Editorial director / publishing director (12 month FTC)

Closing date: 7th July 2025

Salary: £50,000 - £65,000 dependent on experience and location (+bonus +benefits)

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

Are you an experienced and commercially focused editor of expert-led / literary non-fiction with a strong network of industry contacts?

Hodder Press is the home of authoritative narrative non-fiction at Hodder & Stoughton. Our imprint celebrates expert thinking and distinctive voices. We love high quality non-fiction that asks big questions, challenges perspectives and brings an expert view to essential topics.

We are a boutique list within one of the world’s biggest publishing groups, Hachette. Our team are highly experienced in working with authors who are looking to share their ideas with a truly broad audience, from providing close editorial support to creative publicity and marketing campaigns.

With an international outlook and an emphasis on beautiful design, Hodder Press publishes experts from around the world in science and psychology, cultural and natural history, current affairs and social sciences as well as the very best of nature writing and memoir. Our authors include Michael Morpurgo, Venki Ramakrishnan, Tristan Gooley, Suzanne O’Sullivan, Lucy Easthope, Clive Oppenheimer, Nicklas Brendborg, Gabriel Zuchtriegel and Zakia Sewell.

What you'll be doing

You will edit and publish the Editorial Director’s non-fiction list of expert-led non-fiction on subjects like history, science and nature, as well as acquiring select new titles in line with the list's strategic aims. You will be comfortable working closely with a range of authors and agents and leading on the publishing strategy for high-profile publications. Reporting to the Non-Fiction Executive Publisher, you will also contribute significantly to the overall Hodder Press and Hodder Non-Fiction strategy.

Activities will include but are not limited to:

• Oversee, edit and publish the Editorial Director’s non-fiction list of 6-8 new titles a year
• Champion and retain ownership of those books through publication, collaborating effectively with authors, agents and key departments across the company
• Opportunity to commission a select number of new titles, focusing on international, expert-driven non-fiction and according to the agreed Hodder Press strategy
• Deliver superb author- and agent-care and communication
• Market research and development of innovative ideas for the list
• Develop and maintain strong market awareness in home and international territories to identify publishing opportunities
• Work with the Executive Publisher to develop and deliver a strategy to grow the front and corelist for Hodder Press

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!

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.

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