Senior Production Manager

Do you love children's publishing and know your picture books from your pop-ups? Are you excited by innovation and ideation but also pragmatic and profit led? Are you highly organised and able to switch quickly between detailed and strategic thinking?

Here at Quarto, we publish a wide range of exciting and informative products across children's and adult's publishing. We're dedicated to providing the best content and product and need a passionate and talented Senior Production Manager to come onboard to drive our innovative children's list.

Contract: Permanent

Salary: Starting from £45,000

Closing Date: 31 March 2025

Working hours: 35 hours per week, Monday to Friday, 09.30 am to 5.30 pm. We currently operate a discretionary hybrid model, with three days in our London office and two working from home.

About the role

You will be overseeing the production of our exciting Trade Children's Imprints covering a range of products from picture books to integrated sound books and kits. You will be working closely with the newly appointed Product Development Lead and the Production Director to ensure all are made and delivered on time, within budget, and conforming to all quality and legislative requirements.

What you will be involved in:

• Leading the Children's Production Team and ensuring team clarity around purpose and objectives
• Effectively managing team workloads and resources
• Working with all publishers to ensure efficiencies and opportunities are available and in line with publishing strategy
• Maximising profit through keen negotiation and cost saving initiatives
• Oversee day to day supplier management to maintain best possible service and quality of product
• Running production on your own lists of titles

About you

You will be a production expert and experienced people manager with a track record of delivering high quality production at pace and volume.

You will be able to show you can:

• Deliver a range of product across Trade, Custom and Co-edition
• Engage diverse audiences and foster a spirit of collaboration and innovation
• Maximise profitability and influence decision making
• Work collaboratively and communicate effectively at all levels
• Professionally manage a team
• Bring a creative and solution focused approach to all aspects of your working life
• Bring your printing knowledge and expertise to support innovation in product and finishes
• Embrace technology and offer efficiencies and solutions to working practice

What we can offer:

A supportive, open environment with development opportunities, as well as the following benefits:

• 25 days paid holiday per year (increasing up to 30 days per year), plus bank holidays
• Cultural appreciation day (to honour a cultural holiday which is significant to you, separate to your holiday entitlement)
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Staff discounts on selected shops, retailers, and restaurants
• Health Cash Plan
• Pension
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Summer hours
• Active social and diversity committees

How to apply

Please send a CV and cover letter to by the closing date and state the vacancy name in the email subject title. Ensure you cover the following:

• Your motivation and match with the role requirements
• What appeals to you about this particular role
• What key skills, experience and achievements do you have that you think are relevant to this role, and why. Please provide examples of how you have used or demonstrated those.
• Where you saw the vacancy advertised

All applicants must be able to demonstrate the right to live and work in the UK to be considered for the vacancy.

We employ individuals based on their abilities and welcome applicants from all backgrounds regardless of disability, ethnic origin, gender, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, belief, age, or sexual orientation.

As a Disability Confident Committed employer, we aim to ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible for disabled people. Therefore, we encourage you to inform us of any reasonable adjustments you may require during your interview process. Please note, you only need to disclose information that you are comfortable sharing in order for us to accommodate your request.

Please note that due to the high volume of applications we receive, we will only be able to respond to candidates selected for interview. We reserve the right to close this job advertisement early if we receive a high volume of applications. We encourage interested candidates to apply as soon as possible.