Commissioning editor/senior commissioning editor (12 month FTC)

Closing date for applications: 27th April 2026

Salary: £33,000 - £45,000 dependent on experience and location (+bonus +benefits)

Location: The role will be based at our London or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week

Contract: 12-month fixed-term

Use your passion for cookery, wellness and lifestyle to spot the next bestseller and shape the future of a growing list.

The Hamlyn imprint is ‘at the heart of every home’ and publishes solutions-based books for every room of the house across cookery, gardening, parenting and lifestyle. The Godsfield imprint publishes inspirational and authoritative mind body spirit titles covering areas such as spirituality and religion, personal growth and alternative health. Octopus publish books for everyone. We love to enlighten, nourish, entertain and most of all inspire readers and listeners everywhere. Octopus is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 10 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

We are looking for a creative, commercially-minded commissioner who is passionate about cookery, wellness, lifestyle and MBS, to join our team on Hamlyn and Godsfield. Entrepreneurial and always looking for the next trend, you will curate and oversee the publishing of your own list of c.12 titles per year, both creator-led and IP projects, as well as manage existing authors on the list.

The ideal candidate will have some illustrated publishing experience and will make an immediate impact fostering excellent relationships with existing authors and publishing teams, as well as by spotting brands and opportunities that will help shape the future of our growing list. You will be well-versed in the core subject areas and understand exactly who each book you bring to acquisitions is speaking to. You will be persuasive and collegiate, able to motivate teams to fulfil your vision and champion your books effectively to people across the business.

What you'll be doing

• Proactively contributing ideas and acquiring books for the Hamlyn and Godsfield lists, through direct approaches and IP development. You'll be identifying these opportunities in the cookery, lifestyle, wellbeing and MBS areas across the widest possible markets in UK, US and co-edition.
• Responding quickly and profitably to your own trend spotting and trend-reporting tools, and identifying new authors, brands and opportunities following up leads from wider teams, as appropriate.
• You'll also be exploring opportunities to create new packages from our rich Hamlyn and Godsfield backlist.
• Overseeing your projects closely from initial discussion through manuscript approval, working with managing editorial, design and production. You'll keep active oversight throughout the process to ensure delivery to appropriate creative and commercial standards.
• Ensuring your projects will be delivered in line with budget and schedule, with every market, channel, campaign opportunity fully exploited through publication.
• Developing strong internal relationships to champion your books across sales, marketing and campaign teams to ensure everyone has what they need to sell your books to the widest possible audience.

Who we are looking for

• A creative and commercial mindset, engaged with market trends within the core areas of cookery, lifestyle, wellness and an understanding of these subject areas within UK, US, non-trade and international markets.
• A track record of successful publishing in these areas, particularly through direct approaches and IP generation.
• Ability to position concepts commercially, then successfully drive them through to publication and beyond.
• A confident negotiator and problem solver, motivated by targets, budgets and profitability, as well as the publishing.
• Excellent relationship-management and author-care skills, with the ability to motivate teams and champion your books effectively to a wide range of people.
• Trend reporting and tracking experience, using both in-house consumer insight tools and reports and your own experience and interests.
• Experience working with teams across managing editorial, design and production to ensure books are delivered to specification and budget.
• A first-class copywriter able to write copy and sales points that equip sales teams to understand and champion your books to the right market.
• IT skills: Microsoft Office and InDesign. Experience with Biblio and other Adobe Creative Suite is appreciated.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including AgeWise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and require any reasonable adjustments to support you in the recruitment process, you will have an opportunity to make this request in your application.

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.