Production assistant

Closing date: 30th March 2025

Salary: £27,000

We’re looking for an industrious production assistant to join our dynamic team at our offices in historic Somerset House in central London. This is an exciting entry-level opportunity for someone who wants to break into publishing.

Hurst is an independently owned and run non-fiction press based in London but publishing globally. We produce approximately 90 new titles per year in the fields of history, politics, sociology, war studies, and religion, building on our strengths in African, Asian, East European, and Middle East Studies. We aim to publish books that add meaningfully to conversations, or start new ones. Although we are a small publishing house, we consistently achieve coverage for our books in mainstream outlets including the BBC, The Guardian, Financial Times, and The Sunday Times. In the past year, our titles have been shortlisted for the following prestigious international awards: Orwell Prize, Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Financial TimesBest Business Book Award, André Simon Food & Drink Awards, Bread & Roses Radical Publishing Award, Gladstone History Prize, and the Templer Book Prize for Military History.

As a production assistant, you will be reporting directly to our Production Director and will play an essential role at every stage of production, assisting on both general-interest and academic books. As we are a close-knit team, you will also gain insight into Editorial, Sales & Marketing and Publicity, working closely with those colleagues.

Responsibilities

• Taking the lead on author management during production;
• Checking and marking up proof corrections;
• Liaising with our production partners, e.g. printers, typesetters, proofreaders & indexers;
• Commissioning maps to illustrate our books;
• Managing our files for eBooks, other electronic platforms & marketing assets;
• Commissioning cover designs for press review copies;
• Text production for paperback editions.

Knowledge, skills, and experience

• Knowledge of and interest in global current affairs
• Excellent written communication skills, and a good eye for detail
• Outstanding levels of organisation and capacity for independent work
• Strong interpersonal skills, and ability to learn fast in a small team
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat

Hurst has a hybrid working model. The role can be based anywhere, including fully office-based if preferred, but at a minimum you must be able to work in person in at Somerset House in Central London twice a week. Please note: we can only consider candidates with the permanent right to work in the UK.

To apply, please send CV and covering letter to our Production Director, Daisy Leitch, via the 'Apply' button.

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

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