Senior Commissioning Editor
Who we are and what we do
Hachette Children's Group of the UK's largest children's publishers, our mission is to make it easy for children and young people everywhere to access books and see themselves reflected. We aim to maximise our readers' life chances by inspiring a lifelong love of reading, publishing books for every stage of their journey to adulthood from Enid Blyton to Alice Oseman's Heartstopper.
Hachette Children's Group is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 12 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.
What you'll be doing
The Senior Commissioning Editor will have a pivotal role in the Fiction Team. There is a broad remit across titles for ages five to young adult, including both illustrated and non-illustrated, but the role will have a particular focus on commercial middle-grade acquisitions, outreach to find new voices through non-traditional routes and leadership on some of our key existing authors.
You will be an enthusiastic champion of your books from acquisition through to publication and beyond – collaborating closely with our design and commercial teams. You will have strong relationships within the industry and a track record of proactively seeking out and shaping new projects, both via literary agents and more widely.
Who we are looking for
We are seeking a talented, highly motivated individual with significant experience of working within children’s publishing. You will need to be an energetic self-starter, confident in leading meetings and handling tricky conversations.
We value imagination, ambition and collaboration, and are looking for somebody who is eager to seek out the best new creative talent for our list and to deliver exceptional editorial service. In particular, we are looking for someone with a passion for commercial middle-grade and funny fiction.
Applicants should have excellent editorial skills and a keen understanding of the children’s fiction market. Proven success in acquiring and publishing children’s middle-grade fiction is required. You might be an experienced commissioning editor ready to step up or an existing senior commissioning editor looking for a new challenge. Knowledge of Biblio will be a bonus.
What we offer
Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:
- 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
- Private medical insurance
- Generous pension schemes
- Rent deposit loans
- 2 community days per year
- Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
- Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
- Cycle to Work scheme
- Eye care vouchers
- Wide-ranging training library
- Development programmes (including mentoring)
- Up to 70% off book purchases
- A charity bookshelf
- 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
- Season ticket loans
- And much more!
This role can be based at our London, Sheffield, or Bristol office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.
Our commitment
Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.
If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.
The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org