Associate Director, Contracts

We’re seeking an experienced, detail-obsessed and process-oriented Associate Director to join our busy Trade Contracts team. The Associate Director will bring deep knowledge of the contract lifecycle to support the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Reporting to the Sr. Director, Contracts, this position is primarily responsible for drafting and overseeing the timely and accurate drafting and execution of a wide variety of children’s agreements and amendments. This role serves as a key partner to Editorial, Finance, Subrights, and Legal, and will supervise a small team responsible for high-volume contract management. The ideal candidate brings deep publishing contracts expertise, strong communication and analytical skills, technological savvy and a proactive, process and solutions-oriented approach, along with a passion for children’s publishing.

What you’ll do:

• Draft, negotiate, and review a wide range of publishing agreements, including author, illustrator, contributor, and work-for-hire contracts and amendments, licensing deals, profit-sharing agreements, and global joint acquisitions.
• Serve as a key escalation point for complex, high-value, or non-standard deal terms within the children’s publishing group.
• Ensure all agreements align with company policies, including financial terms.
• Create and update documentation.
• Track children’s contract status and metrics to provide insights to Sr. Director.
• Manage two team members, provide performance feedback. Supervise workflows, maintain accuracy and quality standards.

• Review and make suggestions for process improvements to streamline and improve MCPG Contracts Department operations with the goal of improving efficiency and compliance, utilizing expertise with the aim of fostering an environment of continuous improvement.

• Implement solutions such as creating FAQs as useful, e.g., standardizing, streamlining, and rationalizing answers to frequently asked questions.
• Support implementation department-wide special projects.
• Develop and deliver training for Editorial and other internal teams regarding Contracts best practices.

What you’ll bring:

• At least 5-10 years’ experience working on publishing contracts and associated legal agreements, preferably in-house.
• Prior supervisory experience of individual contributors (direct or indirect) required.
• Eagerness to explore tech and other solutions to the Contracts Department workflows.

This role will have an annual salary of $70,000-$85,000.

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.