Senior Designer, Penguin Random House Children's

We have an exciting opportunity for a talented and highly creative Senior Designer to join the Puffin 6+ team on a permanent basis.

About the team

By bringing together the greatest stories, brands and authors of any global children’s publisher, Penguin Random House Children’s create and rediscover heroes for each new generation.

Puffin is home to so many imaginative and best-selling authors and illustrators. Our designers work on a huge range of different books but what they all have in common is clever creativity and outstanding design.

The role

Joining a team of 13 and reporting to the Deputy Art Director you will work across a wide range of titles, primarily focusing on the creative non-fiction list – from colour gift books through to fast turnaround trend-led projects and conversation-starting young adult titles.

Our expanding non-fiction list includes best-selling authors such as Adam Kay, Susie Dent and Sathnam Sanghera.

Key responsibilities:

• Creating effective, high-quality designs for a range of titles to meet bespoke creative and commercial briefs.
• Leading on projects from pitch to print and working with the Art Director to monitor and review the direction of projects to keep on track.
• Commissioning illustrators/designers and developing their ideas.
• Keeping on top of budgets and being responsible for ensuring spend is within budget.
• Planning and management of schedules.
• Regularly contributing to creative meetings and representing the design department in wider divisional meetings.
• Proactively researching innovative design and book ideas, identifying concepts and initiating ideas.
• Collaborating with key colleagues across the business, including Editorial, Production, Sales and Rights.

What you’ll bring:

• A proven track record of developing high quality concepts and designs for book covers and interiors across a range of styles, including for high-profile brands and authors.
• Fluency in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator.
• A clear communicator with experience of collaborating with illustrators and other freelancers.
• A demonstrable interest in, and understanding of, the children’s book market and an ability to speak to current brands, illustrators and authors.
• Engaged with and motivated by big ideas and the latest trends.
• Experience of creating both black-and-white and colour titles.
• Exceptional organisation skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects, all with different lead times.
• An ability to ensure that all work is delivered to the highest standard and on schedule – and that all administration and file management is up-to-date and accurate.
• A working knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Teams.

Application instructions:

Please apply with your CV, a cover letter and a PDF of three examples that showcase your work by 11:59pm on Monday 10th February 2025.

Do ensure that you include a cover letter and examples of your work as they are a crucial part of our assessment process. They offer an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements.

Please note that we will not be able to consider applications that do not follow these instructions.

Circa £40,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the 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

We’re experimenting with a hybrid way of working that suits the needs of each team. 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 doing your best work and for your wellbeing. For this role we expect that three days per week (core day Tuesday) will be based at our offices in Nine Elms, London.

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.

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. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you’ll bring’ section. 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.

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