Associate Director, Publisher Relations & Negotiations

At Audible, we believe stories have the power to transform lives. It’s why we work with some of the world’s leading creators to produce and share audio storytelling with our millions of global listeners. We are dreamers and inventors who come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to empower and inspire each other. Imagine your future with us.

ABOUT THIS ROLE
Based in Berlin, the Associate Director, Publisher Relations & Negotiations is part of the Publisher Relations - EU & LATAM team and will hands-on negotiate and structure major publisher deals across our EU marketplaces (DE, FR, IT, ES), with a primarily focus on DE.

In this role, you will generate, negotiate, and close sophisticated deals and deal renewals with audiobook and book publisher. Beyond driving complex, high value publisher partnerships yourself, you will serve as a negotiation thought leader within the Publisher Relations team — coaching, mentoring, and elevating the team's overall negotiation capabilities. You will bring deep experience from major entertainment or media groups, a confident and persuasive voice at the negotiation table, and the ability to adapt deal strategies to the cultural and commercial nuances of each market. Working closely with the whole team, you will model best practices and influence how the team approaches, structures, and closes partnerships.

ABOUT YOU
You are an experienced negotiator who develops, influences, and maintains high-impact relationships with publishing partners, driving business decisions through creative solutions in a global operating company. You imagine what's possible and understand the impact of building systems and strategies based on deep data analysis and strategic finance insights.
You can structure and execute complex deals, with strong analytical capabilities and exceptional stakeholder management skills. You are a trusted relationship manager conducting full lifecycle deal generation. You don't just close deals; you raise the bar for your entire team by sharing frameworks, techniques, and best practices that make everyone a stronger negotiator - influencing others by establishing trust, earning trust from others, and working collaboratively.
Your approach is both strategic and hands-on — you can develop a negotiation playbook and then execute it in the room. You are confident representing Audible in the most consequential conversations with publishing executives.

As an Associate Director, Publisher Relations & Negotiations, you will...
- Lead negotiations with key publishers and content partners, with a primarily focus on Publisher Relations in Germany, driving deal closure and securing favorable terms for Audible across book-based and audio original content
- Serve as the team's negotiation expert - develop and implement negotiation frameworks, playbooks, and training that elevate the deal-making skills of the entire Publisher Relations team across marketplaces, influencing others by establishing trust and working collaboratively
- Develop and structure innovative deals that address unique market opportunities, contributing ideas that shape project outcomes and leveraging your experience from large entertainment or media organizations to bring fresh approaches to publisher partnerships
- Create financial models and deal evaluations to assess partnership opportunities, identifying complex patterns and connections in data and independently interpreting findings to produce insightful conclusions that support data-driven negotiation positions
- Monitor the competitive landscape and publisher market dynamics, accurately interpreting input from reliable sources to get a holistic understanding and identify emerging trends, leverage points, and opportunities for Audible
- Prepare presentations and reports that communicate deal rationale, negotiation outcomes, and strategic recommendations with clarity and impact

ABOUT AUDIBLE
Audible is the leading producer and provider of audio storytelling. We spark listeners’ imaginations, offering immersive, cinematic experiences full of inspiration and insight to enrich our customers daily lives. We are a global company with an entrepreneurial spirit. We are dreamers and inventors who are passionate about the positive impact Audible can make for our customers and our neighbors. This spirit courses throughout Audible, supporting a culture of creativity and inclusion built on our People Principles and our mission to build more equitable communities in the cities we call home.

BASIC QUALIFICATIONS

- Bachelor's degree
- Full proficiency in German and English (verbal and written)
- Experience leading and closing sophisticated negotiations on the DE marketplace, involving complex rights, territorial, and commercial structures
- Experience in deal-making, business development, or partnership management within entertainment, media, publishing, or related industries
- Experience at a major entertainment group, studio, publishing house, or large-scale media organization
- Experience managing, motivating, and influencing team behaviors
- Experience managing full lifecycle content acquisition — from submission evaluation through deal closure and release strategy
- Project management experience delivering cross-functional initiatives, including creating plans to accomplish goals in unclear or ambiguous situations
- Experience taking initiative and making decisions in new or unfamiliar situations

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

- Experience in audiobook, publishing, or digital content industries
- MBA or advanced degree in a relevant field
- Business proficiency in Spanish, Portuguese, French and/or Italian
- Financial acumen with the ability to develop and analyze deal economics and partnership models
- Knowledge of intellectual property rights and licensing practices
- Previous experience working across multiple European and/or Latin American markets
- Strong presentation skills with the ability to communicate complex ideas effectively to diverse audiences
- Proven ability to develop collaborative relationships across organizational boundaries
- Experience working in matrix environments with multiple stakeholders
- Willingness to travel