Editorial assistant

Closing date for applications: 22nd July 2025

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


Launch your publishing career, bringing page-turning fiction to life in this editorial role.

Mountain Leopard Press is the newest imprint of Headline Publishing Group. Launched in February 2024, MLP strives to push the boundaries of commercial publishing with distinctive, page-turning fiction across a range of genres, including – but not limited to – crime and thriller, romantic comedy, historical and book club.

Headline Publishing Group was founded in 1986 with a single promise at its heart – to publish the books people want to read. We remain faithful to that vision nearly four decades later. From chart toppers to award-winners, conversation starters to page-turners, our list offers brilliant books for every type of reader. We’re proud to be the home of some of the biggest, bestselling and most celebrated authors in fiction, including Martina Cole, Maggie O’Farrell, Steve Cavanagh, Jill Mansell, Victoria Hislop, Simon Scarrow, Dorothy Koomson and Deborah Harkness. And we continue to invest in new talent, launching an array of exciting new voices in recent years including Bolu Babalola, Alex Hay and Bobby Palmer.


What you'll be doing

Reporting to the Editorial Director of Mountain Leopard Press, you’ll be assisting on the publication of their commercial fiction list and seeing their titles through from acquisition to publication and beyond. You will get involved with all aspects of the publication process, from managing the copyediting, proofreading and collating of manuscripts to liaising with authors and agents, reading and reporting on submissions, taking minutes and maintaining editorial and production schedules. You will be MLP’s primary contact within the wider business and will foster strong relationships with colleagues across teams, including Sales, Marketing, Publicity, Design, Production and Contracts.

Meanwhile, you’ll be developing your commercial and creative skills through getting stuck into manuscripts, writing copy and honing metadata – and learning what it takes to acquire new fiction and how we build our publishing strategies and campaigns.

This is a busy, collaborative, demanding, but above all really rewarding entry role in publishing.


Who we are looking for

First and foremost, we’re looking for someone who really loves books – and in particular, page-turning and addictive commercial fiction across genres – and wants to throw themselves into learning how the editorial side of publishing works.

You’ll be as full of creative energy as you are detail-orientated, thriving on working with brilliant authors and ideas as part of a dynamic editorial team.

There are a few other things that will also be really important:

• You’ll be passionate about different ways of telling stories and interested in the publishing and media landscape, as well as the wider world around you
• Your attention to detail will be meticulous
• You’ll be calm and organised, and confident juggling lots of things at once
• You’ll know your way around Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams etc.
• You will enjoy bringing your own ideas to work and working closely and collaboratively as part of a team – and with colleagues across all other departments in the division
• You will be keen to foster good working relationships within and outside of the business, and excited to be an advocate for Mountain Leopard Press and Headline

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 Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!
  

This role can be based at our London or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.


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 make sure that you state in your application that you found this role via Creative Access.