Publicity Manager - Penguin Michael Joseph

Can you create stand-out campaigns to capture attention and drive sales? Penguin Michael Joseph is looking for a creative, proactive PR professional with experience working on a wide variety of campaigns to join our award-winning Publicity team as Publicity Manager.

About team/business area

Penguin Michael Joseph is a leading commercial fiction and non-fiction imprint of Penguin Random House, publishing best-selling titles across an array of genres such as crime and thriller, romance, cookery, memoir and lifestyle. Our authors include household names like Marian Keyes, Jojo Moyes, Dawn French, Nadiya Hussain, Jamie Oliver and Stephen Fry.

The role

In this role you will lead and execute the PR element of campaigns for both fiction and non-fiction books, building strong working relationships with authors and agents to provide the highest level of author care. You will strengthen existing contacts within the media and work with some of the most creative publishing colleagues in the business alongside a team of experts in a friendly and inclusive environment.

Key responsibilities:

• Create and implement ambitious PR campaigns for titles across the Penguin Michael Joseph list.
• Maintain and develop excellent relationships with high-profile and influential stakeholders, such as authors, agents and journalists.
• Communicate and collaborate effectively with internal departments, including sales and marketing, editorial, rights and international colleagues.

What you’ll bring:

• Proven track record of independently producing standout PR campaigns.
• An understanding of different audiences, as well as strong relationships with key media contacts.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, confident pitching and presenting internally and externally.
• Strong sense of what makes a good story, practiced at working with authors on talking points to land the most impactful media coverage for a diverse range of subjects.
• A good listener, who can take multiple viewpoints into consideration.
• Curious about and show interest in or knowledge of the publishing landscape.
• Confident and have a positive and proactive disposition.
• Highly organised with excellent time management to juggle concurrent projects with different lead times.
• Ability to think in innovative and creative ways to create buzz for our books.
• Knowledgeable and curious about all forms of media.

Preferred criteria:

• Experience or an interest in book publishing and in particular non-fiction titles.

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 6th April. As part of your cover letter, please let us know what non-fiction book campaign you have been particularly struck by recently and why?

£31,500 – £35,000 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.

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 spend three days per week in the office.

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 PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. 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.