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Editorial Director/Deputy Publishing Director, The Bodley Head (8-month FTC)

Are you a commissioning editor ready to take the next step? Or perhaps an experienced marketeer or publicist keen to move into editorial? This is a chance to take a leading role at Vintage’s prestigious non-fiction imprint, The Bodley Head. We’re looking for someone who will seize the chance to make an impact quickly, working directly with some of the world’s premier authors and helping to shape all aspects of the list.

This is an 8-month FTC opportunity to start in February 2022, covering a period of parental leave. We’re open to consider an appointment at either Editorial Director or Deputy Publishing Director level.

About The Bodley Head

Our small and highly dedicated imprint publishes only 25 books each year across a wide range subjects, from history, science, big ideas, the natural world and global current affairs, to deeply reported narrative non-fiction and memoir. We seek to publish the highest quality and longest lasting books by authors of exceptional talent and expertise such as Siddhartha Mukherjee, Kamala Harris, Jaron Lanier, Julia Lovell, Ibram X. Kendi, Lady Hale, Ed Yong, Minouche Shafik and Yanis Varoufakis. Recent publications include Ai Weiwei’s 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows, Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks, and Merlin Sheldrake’s Entangled Life.

The Opportunity

The Editorial Director/Deputy Publishing Director will support the Publishing Director in managing and developing The Bodley Head’s publishing, strategy and workflow to launch bestsellers and ensure quality of publishing. They will commission and publish a portion of the list directly, while having insight into the entire publishing programme, acting as an ambassador for the list and contributing to strategy for titles outside their own commissioning. They will help identify and build a case for new projects, negotiate contracts, position and launch books, galvanise colleagues across departments, solicit quotes, write great copy, brief and oversee jacket design, while being a primary point of contact for authors and agents.

Candidate Profile

We are open to consider a range of experience-levels and types for this position, including those who may not have direct experience in editorial. The following qualities would be preferred:

  • Creativity, sound commercial judgement and editorial flair combined with the ability to follow through and keep on schedule and budget.
  • Ability to build strong relationships with authors, agents and across the wider industry.
  • A keen sense of The Bodley Head’s and Vintage’s priorities and values, and what makes for an outstanding work of non-fiction.
  • Comfortable acting as an internal and external ambassador for The Bodley Head, and as a leader within the imprint and as part of the wider Vintage Editorial team.
  • A strong team player with interpersonal sensitivity and emotional intelligence.
  • Professional curiosity, and an appetite for innovation and problem-solving.
  • A good understanding of the marketplace: retailers, media, audiences and competitors.
  • Confident partner for Marketing, Publicity, and other internal teams to develop each book’s strategy, positioning, copy and design.
  • Proven author care and negotiation experience. 

Please apply with your CV and cover letter (addressed to Stuart) by midnight on Tuesday 30th November. Early applications are encouraged.

What you can expect from us:

Deputy Publishing Director range: £53,438 - £81,356 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits.

Editorial Director range: £42,389 - £ 56,519 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits.

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:

•    25 days paid holiday entitlement in year one, plus bank holidays
•    Medical cover
•    Life assurance
•    Cycle to Work scheme
•    Discounted gym membership
•    Personal Learning Allowance
•    Generous pension scheme
•    Summer working hours (role dependent) 
•    Volunteering policy and charity matching
•    Employee Assistance programme
•    Mentoring programme
•    Extended Parental Leave policy 
•    60% Discount on Company books
•    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.

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we’re part of the offer an interview scheme. This is where disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role can opt in to get to the next recruitment stage. There may be some situations where volume of applicants means we can’t take all eligible candidates to interview.

We want to make sure disabled applicants can be their best at each step of the recruitment journey. If you need adjustments during the application process, we encourage you to get in touch with us at http://PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk

Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your adjustment request. Find out more about our approach here: www.penguinrandomhousecareers.co.uk/applying-for-roles-with-a-disability

We partner with The Book Trade Charity, who provide financial assistance for people looking to get into the publishing industry; you can find more information and talk directly here: http://booktradeentrysupport.org/

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee. 

Editorial Director/Deputy Publishing Director, The Bodley Head (8-month FTC)

Contract, Full-time
Publisher
Administration, Commissioning Editor, Editor, Publishing, Communications, Business Development, Project Management, Editorial
Reference: 
Editorial Director/Deputy Publishing Director, The Bodley Head (8-month FTC)
Salary description: 
£42,389 - £ 56,519 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits

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