Junior designer, gaming - brands and licensing

Closing date for applications: Monday 23rd March 2026 11:55pm GMT

Salary: £29,000

Location: London

Turn your passion for gaming into vibrant, eye-catching book designs that connect with children and their favourite brands.

With a history stretching back over 200 years, HarperCollins is the second largest consumer book publisher in the world. Here at HarperCollins UK, we publish around 1,500 books a year for readers of all ages and interests.

This is an exciting opportunity for a Junior Designer to join our gaming team as part of the Brands and Licensing team at Farshore – a division of Harper Collins. The Brands and Licensing team currently work with some of the leading brands in the industry within the children’s market.

Along with the Publisher, Art Director and the rest of the team, the Junior Designer will be responsible for assisting in developing and delivering a publishing programme focusing on gaming brands for children. The role requires a multi-tasker with a good understanding of consumer and marketing trends, and a real passion for gaming with a particular interest in Minecraft, Pokemon and Sonic. Whilst also keeping up to date with TV, film and trends. Delivering excellent designs fit for purpose that are both commercial and innovative.

The Junior Designer will take on multiple titles in different genres, both as an assistant to others in the team and a lead on their own projects. The role requires an organised individual with excellent communication skills that can work closely with other members of the Brands and Licensing team, as well as other departments, licensors and key stakeholders.

Key tasks and responsibilities

• Assist with and deliver commercially focused, innovative designs for books that will inspire and capture the targeted audience
• Be a proactive member of the team, bringing ideas, experience and knowledge to the table
• Deliver projects on time, within budget and to the highest standards
• Play an active role in pitches for new partnerships and brands
• Uphold Farshore’s D&I plan in support of the Company’s policy
• To have relevant consumer, trend and market awareness in order to help develop new commercial concepts
• To assist and develop books from start to finish, with an awareness of the end consumer and the costs involved
• Ensuring final files are delivered on time and on budget
• Excellent communication and presentation skills – be able to present design concepts, approaches and work in progress to various internal and external stakeholders

Skills and experience required

• Current or recent experience of working in a design team
• Experience with Adobe Creative Suite
• A very keen interest in gaming, in particular Minecraft, Pokemon, Sonic and keeping up to date with TV, films and trends

Benefits

• Hybrid working model (3 days in the office)
• 28 days holiday plus bank holidays (option to buy and sell holiday days)
• Enhanced pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• Private healthcare cover and life assurance
• Summer Hours
• Free access to HeadSpace, employee assistance programme (24 hour helpline), mental health first aiders, and a wellbeing portal
• Season ticket loans (from day 1 for entry level) and cycle to work scheme
• Relocation Rent Support Loan
• Employee networks: HC All In (open forum), Elevate (for ethnic minority colleagues), HarperParents, Menopause at Work, Pride at HC, Social Mobility Network and Neurodiversity at Work
• Unlimited training on our Learning and Development portal, management courses (up to MA level) and mentoring programmes
• Virtual GP and eyecare vouchers
• Gym membership discount
• Onsite physiotherapy (London only)
• Charitable donation matching and 2 volunteering days
• We're a certified Carbon Neutral company
• Free e-books and audiobooks, digital newspaper subscriptions and discounts on books
• Subsidised canteen and retail discounts
• Onsite prayer room

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.

If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly to tarni.crossley-lees@harpercollins.co.uk with subject heading ‘Vacancy Query’ plus the job title and we will aim to get back to you within 5 working days.

Please note, if you are interested in the role you would need to submit your application via Applied. We do not accept email applications.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are under-represented in the creative industries.

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