Editorial Director/Deputy Publishing Director, Vintage (The Bodley Head)

This is an excellent opportunity to take a leading role at Vintage’s prestigious 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. You may be in a senior editorial role and eager to work at a high-profile non-fiction imprint. Or an experienced commissioner ready to take the next step. Or you may have a track record of publishing excellence from outside editorial.

This is an 8-month FTC opportunity to start in April/May 2025, 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 around 30 books each year across a wide range of 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 Merlin Sheldrake, Ai Weiwei, Kamala Harris, Catherine Elkins, Minouche Shafik, Lady Hale, Kate Pickett, Timothy Snyder, Ed Yong and Yanis Varoufakis. Recent publications include Alexei Navalny’s Patriot , Oliver Burkeman’s Meditations for Mortals , Joya Chatterjee’s Shadows at Noon and Mustafa Suleyman’s The Coming Wave.

The role

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 be directly responsible for publishing some of the most high-profile authors and books of our list for 2025.

Key Responsibilities will include:

• Identifying new work and projects and building compelling cases for their acquisition, 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.
• Overseeing the list’s paperback publishing, with the broader publishing strategy in mind.
• Motivating and galvanising colleagues across various departments to ensure the effective execution of publishing plans.
• Serving as the primary point of contact for authors and agents, fostering strong, productive relationships.
• Strategically positioning and launching books, working to maximise their market impact and reach.
• Soliciting impactful quotes, crafting compelling copy, and providing clear, strategic briefs for jacket design, ensuring all elements align with the book’s positioning and audience appeal.
• Managing the negotiation of contracts.

What you’ll bring

We are open to consider a range of experience levels and types for this position. 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 empathy.
• 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.

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 8^th December 2024 . 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.

We expect interviews to start taking place in January 2025.

Salary

£50,000 – £60,000 for the Editorial Director position, dependent on how your skills and experiences align to either role, plus bonus and benefits. Up to £75,000 for the Deputy Publishing Director position, dependent on how your skills and experiences align to either role, plus bonus and benefits.

What you can expect from us

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, free and discounted books

For our full benefits list please visit:

Hybrid working

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. At Vintage, we consider what environment enables the best work for individuals, teams and the company. Vintage colleagues work from our Embassy Gardens office on Tuesdays and Thursdays and, once team and divisional considerations have been taken into account, have the flexibility to choose where to work on other days of the week.

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

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 . 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.

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