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Specifically…a Senior Vice President, Sales & Business Development. Despite what it sounds like, the position doesn’t seem to be replacing EVP of Sales, Marketing and Business Development John Rood or SVP Sales Bob Wayne and is a new position. It is, however located on the West Coast, and would seem to duplicate a lot of duties currently held by East Coast personnel, and could reflect the recent restructuring. So…a sidekick for John Rood?

If you have what it takes, here’s the job description:

Senior Vice President, Sales & Business Development
DC Entertainment – Burbank, CA
SUMMARY OF POSITION

E.C. Publications, Inc. seeks a Senior Vice President, Sales & Business Development for the Sales & Business Development department. Position will oversee sales strategy, distribution, and business development for the DCE publishing brands (DC Comics, Vertigo, MAD). Organize a Sales Team and manage them to clear and measurable priorities. Analyze reporting data to develop strategies that feed overall business planning and decision making, in partnership with several departments.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
• Develop strategy for expanding worldwide consumer reach of DC Publishing content and Collectibles merchandise across DCE’s imprints—DC Comics, Vertigo, MAD—that includes both Physical (comic shop specialty market, book sellers, mass) & Digital distribution platform channels.
• Coordinate the strategy with co-publishers and executive team, as well as colleagues in other DCE departments.
• Develop business plans and operating models that achieve key strategic objectives of expanded distribution translating into sales & margin growth.
• Explore and evaluate feasibility of developing new business models aimed at exploiting newly created & library content that may include new product formatting, subscriptions, windowing, variable pricing by channel, customer loyalty programs, co-op marketing, etc.
• Maintain comprehensive understanding of strengths/challenges facing Physical & Digital distribution partners in the Publishing marketplace.
• Develop and maintain strong relationships with partners that include top digital brands, publishing brands, physical distribution partners, retailers big and small, and several Warner Bros. divisions.
• Engage in ongoing performance evaluation of channel partners that may involve developing plans to expand, consolidate or replace relationships.
• Create sales analytical models to evaluate performance. For each forecast cycle, develop unit sales forecasting models that consider product format, release schedule & windowing, pricing assumptions, issue erosion rates by channel and backlist sales assumptions.
• Build collaborative organization with strong capabilities in Business Planning, Account Relationship Management, and Sales Analytics / Forecasting.
• Attract, develop, and lead Sales & Business Development organization that raises individual and collective performance through goal setting, annual planning, profitability tracking, and sales reporting.
JOB REQUIREMENTS

• 4 yr college degree required. Emphasis in Business preferred. MBA preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years Sales experience required.
• General Management experience/interest required.
• Experience leading high-performing teams – developing and motivating superior talent.
• Sales Analytics and Financial experience required.
• Publishing or other Consumer Package Goods experience required.
• Mass retailer experience strongly preferred.
• Entertainment experience strongly preferred.
• E-commerce & Digital experience strongly preferred.
• International business development experience strongly preferred.
• Strong executive presence required.
• Must have proven success meeting and exceeding aggressive sales goals.
• Must possess excellent communication skills – both written and verbal.
• Ability to pitch to senior internal and external decision makers.
• Must have extensive relationships with distribution partners.
• Must be able to maintain project confidentiality.
• Proven track-record of managing own workflow to meet tight deadlines while handling high volume of work with a great attention to detail-specific information.
• Knowledge of publishing and comics industries required.
• Knowledge of toys and collectible merchandise business preferred.
• Ability to travel approximately 33%.
• Flexibility to respond to off-hours business needs.

12 COMMENTS

  1. I sure hope that DC doesn’t expect even a brilliant salesperson to be able to sell the steaming pile of crap that is the Nu52 publishing line. Nobody should be expected to make any sort of sense out of Didio, Lee and Harras’s editorial mess, so my advice to anybody qualified for the position is to wait until 1) the Nu52 BrainBust of Didio, Lee and Harras get fired and 2) the line reverts to the pre-Flashpoint DC Multiverse and *then* you should submit your resumes.

  2. Ok, do we have any idea just how much (or little if you prefer) money DC makes?

    There’s lots of kvetching about poor sales but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it stated just what the comics, single issues and collected editions from trade papers to absolutes, make in a given year.

    So does anyone know these numbers? Same applies to Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse.

  3. Additional skills:
    • Needs to be obtuse about comic readers needs or wants. The ability to maximize profits with minimum investment via tired storylines and retrofitted Golden Age characters is essential. New62, Death of Savage Hawkman, Firestorm meets Sandstorm in a Wildstorm or Agent Frankestenstein eats Animal Man stories are what what we came up with at our latest DC Summit. Feel free to add to our imaginative universe.

    * Willing and able tot explore new avenues of profitably with the brand. Savage Hawkman and all colors of Green Red & Yellow Lanterns should be brought to full profitability and international success by the end of your tenure.

    • The ability to convince the untapped markets, Facebook and social media users that the overwrought realism and extreme violence of DC books is cool and they should come inside comic retail stores , find our section tucked in a dark corner, then forgo lunch money to pay the high prices of our books about the Justice League and its subsidiary characters.. If you are successful in this venture, the possibility of Microsoft and Dell accessing your services to sell their products may be a lucrative side opportunity.

  4. Just ONCE I’d like to see one of these recruitment bits say stuff like…
    * Relaxed, laid-back, calm individual required to use thoughtful analysis & common sense to fix our many previous fuck-ups brought about by extreme, in-your-face, know-nothing, multi-tasking assholes.
    * Must actually like comics & know a bit about their history.
    * If you can read and retain what you read, and can converse and listen with any degree of skill whatsoever, then you know that a MBA isn’t worth the toilet paper its printed on.

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