Senior Designer, Workman Running Press Group, Children's

Publishers Marketplace; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 65,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical insurance

Dental insurance

Vision care

401(k)

Discretionary bonus program

PTO - 15 days vacation, 3 personal, -

Generous sick leave

Commuter benefits

Tuition reimbursement

Travel assistance

Job summary

Workman Publishing’s children’s department seeks a Senior Designer to craft innovative trade books across board books, novelty, and graphic formats. You’ll shape our list, partner with editors and production teams, and mentor junior staff in a hybrid NYC setting.

The ideal candidate has 5–7 years in book design, a strong typography and color eye, and mastery of InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat.

Qualifications

• 5–7 years of design experience in book publishing.
• Strong portfolio showing design, typography, color, and storytelling.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and collaboration skills.
• Translate ideas into high-design book interiors from direction provided.
• Experience in series branding and brand extensions.
• Creative, eager to learn, and willing to share knowledge with teams.
• Understanding of the market, trends, and branded covers.
• Proficient in InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat; PDF workflows.

Responsibilities

• Design innovative, eye-catching covers for diverse formats.
• Ideate and develop full interior layouts for new projects.
• Develop brands and logo designs for series.
• Lead projects with editors, artists, and production teams from start to finish.
• Oversee freelance illustrators and designers as needed.
• Prepare cover mechanicals and galley covers for print.
• Collaborate with marketing on promotional materials and assets.
• Mentor junior staff where possible.

Skills

Book design

Typography

Color theory

Layout concepts

Portfolio

Communication

Creative collaboration

Storytelling

Tools

InDesign

Photoshop

Illustrator

Acrobat

Prepress

Job description

Workman Publishing’s children’s department is seeking a creative and collaborative Senior Designer to join our dynamic team. This role will focus on developing innovative trade books for children across a wide range of formats—including board books, novelty, middle grade, graphic novels, activity books, and workbooks. As Senior Designer, you’ll play a critical role in shaping our list by creating standout designs for both original IP and brand extensions of beloved backlist titles. You will partner closely with editors, art directors, illustrators, and production teams to bring high-quality, visually engaging books to market.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Design innovative, eye-catching covers
• Ideate and develop full interior layouts for new projects in any format
• Develop brands and logo designs
• Partner with the design staff, editors, and publisher to manage multiple book projects from start to finish
• Researches and oversees freelance illustrators and designers
• Prepare cover mechanicals, from initial layout to final production (working with production mangers on materials and setup; prepress, color correction, and file setup; reviewing, correcting, and approving proofs; and providing final files for print)
• Prepare galley covers, following a similar process
• Work with colleagues in the marketing department to create original promotional materials, including social media assets
• Open to mentoring junior staff

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• At least 5-7 years of design experience, primarily focused in book publishing
• A strong portfolio demonstrating an eye for design, typography, and color, as well as sharp conceptual thinking and visual storytelling
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to collaborate on creative projects, present work, and discuss feedback in group settings
• Able to take direction from written or spoken ideas and convert them seamlessly into high-design book interior layouts
• Adept at problem-solving when a book needs some extra TLC
• Experience in developing and designing series branding
• Creativity, originality, willingness to experiment, learn, grow and share knowledge with the design and editorial teams
• Understanding of the commercial market and design trends, branded series and commercial book covers
• Proficiency in InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat
• Experience with prepress production, preparing files for 4-color printing using a PDF workflow
• Strong knowledge of typography including paragraph, character, object, and GREP styles; parent pages highly desired
• Professional experience designing and laying out long-form book interiors is required
• Knowledge of book structural elements and proofreading marks.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to work quickly and independently to meet deadlines

Location: New York City (Hybrid – three days per week in the office)

The compensation for this position is $65,000 - $75,000. Salary can vary based on a number of factors including skills, experience, and location — talk with your recruiter to learn more. There may be times that you will be required (or requested) to work overtime due to the nature of your role or exceptional workload issues or special projects.

The following benefits are offered by the company:

• medical
• dental
• vision
• basic and supplemental life
• short-term and long-term disability
• accidental death and dismemberment
• critical illness
• hospital indemnity
• long-term care
• health and dependent care FSA
• commuter benefit plan
• employee assistance program
• tuition reimbursement
• travel assistance
• 401(k)
• discretionary bonus program
• PTO (15 vacation days, 3 personal days, 10 holidays and generous sick leave)
• group discounts on auto and home insurance and legal services.

Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification, hours worked and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific elections, plan, or program terms.

Compensation The base pay range for this role is $65,000 – $75,000 per year.