Associate Director, Subrights Contracts

We are seeking an experienced Associate Director to head the team handling Subsidiary Rights and Permissions licensing agreements for the various publishers in the Macmillan Trade group of publishers, including St. Martin’s Publishing Group, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Tor, Celadon Books, Picador, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Co., Metropolitan Books, and the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. 

The Associate Director will report to the VP Director of Contracts and will: oversee and work together with a team that handles a high volume of license agreements including UK, translation, audio, serial, permissions, educational, and reprint licenses; develop efficient processes and documentation; and advise on deal terms and contract questions.  We’re seeking an experienced and diplomatic candidate with a genuine interest in the contracts and licensing side of the publishing business.  The ideal candidate will have keen interest and enthusiasm for managing team members and liaising with a wide variety of stakeholders, from the in-house Subsidiary Rights, Contracts, Editorial and Royalty teams, to our numerous co-agents and licensees worldwide.

What you'll do:

• Draft and negotiate a high volume of subsidiary rights license agreements including UK, translation, audio, serial, permissions, educational, and reprint licenses
• Supervise, manage, and support team members, including assessment and distribution of workload, supervision, mentoring, performance feedback, and development 
• Develop and implement improvements to workflow and processes
• Maintain and update templates and boilerplates, including implementation of changes to company policies
• Interpret author contracts as related to license agreements (e.g. subrights granted, territories, required author approvals)
• Liaise with in-house and external stakeholders

What you'll bring:

• Excellent analytical, negotiation, writing and communication skills
• Substantial experience managing, supervising, and training direct reports
• Highly organized and detail oriented 
• Proficiency balancing priorities, managing heavy volume with expedient turnaround, attention to detail, and good communication with the business
• Thorough grasp of relevant contract and business issues in book publishing industry and interest in the business side of book publishing, particularly subsidiary rights, permissions, author contracts, intellectual property, copyright
• Strong process improvement and organizational skills
• Comfortable with Microsoft Office and G-Suite

Ideal Experience/Education:

• 7 - 10+ years’ experience drafting, negotiating, and reviewing a broad range of subsidiary rights and permissions agreements in the book publishing industry
• 5+ years’ experience with people management
• Familiarity with Biblio3 Suite and/or Bradbury Phillips Rights Manager a plus
• Eagerness to explore tech and other solutions to the Contracts Department workflows.

This role will have an annual salary of $90,000 - $100,000.

This position is classified as remote but is tied to our New York, NY office located at 120 Broadway. Employment is subject to New York State tax withholding under applicable regulations. 

Macmillan Publishers is the U.S. trade company that is part of the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, a large family-owned group of media companies headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany. Holtzbrinck Publishing Group's publishing companies include prominent imprints around the world that publish a broad range of award-winning books for children and adults in all categories and formats.

U.S. publishers include Celadon Books, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Flatiron Books, Henry Holt & Company, Macmillan Audio, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, The St. Martin's Publishing Group, and Tor Publishing Group. In the UK, Australia, India, and South Africa, companies in the Holtzbrinck Publishing Group publish under the Pan Macmillan name. The German publishing company, Holtzbrinck Deutsche Buchverlage, includes among its imprints S. Fischer, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Rowohlt, and Droemer Knaur.

Macmillan is proud to be an equal opportunity employer consistently striving to foster a culture where everyone belongs. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and identities. Qualified applicants are evaluated without regard to race, color, religion, age, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, physical ability, neurodiversity, genetic information, protected veteran status, family and economic status and background or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. We prohibit discrimination of any kind and will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities in accordance with applicable law.