Head of Sales

A leading scientific organization is seeking an accomplished publishing professional to provide strategic and operational leadership for its global sales function. This role calls for a commercially focused individual with substantial knowledge of scholarly publishing, strong leadership capabilities, and a history of building institutional business and delivering revenue growth. The successful candidate will be responsible for translating market opportunities into effective sales programs, strengthening relationships with customers and partners, and ensuring that the publishing division meets its financial and strategic objectives.

The Head of Sales will provide direction to the organization’s sales team and international subscription-agent network, overseeing efforts to market a diverse portfolio of journals, online archives, conference content, and emerging publishing products. The position will lead the development and achievement of institutional revenue goals, oversee customer and agent agreements and negotiations, identify new routes to market, and work collaboratively across the publishing organization to expand business in established and emerging markets.

Working as part of the publishing leadership team, the Head of Sales will help determine commercial priorities, identify opportunities for expansion, and contribute to the continued evolution of the organization’s publishing activities.

Key Responsibilities:

· Establish and manage the overall institutional sales plan, translating organizational revenue objectives into actionable goals for individual team members, territories, countries, and regions; monitor progress against targets and adjust priorities as needed

· Expand the organization’s customer base internationally by pursuing institutional opportunities, including open-access publishing arrangements, while exploring markets beyond the organization’s traditional technical communities and identifying high-growth opportunities in countries such as India

· Provide leadership for a small, geographically focused sales team, including regular performance reviews, coaching, professional development, territory planning, quota setting, and identification of gaps or opportunities within assigned markets

· Build productive relationships with libraries, institutions, subscription agents, consortia, and other strategic customers; ensure that the sales organization provides timely proposals, quotations, follow-up, and resolution of customer issues

· Take responsibility for negotiations involving major institutional accounts, consortia, and multi-site customers, working closely with the Chief Publishing Officer and other internal stakeholders to reach appropriate business and licensing terms

· Assess changing conditions across scholarly communications, including customer expectations, competitive offerings, pricing developments, and new business models; use this intelligence to recommend adjustments to the publishing division’s sales and market strategy

· Develop annual sales forecasts, revenue plans, and supporting budgets; establish the programs and priorities required to deliver expected results and identify corrective actions where performance is below plan

· Evaluate the performance and commercial potential of existing products and packages; recommend pricing changes, new bundles, and other product strategies, using market and financial analysis to support recommendations and working with marketing and analytics colleagues on renewals

· Oversee the full lifecycle of institutional licensing arrangements, including new agreements, renewals, annual contracts, and multi-year consortium deals; coordinate with legal counsel and the Chief Publishing Officer to ensure agreements are appropriately structured and implemented

· Maintain reliable sales and prospect information and use CRM and other reporting tools to track activity, pipeline development, revenue performance, and agreed KPIs; provide concise and regular reporting to senior leadership

· Represent the organization in conversations with major customers, industry organizations, conferences, and prospective partners, strengthening the organization’s profile and identifying opportunities for collaboration and business development

· Work with colleagues across publishing, editorial, marketing, analytics, and other functions to coordinate initiatives and ensure that sales priorities support the broader objectives of the organization and its publishing program

Required Qualifications and Experience:

· Bachelor’s degree required

· Substantial experience in publishing sales leadership, preferably within a scientific, technical, or scholarly publishing environment; candidates should bring 5-10 years experience in senior sales management and 8-10 years experience managing library-focused sales activities

· Demonstrated success in developing revenue-producing sales programs, managing sales professionals, and expanding institutional business across multiple markets

· Extensive background with library sales operations, international teams and agent networks, institutional subscription retention and growth, consortium business, licensing negotiations, and product packaging and pricing initiatives

· Experience introducing or expanding alternative publishing revenue models, particularly institutional approaches to open-access publishing

· Track record of developing new business opportunities and adapting sales organizations and strategies to changes in the scholarly publishing marketplace

Essential Competencies:

· Commercially astute and strategic, with the ability to evaluate complex market conditions, recognize opportunities, and turn broad organizational priorities into practical sales initiatives

· Strong command of sales analytics and business reporting, including the ability to use pipeline information, customer behavior, market developments, and performance data to guide decisions

· Familiarity with CRM and sales-management technologies, including Salesforce or comparable platforms

· Excellent relationship-management skills and the ability to communicate effectively with customers, agents, internal colleagues, and other stakeholders across different markets and cultures

· Effective people leader who can establish clear expectations, provide constructive feedback, develop talent, and create accountability within a small, high-performing team

· Comfortable balancing long-term planning with hands-on responsibility for negotiations, customer relationships, sales activity, and operational problem-solving

· Highly organized and dependable, with strong attention to detail, sound business judgment, professional credibility, and a consistent focus on results

This is an opportunity for an experienced publishing sales leader to play a central role in the growth and transformation of an established scientific organization’s publishing enterprise. Candidates who combine strategic perspective with practical sales leadership and a strong commitment to advancing scientific communication are encouraged to apply.

Along with your resume, please include a cover letter and your salary requirements to blindjobad27@gmail.com.

Pay: $165,000.00 - $175,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Vision insurance

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Washington, DC 20002

Salary : $165,000 - $175,000