Assistant Editor

Hachette Children's Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading children's publisher as an Assistant Editor, playing a crucial role in developing preschool and picture book titles. Collaborate with design teams, draft promotional materials, and support senior editors. This position offers a dynamic environment to enhance your editorial skills while working with beloved authors.

Benefits

28 annual leave days

Private medical insurance

Generous pension schemes

Rent deposit loans

Community days

Summer hours

Retail discounts

Cycle to Work scheme

Eye care vouchers

Wide-ranging training library

Qualifications

• Proven experience in a professional environment.
• Highly organised with strong communication abilities.
• Passion for preschool and picture books.

Responsibilities

• Take editorial lead on designated titles.
• Draft copy for sales sheets and book fair guides.
• Read and review submissions.

Skills

Proofreading

Copy-writing

Communication

Team player

Tools

Biblio

Job description

Who we are and what we do

Hachette Children's Group is one of the UK's largest children's publishers. Our mission is to make it easy for children and young people everywhere to access books and see themselves reflected. We aim to maximise our readers' life chances by inspiring a lifelong love of reading, publishing books for every stage of their journey to adulthood, from Enid Blyton to Alice Oseman's Heartstopper.

Hachette Children's Group is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 11 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

What you'll be doing

Are you creative and proactive with strong proofreading skills? Do you love creating ideas for new content and working as part of a close team? Are you a departmental assistant looking for your next step in publishing?

Hachette Children’s Group is looking for an Assistant Editor to join their preschool and picture book team. You will play an important role, taking the editorial lead on a number of designated titles – working closely with your design colleagues at every stage – as well as providing editorial support across the lists. You’ll draft copy for sales sheets and book fair guides, develop storylines and come up with new format ideas, whilst also reading and reviewing submissions and presenting titles in meetings. You'll even work closely with the senior editorial team, supporting them in publishing new titles by some of the best-loved authors and illustrators in the business – the perfect way to hone your skills. There will also be a limited amount of administrative work in support of the team, alongside the editorial assistant.

This is an exciting opportunity for someone with proven experience in a professional environment to join an award-winning, bestselling preschool and picture book list, and expand your skill set in a wide-ranging and varied role.

Who we are looking for

We are looking for a highly organised person with strong communication abilities, and a can-do attitude. You will have excellent proofreading and copy-writing skills, and be a real team player, happy to turn your hand to a variety of projects. You’ll have a passion for preschool and picture books, and be efficient and self-motivated. A working knowledge of Biblio would be helpful.

What we offer

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)
• Private medical insurance
• 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-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

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

Our commitment

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.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org