Senior Contracts Manager

Hachette Book Group•New York, NY

18d•$80,000 - $85,000

About The Position

The Senior Contracts Manager independently negotiates, drafts, and manages a wide variety of author publishing agreements of varying complexity across various HBG imprints, serving as a strategic business partner to editors, publishers, and senior leadership. The individual will report into and work closely with Contracts Directors and the Department VP for this publishing area but will be expected to exercise a substantial level of autonomy in terms of drafting and negotiating and to participate in decision-making around process questions and boilerplate terms. The individual will work alongside junior staff in providing mentoring and oversight.

Requirements

7+ years contract negotiation experience in publishing, media, entertainment, or licensing.
Deep understanding of royalties, advances, grant of rights, delivery and acceptance, subrights, options, reversions, and indemnities and all pertinent publishing terms.
Proven ability to negotiate complex agreements independently with flexibility and an orientation toward solutions.
Excellent communication and analytical skills.
Leadership or mentoring experience a must.

Responsibilities

Negotiate and draft author agreements, licenses, amendments, work for hires and co-edition agreements – as well as other publishing agreements as they arise.
Manage complex/high‑value deals independently while balancing business objectives and legal risk.
Advise business leaders on deal structure and negotiation strategy.
Identify, assess, and escalate legal/business risks with solution‑oriented recommendations.
Ensure agreements comply with corporate standards and guardrails.
Mentor junior contracts staff.
Track deal timelines and drive negotiations to execution.
Partner cross‑functionally with Legal, Subrights, Finance, Production, and Operations.
Support department process improvement initiatives.
Other duties as may reasonably be assigned.