HarperCollins traineeship 2026

Closing date: 9th November 2025

Compensation: Training bursary payment equivalent to £29,000

This pioneering publisher is hiring two trainees! Gain experience in editorial, marketing and design with this 12-month internship.

Stretching back over 200 years, HarperCollins is the second largest consumer book publisher in the world. We publish incredible authors including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Alice Oseman, Jay Shetty, David Walliams, Elizabeth Day and Simu Liu. We are also home to bestselling series Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, Divergent, The Chronicles of Narnia and Virgin River as well as legendary characters Miss Marple, Paddington, Winnie the Pooh, and Mr Men & Little Miss. 

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our teams to better represent all our readers. One way we are doing this is through our HarperCollins traineeship programme, which launched in 2016. The programme actively brings in talented individuals from Black, Asian and ethnic minority groups who continue to be underrepresented in Publishing.

The programme offers a 12-month training contract for two trainees who will gain exposure to the industry while also receiving training and learning across different modules. Candidates who score highly at our in-person assessment day, but are not selected for the programme, will be added to our pipeline and prioritised for entry-level roles – in previous years, we have recruited a further 12 people into jobs across the business.

When you join the 12-month programme, you’ll get to:

• Work with 3 different teams over the year, which could include editorial, marketing or design
• Meet everyone in our executive committee (that’s what we call our board of directors) 
• Visit our distribution centre in Glasgow, which sends out 3 million books a week, and the printers we work with
• Learn about every area of our business through our insight sessions – what makes an editor acquire a book, how we design our book covers, how we promote our books, and more
• Have a buddy and mentor from day one who will support you through your time here 
• Exclusive access to our author academy masterclasses taught by HarperCollins experts and partners from the wider publishing industry
• Attend book launch parties, the London Book Fair, author talks, and events in our London Bridge office 
• AND you’ll get free book proofs (the early copies issued before publication date), access to 8 free audio/e-books every week and a 70% discount on all HC books 

Our application process 

• You’ll need to complete an online application, answering three questions to find out a bit more about yourself. These will be reviewed anonymously by HarperCollins managers
• Shortlisted candidates will then be invited to an online introduction to HarperCollins, followed by a short interview on the 4th December.
• Successful candidates will then attend an assessment day at our London Bridge office on the 16th December. We will reimburse travel for those travelling from outside Greater London/the South East.
• The two successful candidates will be selected to join the Traineeship on the 2nd February 2026

If you are selected you will be based in our London Bridge office at least three days a week, starting in February 2026. You will be paid a training bursary of £29,000 per annum and get access to lots of great perks and benefits.  

Eligibility criteria

 To see if this programme is for you, please check our eligibility criteria below:

• You must be over 18
• You do not need a degree  
• You do not need publishing experience 
• You must have the right to work in the UK

You must be from one of the following ethnic groups:

• Asian or Asian British: Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Any other Asian background
• Black, Black British, Caribbean or African: Caribbean, African, Any other Black, Black British, or Caribbean background
• Mixed or multiple ethnic groups: White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian, Any other Mixed or multiple ethnic background
• Other ethnic group: Arab, Any other ethnic group
• White: Roma Gypsy or Irish Traveller

If you are not eligible for this programme, please look at our entry-level roles or internships here. If you are interested in learning more about publishing, we will be hosting open days and work experience in 2026.

Financial support

• The Spare Room Project aims to help by matching interns and job seekers from outside London, with people in the book industry who live in the capital and who can offer them a place to stay. The Project also helps people who have job interviews in London.
• 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 internships or entry level positions.
• We offer travel loans to all new entry-level starters and will reimburse travel expenses for those travelling to our in-person assessment day outside of London and the South-East

Reasonable adjustments 

We are committed to ensuring a fair application process for all candidates. If you need any adjustments to support your success in the recruitment process, please don't hesitate to reach out to: recruitment@harpercollins.co.uk.

At HarperCollins, we value authenticity and integrity in our recruitment process. To ensure a fair and accurate evaluation of all applications, we ask that all responses to assessment questions reflect your own thoughts, experiences, and capabilities. This allows us to fairly assess your knowledge, skills, and experience to determine how they align with the role. We value diverse perspectives and genuine contributions, even if answers are not perfect. The use of AI tools or external assistance to generate responses is discouraged unless explicitly permitted for specific tasks.

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