Deputy Art Director, Penguin General

We’re recruiting a Deputy Art Director - fluent in literary design and with strong market awareness - to work across all of our imprints at Penguin General.  

Joining a team of nine (including a Senior Picture Editor and Studio Manager), you’ll be surrounded by talented designers who put creativity at the heart of everything we do. 

Key responsibilities 

• Deputising for the Art Director in key meetings, both internally and author facing.  

• Line management responsibilities, providing guidance, support, and feedback, and fostering a positive and productive work environment. 

• Ability to manage multiple projects at once, whilst also offering design and project direction to team members.   

• Create and implement ambitious design strategies for our key authors. 

• Confidence in communicating with authors and agents.  

• Strong commissioning experience in illustration, photography and design.  

• Providing design guidance and pastoral support to members of the team at all levels.  

What you’ll bring  

You will have a proven track record of designing and commissioning outstanding covers for adult fiction and non-fiction that break new ground and appeal to a broad audience. Talented and versatile, your creative instincts and design skills will be matched by your understanding of the market. A strategic thinker, adaptable and inspiring, bringing new ways of thinking and ideas to the team. Curious, an awareness of the wider design and cultural world beyond the book design market is key. 

You will be comfortable managing your own workload, whilst working across multiple projects with different team members at the same time. People management is a key part of the role, you will be able to inspire and lead a high-performance team with confidence and empathy. 

In-depth knowledge of the Adobe Creative Suite including InDesign and Photoshop are essential, and experience of working on illustrated books is a plus. Line management experience is preferred but not essential. 

About Penguin General 

Penguin General is one of the eight publishing divisions that make up Penguin Random House UK. There are six imprints at Penguin General: Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Penguin Business, Penguin Life, Viking and Sandycove. The latter is based in Dublin.  

General is made up of extremely talented colleagues, who set a high bar in terms of quality of output, who take pride in their work and strive for both individual and collective success. We advocate a ‘learning mindset’: being curious and humble about what we don’t know in order to grow. We strive to create a working culture that is progressive, energizing and fun, where difference is valued. Colleagues are treated with respect, stretched to learn and develop their skills, and can turn up to work as their authentic professional selves. 

At Penguin General, we publish a diverse range of books from prize-winning novelists and bestselling authors like Bernardine Evaristo, Ali Smith, Richard Osman, Zadie Smith, Meera Sodha, Elif Shafak, Barack Obama. In genres that span literary fiction, politics, lifestyle, business, history, crime, and popular fiction. 

Application instructions 

Please apply with your CV and cover letter by midnight on Sunday 9th June. Please also attach an additional document including examples of your cover design work. 

What you can expect from us

Salary: £55,000 - £65,000 depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.   

Competitive benefits package:  

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,  

For our full benefits list please visit: https://www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/what-we-offer/ 

Hybrid working:

We’re experimenting with a hybrid way of working that suits the needs of each team. 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. Penguin General colleagues typically work from the office three days per week. We are happy to discuss this further as part of the interview process. 

Please note that over the course of 2024 all of our London-based teams will permanently relocate to our Embassy Gardens office in Nine Elms.  

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. 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.