Head of Publicity (12-month FTC) - Penguin Random House Children's

Are you looking for your next step in, or to step into, the world of Children’s and Young Adult books? Are you commercially aware with a flair for storytelling and connecting those stories with their biggest audience? Are you passionate about Children’s and Young Adult authors, brands and media?

We have an exciting opportunity for a confident, creative, digital-first thinking Head of PR to join our award-winning children’s publishing team.

About team/business area

Our PR and marketing teams are organised into 3 audience-focussed hubs across Pre-School, Primary and YA. Joining a team of 13 and working closely with the PR Director & Communications Director and the hub leads in Pre-School and Primary, this role will be responsible for heading up our growing YA list.

This role will oversee a list that includes some of the biggest global brands and authors such as Malorie Blackman, Karen M. McManus, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Bea Fitzgerald, Jenny Han and Laura Steven to name but a few.

The role

The Head of PR will help to support and develop the YA hub team, creating and driving the hub strategy to ensure consumer-first thinking and help lead our strategy in this area of the market.

Alongside this, you will be able to plan and implement your own innovative and targeted publicity campaigns which connect with readers for some of our most successful and high-profile talent. You will work hand-in-hand with the Head of Marketing and the social lead for our YA channel, House of YA, to create engaging and creative social content that connects our audiences with our books.

You will represent a strong voice in the division and will need to establish yourself as a trusted expert for colleagues and contacts both within and outside the organisation. You will build strong working relationships with authors and agents to provide the highest-level of author care.

Key responsibilities:

• PR lead for the YA strategy
• Helping to manage the Penguin Random House Children’s PR Team
• Planning and implementing consumer and b2b book and brand PR campaigns
• Event creation and management e.g., book festivals and tours, theatre events, school events and media and influencer showcases
• Managing individual campaign and event budgets and running the overall YA budget
• Campaign analysis alongside marketing colleagues to measure effectiveness
• Presenting publishing highlights to key media contacts
• Developing new and nurturing existing media contacts to grow publicity coverage
• Managing publicity freelancers and agencies
• Overseeing and writing pitches to secure new talent
• Reading and providing input on new and potential book acquisitions
• Ensuring all internal departments are kept up to date and aware of publicity activity
• Global campaign management, where relevant, including coordinating international press and event requests for group companies
• High profile talent management
• Multifaceted internal and external stakeholder management
• Deputising for PR Director, attending key meetings when necessary

What you’ll bring

You don’t need to have worked in publishing before to be considered for this role, but a passion to work with children’s and YA authors and brands is essential. Perhaps you’ve worked in entertainment or media PR previously, or in a PR agency – whatever your PR background, we’d like to hear from you if you:

• Have a keen interest in the UK Young Adult and Teen book market
• Are a creative thinker, using innovative strategy to build campaigns
• Have excellent leadership qualities and are comfortable taking on 2-3 line reports
• Have excellent communication skills, confident pitching and presenting internally and externally
• Have proven senior publicity management experience, especially working with high-profile talent and multiple, complex stakeholders
• Are able to generate multi-channel campaigns, on and offline, with innovative, digital content at their heart
• Previous PR experience gained within publishing or adjacent industry such as entertainment/media
• Experience leading and motivating a high-performing team
• Experience designing and executing effective and measurable PR strategies that build brand awareness and connect with new audiences

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 9th March.

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 no more than one or two pages in length.

We anticipate a two-three 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.

c. £53,000 depending on how your skills and experience align with 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

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 three days per 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.

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.

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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