Publicity Director, Vintage (12-month FTC)

We are recruiting a Publicity Director to work across the imprints at Vintage, Penguin Random House, to cover a period of parental leave for 12 months from August 2025. Part of the award-winning publicity team at Vintage, the role will report to the Divisional Director of Publicity.

About the team

Vintage publishes a broad portfolio of award-winning and bestselling titles across fiction, non-fiction, poetry and graphic novels. Some of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious imprints make up Vintage publishing, including Chatto & Windus and Jonathan Cape. These imprints are joined by newer or relaunched imprints: The Bodley Head, Harvill, Fern Press, and Vintage Classics with its distinctive red spine design.

In the last year the publicity team have delivered unmissable campaigns for writers including Booker Prize winner Samantha Harvey, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Tim Spector, Haruki Murakami, Yuval Noah Harari, Jo Nesbo, Neneh Cherry, Rory Stewart, Baillie Gifford Prize winner Richard Flanagan, and Sophie Elmhirst, winner of the Nero Gold Book Award 2024.

The role

The Publicity Director will lead innovative and impactful media and events campaigns for the trailblazing and award-winning imprints at Vintage. You will also lead on building profile and awareness for some of our exciting new author acquisitions, thinking creatively and strategically about positioning and amplifying authors and their books outside of key campaign moments.

Key responsibilities:

• Independently create and deliver high-impact, innovative and strategic media and events campaigns for a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles across our imprints, from launching new voices to promoting established writers and building brands.
• Play a key role in the acquisition of new books, providing PR feedback and contributing to and attending pitches to acquire new talent.
• Lead on profile and brand-building opportunities for our major books and authors, from the point of acquisition.
• Maintain excellent relationships with high-profile and influential stakeholders, such as authors, literary agents, journalists, events producers and global publishing partners.
• Author crisis management where appropriate including scenario planning and reactive communications.
• Mentor and develop talent in the publicity team.
• Communicate effectively with internal departments, including sales and marketing, editorial, rights and international colleagues.

What you’ll bring

Essential criteria:

• A creative individual who loves to innovate, you will have a proven track record of delivering standout and successful book publicity campaigns to reach target audiences and drive book sales.
• You will have experience of launching new talent and building profiles.
• A high-level networker across the publishing industry and the media, you will understand what moves the dial and be proactive in finding new promotional opportunities for our books and authors.
• Be confident writing engaging press materials and organising large scale events.
• Be an excellent communicator, both written and in person, and be confident pitching and presenting internally and externally.
• Have strong personal organisation and time management skills, the ability to multitask and manage competing priorities.
• Be a strong influencer with excellent powers of persuasion.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Wednesday 30th April.

Salary

Circa £45,000-£50,000 base salary 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 – income protection, life assurance, childcare allowance
• Wellbeing – healthcare cash plan, critical illness cover, health checks
• Lifestyle – enhanced parental leave, 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. Vintage’s office days are Tuesday and Thursday, for this role you will be expected to be in a minimum of two days a week and to attend all in-person meetings.

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.