Marketing assistant

Closing date for applications: Saturday 1st February 2026

Salary: £27,000

Location: London (hybrid post probation)

Department: Marketing

Reporting To: Head of Campaigns

Working Hours: Full Time

Walker Books UK has an exciting opportunity for a marketing assistant to join its creative children’s publishing team, supporting the campaigns that bring much-loved stories and authors to young readers everywhere.

Walker Books UK is part of the vibrant international Group that includes Candlewick Press, Holiday House and Peachtree in the USA and Walker Books Australia. Renowned for its truly original publishing and outstanding quality, the Walker Books Group is home to a wide range of children's and young adult books. Award-winning authors and illustrators for the group include Angie Thomas, Sydney Smith, M.T Anderson, Patrick Ness, and Jon Klassen. We are also enormously proud to publish beloved family brands including Lucy Cousin’s Maisy, Michael Rosen’s We're Going on a Bear Hunt, Sam McBratney and Anita Jeram’s Guess How Much I Love You and Martin Handford’s Where’s Wally?

This is an exciting entry level role to start your marketing career in a supportive and highly creative environment. You will be joining a small, friendly team, passionate about promoting children’s books. The Marketing Assistant’s primary responsibility is to provide administrative support for the marketing team. This is a great opportunity for a self-motivated individual looking to work in children’s publishing. To be successful in this role, you will be highly organised, able to prioritise tasks and manage your workload independently. You will also have an interest in digital marketing, and confidence working across all social media platforms.

What you'll be doing

Supporting the Marketing team across consumer, trade, school and library marketing, to include:

Marketing material distribution:

• Collate print quantities on behalf of the marketing team for sales (ASMs, School/Libraries, Export, Foreign Rights)
• Ensure these are distributed appropriately direct from the printer or via the post room for ASM/bookshop quantities
• Send file copies to the author/illustrator and agent as directed
• Oversee and manage requests that come in for marketing materials via the marketing inbox and social media inboxes
• Keep the marketing/POS area tidy and keep across stock levels
• Circulate the Marketing Production Schedule to inform UK, US and Australia teams about what materials we are producing
• Circulate marketing materials from our US team

Assist with key retail, school, library and literacy partner initiatives as required, including:

• Administration for Booksellers Association brochures, bookseller newsletters and BA Indies Book of the Month
• Administration for Waterstones Publishing News
• Assist with World Book Day pitches and activity
• Gather and send assets for partner websites
• Submit titles and gather review content from partner websites like Toppsta and LoveReading

Campaigns:

• Contribute ideas and opinions to campaign planning meetings
• Set up campaign plan templates and circulate manuscripts ahead of meetings
• Keep a calendar tracker of competitor titles/activity
• Support the marketing team in the creation of marketing materials as required to include writing design briefs and working with our in-house designers to produce e.g. bookmarks, activity sheets, stickers
• Helping to create content (visual and written) for the Walker social media accounts and to manage content calendars

Social media and digital marketing, including (but not limited to):

• Writing blog content for the Walker Website
• Uploading new book covers to social media and the website each month
• Upload teaching materials and activity sheets to the Walker Website
• Adding Author/Illustrator biographies and photographs to the Walker website
• Ordering advance/gratis copies for social media photography and Amazon A+ photography, liaising with the photographer to ensure they arrive on time
• Assisting with video/trailer permission agreements
• Work with the PR team to post about events, awards and press reviews

Proofs:

• Department point of contact for editorial. Circulate blads and proofs for feedback from sales, marketing and PR, collating comments and sending back to editorial
• Collate proof quantities from teams across the business and keep a record, giving the final amounts to editorial/production for printing
• Oversee the mailing lists and mailings for each proof working with the mailing house

Signed stock:

• Oversee the signed stock grid, liaising closely with Sales
• Work with the PR Team to co-ordinate signing sessions including booking the room, arranging a team to help and organising stock with Logistics
• Organise ‘signed by the author’ stickers, positional guides and barcode stickers where necessary

General:

• Budget: code invoices/credit card bills and keep the budget updated
• Liaise with sales team on sales conferences including venue hire, booking, circulation of material and running presentation
• Pulling together weekly marketing activity for the Publicity and Marketing newsletter
• Diary organisation for the team as required
• Respond to general enquiries via social media, check marketing inbox daily and deal with correspondence as appropriate
• Attend events as and when necessary, including evenings and weekends

Please note the above is not an exhaustive list and does not necessarily include all the duties the job holder may have to perform. This job description may be amended to meet changing needs of the business.

Who we are looking for

To be successful in this role, you will be able to demonstrate evidence of the following skills and/or experience:

• Highly organised, able to prioritise multiple requests and manage a varied workload
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Highly self-motivated and proactive
• Exceptional attention to detail
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Excellent computer user, particularly with Microsoft Office applications
• Working knowledge of social media channels including Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, X and new platforms as they develop
• Knowledge and enthusiasm of the children’s book publishing or media industry is not essential but would be advantageous

Why join Walker Books?

We offer:

• A supportive working environment where all voices are respected and creativity is not hierarchical
• Competitive Salaries
• Hybrid work (at least two days in the office per week) once you have successfully passed probation
• 22 days annual leave per year plus bank holidays and Christmas closure (with annual leave increasing with length of service up to 27 days)
• Enhanced Pension Scheme
• Health Insurance and Health Cash Plan
• Summer hours
• Remote working for up to two weeks per year
• Life Assurance
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity Pay
• Access to an Employee Assistance Programme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Plus, other great benefits!

All children deserve to see themselves, their families, and their communities represented in the books they read. As children’s book publishers, it is our goal to ensure that the books and content we publish authentically and joyfully reflect the world around us. As an employer, we are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive working environment where everyone is included, valued, and empowered to do their best and most creative work. As an equal opportunities employer, we welcome candidates from all backgrounds without regard to race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, sex, or any other characteristic protected by law and those not yet protected by law.

If you have any queries about this role or require any reasonable adjustments for your application or throughout the recruitment process, please let our team know by contacting us at recruitment@walker.co.uk.

Please note we reserve the right to close vacancies before the closing date where we have received sufficient applications. We recommend submitting your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

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.