Editorial Assistant, Penguin Press

Job description

The Editorial Assistant is responsible for the supporting the smooth running of the publishing team by completing supporting editorial tasks through the production lifecycle and providing support to the Publishing Director.

Key responsibilities:
• Reading and reporting on proposals and submissions
• Drafting copy for internal and external circulation
• Working with authors to brief, assemble, and proofread maps, diagrams, and internal images for their titles
• Managing the internal book process, including scheduling, compiling the jacket and cover copy, collating proofs, populating ATI, liaising with the author, and liaising internally with Managing Editorial, Production, Design, • Marketing and Publicity, Sales, and Rights departments
• Acting as a point of contact for authors and agents, answering questions where possible and passing other queries to manager.
• Provide excellent author care at all times, often to high profile authors.
• Checking proof corrections
• Entering Biblio data for new titles and making changes to copy or other data when changes occur (schedule, any metadata), keeping all title data up-to-date, complete and high quality at all times.
• Sending advanced review copies and early finished copies to editorial influencers
• Sending reviews, bound proofs and finished copies / foreign editions to authors and agents
• Dealing with customer complaints (e.g. typos, missing pages, correspondence to customers)
• Coding invoices, arranging author payments and invoices with Royalties and Purchase Ledger department
• Monitoring and issuing take-down notices for infringing material posted online
• Taking minutes for department meetings and circulating with colleagues

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on 22nd March 2026. As part of your cover letter, please tell us in no more than 300 words about a non-fiction ‘book that changed your mind’.

We’d love it if you had…

• High degree of literacy and writing skills
• Good awareness of the current external media market
• Highly organised with the ability to multitask and handle competing priorities
• Exceptional time management skills and the ability to work to tight deadlines, sometimes under pressure
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively to a wide range of people
• Attention to detail
• The ability to work autonomously using initiative
• Dedication to being creative and innovative

Employer details

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. 

Penguin Press is home to serious and groundbreaking non-fiction in hardback and paperback, plus the extended family of classic fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama. We have established a reputation for books that bring new ideas to readers and represent the best in editorial and design standards. We have published numerous international and UK bestsellers, 28 Nobel Prize winners and seven Pulitzer Prize winners. Join our accomplished team and contribute to a legacy of excellence and innovation in publishing.