Group Font Software Licensing and Compliance Manager; FTC

What you’ll be doing

This role will serve as the Group’s main coordinator for font (software) licensing, providing authoritative guidance and governance across all creative business functions. This role owns the policy, process, compliance model, and audit readiness for font licensing, and serves as the central point of escalation for EULAs and licensing terms – working closely with Legal and key stakeholders across territories.

Key areas of scope include:

• Group-wide remit across Hachette UK, HBG (US), and HANZ
• Key liaison between IT, Legal, Procurement/Finance, and Creative teams
• Ensures systems and processes for font usage are robust, auditable, reportable, and aligned to creative needs
• Responsible for purchasing fonts on behalf of divisions and ensuring documentation is centralised using agreed tools
• Own and maintain the global font licensing policy and licensing decision framework across all territories
• Interpret EULAs/licensing terms and translate them into clear operational guidance for teams
• Partner with Legal to standardise compliance requirements and risk management
• Owns and administers the Font Management software, responsible for future updates and migrations roadmap
• Works closely with Foundries to develop bespoke EULAs
• Analyse licensing agreements and maintain up-to-date market knowledge to support cost‑effective, compliant licensing decisions
• Map current font procurement and management processes; define a future‑state operating model including roles/responsibilities and escalation paths
• Define a standard process for licensing new fonts (all territories), including approval steps, documentation requirements, and renewal/reactivation rules for reprints
• Owns the management and maintenance of the current internal system (Font Agent)
• Ensure licensing documentation is complete and stored in agreed systems for audit readiness
• Act as the central point of contact for all internal and external queries relating to font usage and licensing
• Build and maintain relationships with foundries, resellers, and licensing platforms
• Influence senior stakeholders to adopt standardised processes and reduce licensing risk
• Define requirements for tooling and reporting (e.g. usage standards, license‑count controls, documentation storage)
• Oversee governance for setting up user groups/roles, provisioning/deprovisioning end‑user workflows, and audit and reporting requirements

The role will be based at our London office, with a blend of in‑office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Skills / Knowledge / Attributes

• Excellent communicator; able to engage, energise, and drive collaboration across diverse teams
• Strong stakeholder management and influencing skills at all levels
• Highly organised with strong process mapping and documentation discipline
• Pragmatic problem solver—able to balance creative freedom with legal/commercial constraints
• Comfortable operating in a multicultural, multi‑divisional organisation

Experience

• Proven experience in software licensing, IP management, rights administration, or compliance governance—ideally in a creative/digital environment
• Strong understanding of font licensing models and usage rights
• Commercially focused analyst of processes and vendor relationships
• Publishing workflows knowledge is desirable (print, reprint, imprint workflows, asset reuse)

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years’ service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years’ (+ bank holidays)
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide‑range training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff‑led employee networks that are voluntary, including Age Wise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio‑economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.