbers and budgeting processes within a publishing house and be confident advocating for a sales team’s priorities and interests with colleagues across the business.
The role is based at our London office in Notting Hill. It is a full-time position offering hybrid home and office working.
Salary: £45k+ pa, depending on experience.
We also offer a wide range of benefits: Employee benefits.
To apply, please send your CV (including contact details for two references) and a covering letter to Joanna Lord, Sales Director, detailing why you feel you are suitable for this role. Email to recruitment@canongate.co.uk.
The deadline for applications is 12pm on Thursday 9 July 2026.
Canongate is committed to the principle of equal opportunity in employment and its employment policies for recruitment are designed to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity/paternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation. If you don’t meet every requirement listed but believe you have the skills and experience to thrive in this role, we still want to hear from you.
We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. We value potential as much as proven experience, and are happy to provide reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process.
Due to the high volume of applications we receive we are unable to respond to everyone. If you have not heard from us within 2 weeks of the closing date then unfortunately you have not been shortlisted for the position. We will keep your information securely until 5 October 2026. Unless you are the successful applicant, all of your information will be deleted from our systems at that point.