Commissioning Editor, Children's

At Penguin Random House, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone. At Penguin Random House Children’s, by entertaining and educating, we aim to publish for every child everywhere and take young people on an incredible journey from their first reading experiences right through to their teen years and beyond. We publish some of the biggest names in preschool and picture books from iconic classic brands such as The World of Peter Rabbit, Spot and The Very Hungry Caterpillar and bestselling heritage creators including Allan Ahlberg, Anthony Browne and Shirley Hughes, to major new talent including Tom Fletcher, Nadia Shireen, Rashmi Sirdeshpande, Nathan Bryon, and Dapo Adeola. We are passionate about bringing stories to life that change and shape lives.

Role

Are you already an accomplished editor or senior editor of preschool or licensed publishing and ready to take the next step? Or perhaps you have experience in brand management within the wider publishing industry? Do you have a track record of successfully working across established and growing author/illustrator brands, with large publishing programs, year-round? Do you have a keen eye for detail, enjoy analysing data and understand what makes a successful preschool brand? This is a rare and exciting opportunity to take up a key role in the Penguin Random House Children’s Division, the biggest children’s publisher in the UK, and join the 0-6 team to work across some of the best-selling global children’s book brands, as well as creating programmes for developing brands and championing heritage authors and illustrators. These are the authors, illustrators, characters and books that are often some of the first that young readers encounter; they are the books that create readers and are gateways to reading for many children and young people around the world.

Key Responsibilities

• This role will report into and work closely with the Brands and Novelty Publisher, to support the delivery of long-term growth on some of our biggest 0-6 brands.
• You will take ownership of the publishing plans for specific brands, ensuring their successful execution and contributing to the wider strategy for the list.
• While this position will have a focus on established brands on the list, it will also involve working with the Publisher and other colleagues to identify emerging brands across the list, as well as creating opportunities for further publishing from heritage creators.
• Deliver publishing plans for your brands, identifying opportunities for growth, new formats and seasonal publishing, and contributing ideas to the wider brand strategy.
• Commission new titles for developing and established brands, with a focus on commercial viability and audience reach.
• Work collaboratively with the Publisher and colleagues to support growth across the 0–6 brands, contributing to longer-term planning and identifying opportunities and gaps.
• Work closely with the dedicated custom publishing team (across sales, design, managing editorial) to improve ways of working, establish best-practise and drive growth across the custom business.
• Use sales and market data, alongside finance reporting, to monitor the performance of your brands and inform publishing decisions.
• Collaborate closely with Marketing and PR teams to support campaigns and ensure alignment across brand publishing.
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders to support best practice across critical paths, metadata, audience insight and backlist management.

What you’ll bring

• Passion for, and ideally experience in, preschool publishing.
• An eagerness to work on books that are already loved by many thousands of readers, with a drive to reach more for many years.
• Brimming with ideas, insight and energy for best-in-class brand publishing.
• A proven track‑record in editing, acquiring, communicating publishing strategy and performance and proactively working with authors/illustrators/brands to create ancillary book ideas and profitably publishing titles.
• Creativity and excellent commercial judgement.
• Strong skills in Power BI will be an advantage and excellent market awareness is essential.
• Confident negotiator who can challenge when required.
• Ability to operate as a trusted internal and external ambassador for the Puffin 0-6 brands and to develop each of your brand’s publishing strategy and successfully bring books to market.
• Flair for good copy, design, and brand messaging.
• Well-practised in prioritising, multi-tasking, time management and working to deadlines.
• Keen team player, who is collaborative, but also comfortable working autonomously and making decisions.
• Ability to balance long and short-term objectives and understanding of the legacy of best-loved characters, series and authors/illustrators.

Benefits

Circa £40,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits. 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. For this role we expect that you will be in the office a minimum of 3 days a week.