Rights & Permissions Specialist (Press General Administration)

We are seeking a Rights & Permissions Specialist who will join a team of exceptional professionals at the Johns Hopkins University Press committed to bringing the benefits of discovery to the world by providing global access, impact, and influence for the scholarship that we publish and distribute. This position will help to ensure that the Press is a leader in the selection and development of innovative ideas and scholarship; the creation of pioneering technologies to enhance discovery and learning; and the connection of people to the most trusted knowledge from global researchers, scholars, and educators.

The Press is committed to honoring every person’s inherent dignity as human beings and making that the foundation of our organizational culture. We proactively find ways to ensure opportunities that promote equity, diversity, inclusion and access. We strive to publish courageously, while giving a voice to groundbreaking ideas. We support each other and our stakeholders and envision a future where knowledge enriches the lives of every person.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities

• Manage the permissions budget for books and journals published.
• Maintain and increase budget revenue.
• Coordinate permissions requests, including researching rights and assessing and negotiating fees with global publishers and vendors.
• Develop and implement in-house industry practice fee assessment structure
• Collaborate with the Copyright Clearance Center to oversee and supervise accounts for books and journals in order to increase and maximize permissions revenue via regular account reviews.
• Identify and seek new revenue streams for licensing book and journal content.
• Assist the Rights Manager with pitching titles to global partners for subsidiary rights and negotiate multi-cultural licenses.
• Collaborate with the Rights Manager, Director of Press, CFO of Press, Director of Journals, and University Counsel in the negotiation of terms.
• Identify and develop new foreign publisher relationships and maintain those relationships through correspondence, meetings, and domestic and international travel to international book fairs and conferences.
• Identify publishers to license audiobook as well as serial rights and other subsidiary and digital licenses.
• Draft, track, and send all subsidiary rights contracts to global partners as well as all other rights related agreements including rights reversions. Involves tracking expired licenses and outstanding payments.
• Coordinate logistics for foreign book fairs including exhibits, travel, display, supplies, including payment of global vendors and processing of wire and international and domestic credit card payments.

Special Skills, Knowledge and Abilities 

• Experience with Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel.
• Ability to prioritize multiple time sensitive tasks.
• Candidate must be detail oriented, flexible, have exceptional organizational skills in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent critical thinking and communication skills.
• Outstanding problem-solving skills.
• Creative thinker; embracing new ideas; passionate about exploiting the potential of JHUP.
• Inclusive in decision-making and problem-solving.
• Excel in effective use of resources, keen self-awareness of strengths and weaknesses.

• Bachelor’s Degree.

• Two years of related copyright work experience, including prior contract negotiation experience required.

• Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.

Classified Title: Rights & Permissions Specialist  
Role/Level/Range: ATP/03/PB  
Starting Salary Range: $47,355 - $82,820 Annually ($63,500 targeted; Commensurate w/exp.) 
Employee group: Full Time 
Schedule: M-F 8:30 am - 5:00 pm 
FLSA Status: Exempt 
Location: Hybrid/Homewood Campus  
Department name: Press General Administration   
Personnel area: Academic and Business Centers