Job Opportunities

By Ellie Slaney, Joanne Fu, Hannah Majid and Jessica Povey 

Designer/Senior Designer at Hodder and Stoughton

Closing Date: 9 June 2025

Salary: £30,000–£40,000 (London); £27,600–£36,800 (Sheffield) (Dependent on experience)

Location: London or Sheffield

Are you a talented designer wanting to work on high quality, bestselling fiction and non-fiction at a major publishing house? Hodder and Stoughton, an imprint of Hachette, are looking for a talented Designer or Senior Designer to join their Art team. If this sounds like the perfect opportunity for you, read on!

Working with some of the biggest brands in the world and across various genres, Hodder and Stoughton stand proudly as one of the top UK publishers, with authors from John Grisham and Stephen King to Sara Cox and Graham Norton. Their passion for creativity and inclusivity is at the heart of everything they do.

As a Designer/Senior Designer, you will be an integral part of the Art team, working across all imprints and handling the creative process through from initial brief to final artwork. You will also commission illustrators, photographers and other designers, helping bring the artwork to life. Work must be delivered to the highest standard and must meet tight deadlines. You will also be responsible for ensuring all administration and file management is accurate and up to date. This role will require you to work closely with staff from numerous departments, allowing you to develop strong working relationships, contribute ideas and receive feedback.

The successful candidate will be dynamic, self-starting and organised, with experience in cover design within the publishing industry. You will have a strong portfolio containing a range of titles that you can showcase. Your experience will allow you to create beautiful, brilliant designs that strongly engage with the target audience. A positive, can-do attitude will go a long way as well as a desire to expand your network and build strong relationships with both your immediate team and departments, and with illustrators, authors and agents.

This role is hybrid with three days in-office at either their London or Sheffield office. For more information and how to apply, click here. 

Grants and Prizes Administrator at The Society of Authors

Closing Date: 23 June 2025

Salary: £25,500, plus benefits

Location: London

Want to work at the UK’s largest trade union for writers, illustrators and literary translators since 1884? Are you interested to know how awards and grants are distributed in the industry? The Society of Authors (SoA) has a role for Grants and Prizes Administrator.

The position will have you on the small Grants and Prizes team who provide over £650,000 annually to authors at all stages of their careers. You will get to work on a varied list from the SoA Awards and Translation Prizes to external prizes. You will also prepare grants for writers, including the SoA Access Fund and the Authors’ Foundation. Tasks include general admin: answering general enquiries via phone and email, updating entry forms and notifying publishers of prize openings and timeframes, assisting with applications, prize eligibility, etc. Other tasks are creating certificates, prize booklets and PowerPoint presentations for awards, attending events and talks, getting involved with the planning of the annual SoA wards/ceremonies and being diligent in making the events accessible and inclusive.

The ideal candidate will need to be able to work under pressure on multiple projects and have an excellent attention to detail. You will have an interest in charity management and the literature sector, with an ability to compassionately communicate due to the nature of some grants. You will be familiar with Microsoft Office and InDesign, though knowing the latter is not necessary.

The role is full-time based in Bloomsbury, London with an option for hybrid. 

To find out more, click here.

Creative Access and Booksellers Association Mentoring Programme 2025 

Closing Date: 6 June 2025

Salary: N/A

Location: Remote 

Love books and want to turn that passion into a career? Whether you're a bookshop regular who can’t stop recommending reads or already working in the bookselling world, this opportunity is for you!

Creative Access has partnered with the Booksellers Association for a mentoring scheme to dispel myths about the bookselling world and make connections across the industry! And best of all, you don’t have to be an established bookseller to join the scheme! Even if you love recommending books to your friends and want to pursue a career in books, don’t be afraid to apply!

Fifteen mentees will be selected for this year’s programme, which begins in July 2025 and will run for six months. Each mentee will be matched with a mentor from the bookselling community, meeting virtually once a month for one-to-one sessions. You must be over eighteen to join the programme, and individuals from Black, Asian, or other ethnically diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

So, if you are enthusiastic about working with the public and consider yourself a human library, apply here!

Publishing Liaison Officer at BDS 

Closing Date: 6 June 2025

Salary: £26,117

Location: Dumfries, Scotland

Are you looking to learn from a company at the heart of the publishing industry? BDS are searching for a Publisher Liaison Officer to join their team.

BDS is the foremost supplier of quality metadata to libraries, supplying all public libraries in the UK and Ireland and an increasing number of academic libraries. They source more than 200,000 titles per annum for books in all subject areas and manage this information daily.

In this role, you will liaise with and assist publishers with the transfer of information into the BDS workflow. You will also have the opportunity to attend conferences and trade shows to represent the company. You will learn all about how metadata works and how it is used in both library services and bookselling.

No prior experience is necessary as full training will be provided, though they would prefer applicants from an academic background. You will have a meticulous attention to detail, a natural curiosity and enjoy learning new concepts. The successful candidate will also enjoy working to deadlines in a fast-paced environment. 

This is a full-time, permanent role based in Dumfries.

To learn more and find out how to apply visit Publishing Scotland.