Assistant Editor (Vintage) London 2023

We are looking for a creative, reliable and energetic Assistant Editor to join the Harvill Secker team, within our Vintage division.

About Harvill Secker

The Harvill Secker list is very varied and encompasses prize-winning and bestselling literary and reading group fiction, crime and thriller, literature in translation and narrative non-fiction, so we’re looking for someone with good knowledge of the contemporary book scene, who reads widely across genres.

The writers we publish include Haruki Murakami, Jo Nesbo, Erin Morgenstern, Abir Mukherjee, Edward St Aubyn, Denise Mina, Susan Stokes-Chapman, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Kirsty Logan.

The opportunity

You will be responsible for providing administrative and editorial support to the Harvill Secker Publishing Director. On the administrative side, you can expect to be:

• Updating our internal database with information about our books and authors.
• Proactively ensuring books are kept to schedule and communication with other departments is clear.
• Drafting offer letters and liaising with the Finance, Contracts and Legal teams where necessary.
• Monitoring Amazon to ensure copy, keywords, metadata and jackets are up to date.
• Posting on our social media channels.
• Keeping abreast of prize submissions
• Managing the Publishing Director’s diary, minuting meetings and arranging mail-outs of proofs and finished copies.

The Editorial work will consist of:

• Working closely with the Publishing Director on key author relationships and providing editorial feedback on manuscripts.
• Reading and reporting on submissions from agents to evaluate commercial and literary potential.
• Offering input on jacket design, cover copy and marketing and publicity ideas.
• Proofreading jackets and marketing materials.
• Preparing and editing preliminary material such as updated author biographies and clearing permissions for certain titles.

What you’ll bring

You'll need to be highly efficient and have excellent communication skills. A can-do, enthusiastic attitude is essential, along with an ability to work well under pressure, multi-task and organise yourself effectively.

You will be working on a range of different titles at all different stages of the publishing process, providing excellent author care, keeping projects to deadlines and communicating with teams across different departments. Due to this, some knowledge of the publishing process, the systems and the market would be beneficial. This would be a fantastic opportunity for an existing Editorial Assistant to make their next career move, or an existing Assistant Editor wanting to work across a different range of books.

If this sounds like you, and you’re up for the challenge, please apply with a CV and cover letter by Friday 4th August.

We’re looking for someone with a passion for literary and reading group fiction. Within your cover letter, please share with us a recently published book in this space that you thought was particularly successful, and why it stood out to you (in no more than 200 words).

What you can expect from us

Salary between £29,500 - £35,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align with the role, plus bonus and benefits.

We’re currently experimenting with hybrid working and involving colleagues across the business to shape our future ways of working. The needs of our teams and individuals are different, so we’re not taking a one-size-fits-all approach.

While our offices are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility about where you work is just as important for doing your best work and for your wellbeing.

Our employees are the heart of our business. We have a range of benefits to reflect our commitment to our employees, some of which are:

• 27 days paid holiday entitlement in year one (plus bank holidays), increasing a day each year up to 30 days
• Medical cover
• Life assurance
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Discounted gym membership
• Generous pension scheme
• Summer working hours (role dependent)
• Volunteering policy and charity matching
• Employee Assistance programme
• Mentoring programme
• Extended gender neutral parental leave
• Access to books and eBooks across Penguin Random House UK
• Each site has trained mental health first aiders
• We plant a tree for every new employee to our business

Our creativity is inspired by different perspectives, so we want our culture to be one of belonging, where everyone feels welcome and where differences are celebrated.