Editor / Commissioning Editor, Penguin General

Editor/Commissioning Editor, Viking Non-Fiction

Are you driven by insatiable curiosity and constantly wanting the world to know about new stories and ideas?

If so, we have an exciting opportunity for an Editor/Commissioning Editor to join Viking, the home of best-sellers, prize-winners and culture-shifters.

About Viking

At Viking we love publishing books that combine brilliant writing with popular appeal; that hit the bestseller lists, win prizes and shed light on the world around us. In non-fiction, our authors range from world leaders to sporting legends, from cutting-edge scientists to prize-winning historians, and from distinguished journalists to eminent philosophers; whatever field they’re in, they’re best in class, and brilliant communicators. They include Will Buxton, Susan Cain, Anna Funder, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Jonathan Liew, Natasha Lunn, Ben Macintyre, Sinclair McKay, Kelsey McKinney, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, John Preston, Sheehan Quirke, Ridley Scott, Vaclav Smil, Devi Sridhar and Leor Zmigrod, and our catalogue includes books by Pope Francis, Anne Frank, Lyn Macdonald, Art Spiegelman and Malcolm X.

The role

In this role, you will work as part of a team that is collaborative and supportive, pro-active and entrepreneurial. At Penguin General, we strive for working life to be energising, motivating and rewarding for all our colleagues at every level. We work hard to nurture individual talent as part of our collective success.

Reporting to the Publishing Director, and joining a team of six, this role will be responsible for commissioning around 8-10 new non-fiction titles a year with a particular focus on history and “idea books”, ideally with international potential, that will sell for years to come.

Key responsibilities:

• Generating books for publishing in part through being on top of trends and proactively seeking out new opportunities.
• Managing the complete publishing cycle of your books, liaising with key departments across the business, authors, agents and other external partners.
• Working with the Publishing Director on a small number of authors.
• Networking to create and maintain strong relationships with authors, agents and other partners in the UK and internationally.
• Being a strong team player and an advocate for your books and the Viking list.
• Actively engaging with Penguin Random House’s diversity and inclusion goals.

What you’ll bring

We are looking for a creative, highly motivated individual with proven talent and high potential. You will be knowledgeable about the market, full of ideas and confident in collaborating from start to finish of each book. Perhaps you currently work for another non-fiction publisher or academic publisher or are used to working with journalists and academics. Whatever your background, you will have a network to draw upon for your new ideas and, through your previous experience, will understand how to make those books a success.

Essential criteria:

• Proven experience successfully commissioning and/or taking books through the publishing process.
• Ability to work effectively under pressure while keeping to schedule.
• Ability to write persuasive cover copy and make convincing verbal pitches.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to build and maintain author relationships.
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to join some projects halfway through and pick up where others left off.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Monday 14th July. As part of your cover letter, we’d like you to write:

• 150 words on a recent work of non-fiction (not published by Viking) that you thought was well-published, and why.
• 150 words each on three ideas for books that you would like to commission at Viking.

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 two pages in length.

Salary

£33,000 - £37,000 dependent on which role you are appointed to and how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

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. For this role we expect that you will work from our London office in Embassy Gardens, attending key meetings and working as part of the team usually three days per week, with the option of remote working on the other days. We are open to discussing the exact balance of office to remote working through the recruitment process.

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. 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.

Company: Penguin Books Limited

Country: United Kingdom

State/Region: London

City: London

Postal Code: SW11 7BW

Job ID: 280964