Do you love children’s books? Do you relish the thought of being part of a busy team? Are you looking to get to grips with all things production and book manufacturing? If so, an exciting opportunity has arisen to join the Penguin Random House Children’s Production department on a permanent basis.
The role
We’re looking for an enthusiastic Production Assistant to help produce our well-loved and extensive Ladybird, Education, Licensing and Warne backlist, covering series such as Ten Minutes to Bed and Read it Yourself and well-known characters such as Bluey, Peppa Pig and Peter Rabbit. With a keen eye for detail, and with training, you’ll quickly be costing foil finishes, lift-the-flap books, sound books and much more.
This team helps bring amazing children’s books to life. The role will offer you the chance to work on a greater variety of products than almost any other production job in the industry, facing fresh challenges every day. Whether you already have some experience or are just keen to learn, this is a great place to start to seriously build your publishing production career.
Whilst working closely with our internal teams and with reprographic and print suppliers in the UK, Europe and Asia, your responsibilities will cover all aspects of production, including controlling pricing, and scheduling, managing content updates and maintaining the quality of your orders right through to final delivery. These will be made up of backlist, co-editions and non-trade titles.
What you’ll bring
While training will be given for this entry level position, familiarity with and enthusiasm for children’s books will stand you in good stead.
On this occasion we’re looking for you to be:
1. A solid communicator and able to treat people with patience
2. Ready to learn to negotiate both pricing and schedules
3. Excellent at prioritising and juggling responsibilities
4. Organised, detail-oriented, and driven to keep colleagues and suppliers on track
5. Able to self-motivate and numerate as you’ll be prioritising a busy inbox, building schedules, and calculating percentages
6. A strong team player, who will enjoy working collaboratively with the rest of the reprint team and other colleagues to deliver a varied and challenging list of orders for customers across the globe
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.
Our approach to hybrid working
We as a Production-focused team appreciate and thrive best with an open, collaborative and supportive way of working in-person at our office in London for a minimum of 2-days p/week, and remotely outside of these moments. We are happy to discuss our hybrid working approach with you if invited to an interview.
Application instructions
Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Sunday 1st December.
7. We anticipate a two-stage interview process which will include a virtual first-stage interview and in-person second stage interview. We are happy to discuss this further with you throughout the recruitment process.
8. Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be between 500 and 1000 words.
9. Please note we are looking for someone to join the team as soon as possible, but we are also happy to accommodate a reasonable notice period for the right candidate.
What you can expect from us:
Salary: £27,500, plus bonus and benefits.
Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition. Our benefits include:
10. Financial – discounted shopping, season ticket loan, rental deposit loan
11. Wellbeing – healthcare cash plan, employee assistance, gym loan
12. Lifestyle – taste card, tech scheme, free and discounted books
For our full benefits list please visit:
The recruitment process: You can read about our recruitment process at
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 encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing . 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.
Company: Penguin Books Limited
Country: United Kingdom
State/Region: London
City: London
Postal Code: SW11 7BW
Job ID: 275493