Editor, Ebury

Do you love great storytelling in books, TV, radio, and podcasts? Would you like to be part of a team that publishes Mary Berry, David Attenborough, Rick Stein, Stacey Dooley, Tim Minchin, Maggie Aderin-Pocock, Steve Backshall, and Monty Don, as well as brands like Strictly Come Dancing, Doctor Who, and Match of the Day? We have an exciting opportunity for a creative and confident Editor to join us at Ebury, where you will help make our next bestsellers a reality.

The role

You will work as part of a collaborative editorial team of four, managing titles across the BBC, Smart, Food/Lifestyle, and Entertainment hubs. Reporting to the Publishing Director, you’ll be responsible for a wide list of books and brands in cookery, lifestyle, memoir, pop culture, and more, guiding a mix of illustrated and text-led titles through the critical path to publication.

Key responsibilities:

• Setting and managing editorial schedules
• Maintaining editorial budgets and hiring freelance teams across editorial and design
• Editing manuscripts for a select number of titles
• Writing TI, cover copy, and other marketing materials
• Briefing covers and interior design for each of your books
• Organising photo shoots for both interiors and covers
• Liaising with in-house teams, authors, agents, designers, photographers, television producers and executives
• Working with our rights team across international co-editions
• Contributing to New Ideas meetings, to spot trends in editorial and design
• Presenting titles at monthly sales launches and other meetings

What you’ll bring

Organised and adaptable, with an eye for great design, you’ll be the in-house champion for your books, communicating their progress and potential across the business. You will also have the opportunity to bring your own ideas to the Ebury list.

Essential criteria:

• Proven editorial and illustrated publishing skills
• The ability to multitask and handle competing priorities
• Excellent author care
• A good understanding of the marketplace: retailers, media, audiences and competitors
• Confidence in partnering with internal teams across the business to champion each book
• Proven negotiation skills

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Sunday 26^th January. Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.

We expect interviews to start taking place in early February.

Salary

Circa £35,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

What you can expect from us

Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition. Our benefits include:

• Financial – discounted shopping, season ticket loan, rental deposit loan
• Wellbeing – healthcare cash plan, employee assistance, gym loan
• Lifestyle – taste card, tech scheme, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/what-we-offer/

Hybrid working

While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will work from the office twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

About Penguin

We’re the UK’s largest publisher; made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

The recruitment process

You can read about our recruitment process at https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/how-we-hire/. As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.