Sales Contracts & Governance Lead

Sales Contracts & Governance Lead – Permanent - £60,000 - £68,000

Join us and be part of a mission-driven, independent publisher. You’ll work with a diverse group of people who share a passion for empowering researchers, educators, and institutions to shape the future.

About Sage:

Sage is a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources with a growing range of technologies to enable discovery, access, and engagement. Believing that research and education are critical in shaping society, Sara Miller McCune founded Sage in 1965. Today, we are controlled by a group of trustees charged with maintaining our independence and mission indefinitely. 

Our guaranteed independence means we’re free to:

• Do more – supporting an equitable academic future, furthering disciplines that drive social change, and helping social and behavioural science make an impact

• Work together – building lasting relationships, championing diverse perspectives, and co-creating resources to transform teaching and learning

• Think long-term – experimenting, taking risks, and investing in new ideas

About our Team:

Our Global Library Sales Contracts team plays a critical role in supporting the success of our worldwide sales organisation by ensuring our licensing and contracting processes are efficient, compliant, and customer-focused. We partner closely with Sales, Legal, Operations, and other cross-functional teams to create, negotiate, and complete agreements that enable long-term customer relationships while protecting the organisation's commercial and legal interests.

As a team, we are trusted advisors and subject matter experts in contracting and licensing, providing guidance that ensures consistency, compliance, and operational excellence across the business. We thrive in a collaborative environment where critical thinking, sound judgment, and continuous improvement are highly valued. From managing complex customer requests to enhancing systems, processes, and reporting, we are committed to delivering exceptional service, reducing risk, and driving business success.

This role is accountable for independently monitoring, analysing and reporting on Global Sales team compliance with agreed policies. It will raise concerns with appropriate leaders to address potential compliance failures or breaches. This role also leads the Library Sales Contracts team and is responsible for the timely creation, negotiation and execution of contracts. It acts as the team’s subject matter expert on contracting processes and documentation, working closely with Legal and other internal collaborators to manage customer amendments and support consistent, effective contracting operations.

Could you be our new Sales Contracts & Governance Lead? Are you?

• Experienced in licensing or contracts management, including use of CRM, CLM and reporting systems to manage licensing activity, records and performance data.

• Knowledgeable around copyright and contract law.

• Commercially aware with the ability to balance customer needs with legal, financial and operational risk.

• Experienced in leading, recruiting, training and developing a small team, ideally in a licensing, contracts, sales support or customer service environment.

• A strong collaborator with the ability to handle complaints or concerns effectively and build positive relationships internally and externally.

• An excellent critical thinker, with sound judgement and problem-solving skills.

• A leader who can adapt positively to change, identify improvements and work flexibly in a complex environment.

• An excellent communicator, have strong organisation and time management skills, with strong attention to detail.

• Experienced managing complex work across departments and collaborating effectively with cross-functional collaborators.

Your new role:

• Lead the Sales Contracts team to deliver accurate, high-quality licences within agreed SLAs, and report performance against SLAs to department leaders.

• Define, monitor and improve key contracting performance metrics, including turnaround times, quality, compliance and workload management.

• Oversee team workload, prioritisation and resource allocation to ensure deadlines, service levels and quality standards are met.

• Lead, coach and develop the Sales Contracts team through effective performance management, feedback, training and career development.

• Recruit, train and support team members to build strong working relationships with customers and internal collaborators.

• Share contract expertise across the Global Library Sales team through guidance and training that supports consistent policy and process adherence.

• Maintain clear governance and approval controls for non-standard contract terms, ensuring appropriate review, documentation and auditability.

• Partner with Legal and Operational teams to review and improve contract templates, ensuring they remain current, effective and aligned with business needs and industry guidelines.

• Use customer, team and process insights to drive continuous improvement in contracting operations, improving efficiency, accuracy and risk control.

• Contribute to the ongoing development of contracting systems, templates and workflows to improve operational effectiveness and user experience.

• Act as the senior point of contact for complex customer contract queries, and non-standard or custom requests, ensuring appropriate legal, commercial and operational input.

• Collaborate across functions to align contract support with wider organisational priorities and act as an escalation point for complex or ambiguous issues.

• Ensure accurate and complete capture of contract metadata, documentation and audit trails across CRM, CLM and other systems, and provide reporting and analysis to senior collaborators.

• Draft, Send and Complete sales contracts for sales agreements, globally.

• Negotiate amendments and changes to contract templates with customers in line with Legal guidance and rules.

• Exercise delegated authority on standard contracting matters and advance non-standard, high-risk or commercially sensitive issues as appropriate.

Overview of benefits:

• 25 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) with 2 additional floating personal days.

• Hybrid working up to 2 days per week in office and a home working allowance.

• Life assurance, income protection, and travel insurance.

• Private medical cover and access to the company doctor.

• Tuition scheme and support for pursuing professional qualifications, including access to Sage books and journals.

• Variety of snacks and beverages available in the office.

• Healthy lifestyle reimbursement and anniversary trips.

• Access to Company loans (season ticket loan, rental deposit loan, cycle loan).

We’re a Disability Confident Employer (Level 1). If you’d like to apply under this scheme, please let us know in your application.

We’re committed to making our recruitment process accessible and inclusive. If you’d like to request reasonable adjustments, please email [email protected] . Please note we only accept applications via email if an adjustment has been agreed.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

At Sage, we are committed to building a diverse and inclusive team and to sustaining a culture that celebrates diversity, encourages authenticity, and builds a deep sense of belonging. We encourage applications from all members of society irrespective of age, disability, sex or gender identity, sexual orientation, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion, or belief as crafting value through diversity is what makes us strong.