Communications assistant (12 month FTC)

Closing date: 6th May 2025

Salary: £27,000 based in London; £24,840 based outside of London (+bonus +benefits)

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

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a communications assistant to join our dynamic and creative communications team.

We publish books of excellence and lasting value written by authors with passion and expertise. We're home to popular fiction and non-fiction writers alongside some of the most progressive new voices in publishing. Established in 1768 and with a rich and illustrious history, we are the oldest imprint in the business and oldest surviving trade list in British publishing.

John Murray Press publish books of excellence and lasting value written by authors with passion and expertise. Our authors include Billy Connolly, David Attenborough, Matthew Syed, Andrea Wulf, Akala, Mick Herron, Jen Sincero, Miriam Margolyes, Frankie Boyle, Fiona Mozley, Jonathan Freedland and Susie Dent. John Murray Press is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 11 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

What you'll be doing

• As comms assistant, you'll provide administrative support to the publicity and marketing team to facilitate the smooth running of the department.
• You will also be flexibly involved in supporting campaigns, including liaising with authors and retailers, creating proofs and assets and assisting with media outreach.
• You’ll have the opportunity to work across all our imprints, encompassing a range of bestselling and prize-winning publishing from exciting debuts, crime fiction and celebrity-led titles, to lifestyle, memoir, and thought-provoking non-fiction.

Responsibilities

Working closely with your communications team and colleagues from across the division, your responsibilities will include:

• Handling enquiries/requests from media, authors, customers and general public.
• Researching and coordinating information for publicity and marketing presentations.
• Assisting with events.
• Providing administrative support including organising meetings and travel, minute taking, budget administration, updating records, circulating and updating review lists, filing and circulating cuttings, sending out proofs and press releases and more.

Who we are looking for

• You don’t need to have previous publishing experience to excel in this role.
• The ideal candidate will be passionate about books; bring creativity and enthusiasm to the role; possess exceptional communication skills; be highly organised with great attention to detail and an understanding of the media and digital landscape is also desirable.

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)
• 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 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 need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

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.