Paper Supply Chain and Sustainability Assistant

Penguin Random House is seeking a Paper Supply Chain and Sustainability Assistant in London. The role involves maintaining the paper management system, processing invoices, managing stock levels, and supporting sustainability efforts through data collection and reporting. Key skills required include proficiency in Microsoft Office, strong analytical abilities, and excellent communication skills. The position focuses on paper management and sustainability compliance within the company's operations.
Penguin Random House is hiring a Paper Supply Chain and Sustainability Assistant in London. The role involves maintaining the paper management system, processing invoices, managing stock levels, and supporting sustainability efforts by collecting data from suppliers. Key responsibilities include liaising with suppliers, producing sustainability reports, and maintaining internal tools. Essential skills include proficiency in Microsoft Office, strong analytical abilities, and excellent communication skills.
This role is responsible for performing interface maintenance required for the smooth running of the paper management system. You will also support sustainability with data collections from suppliers as well as with new and ongoing regulatory requirements.

The role

Key responsibilities:

PAPER MANAGEMENT
• Proactively supporting the Paper Supply Chain Manager, maintaining a high level of service at all times
• Processing invoices and performing interface maintenance in the paper management system
• Updating stock levels in the system
• Maintain third party paper stocks, creating POs and manual usages for paper at European printers. Manage the supply and invoicing for other PRH companies
• Ordering paper when required through regular dialogue with production teams, understanding the range of our paper grades and making sure we accommodate all titles in the system
• Liaising with and maintaining close relationships with our paper suppliers and printers to efficiently source paper for printings and resolve any queries
• Running weekly and monthly reports, calculating our usage of paper for spend analysis

SUSTAINABILITY
• Producing monthly data reports on our sustainability performance and paper usage.
• Support Penguin’s ethical supply chain programme with the collection and review of ethical audit reports from suppliers.
• Support the maintenance of several internal sustainability tools and databases such as the Sustainable Production Toolkit and Approved Paper List.
• Create documents and assets to support teams across the company implement sustainability within their division.
• Lead on the quarterly data collection for Extended Producer Responsibility reporting.
• Support our transition to EUDR compliance with ad hoc data collection tasks and supplier onboarding.
• Assist with the maintenance of our FSC certification and preparation for our annual audit.

What you’ll bring

Essential criteria:
• Competent on Microsoft Excel, Word, and Powerpoint
• Proficient with numbers
• Demonstrable love of reading and interest in books/media/sustainability
• Demonstrable ability to think in a disciplined/organised manner
• Sharp attention to detail
• Strong personal organisation and time management skills
• Demonstrable analytical ability and a level of financial awareness
• The ability to multitask and handle competing priorities
• Excellent communication skills
• The ability to work autonomously using initiative

Preferred criteria:
• Technical understanding of processes/printing

Disability Confident

If you have opted into our disability confident scheme, the above ‘essential criteria’ is what you must meet to be considered for our interview scheme. Please note, there may be occasions where the volume of applicants means we can’t take all eligible candidates to interview.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on 18th March 2025.
• Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.
• Please note we are looking for someone to join the team as soon as possible, but we are also happy to accommodate a reasonable notice period for the right candidate.
• We anticipate a two-stage interview process which will include a virtual first-stage interview and in-person second stage interview. We are happy to discuss this further with you throughout the recruitment process.

Salary

£27,500 plus benefits.

What you can expect from us

Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition.

Our benefits include:
• Financial – discounted shopping, season ticket loan, rental deposit loan
• Wellbeing – healthcare cash plan, employee assistance, gym loan
• Lifestyle – taste card, tech scheme, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/what-we-offer/

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect the successful candidate to work from our London office a minimum of three days per week, with a maximum of two days per week working remotely.

About Penguin

We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

The recruitment process

You can read about our recruitment process at https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/how-we-hire/

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.