Senior managing editor

Closing date for applications: Friday 20th March 2026 23:59

Salary: £36,500 – £40,000, depending on how your skills and experience align with the role requirements

Location: London

Shape the journey of international bestsellers, coordinating people, processes and projects to deliver exceptional books.

Bloomsbury Publishing is a leading independent publishing house, established in 1986, with authors who have won the Nobel, Pulitzer and Booker Prizes, and is the originating publisher and custodian of the Harry Potter series. Bloomsbury has offices in London, New York, New Delhi, Oxford and Sydney. Within Bloomsbury’s Academic division, it publishes under Bloomsbury, as well as under a number of prestigious and historic imprint names.

Our mission is to be a creative, entrepreneurial, independent publisher of books, audiobooks and digital content of excellence and originality and to bring these works to a worldwide audience. Our purpose is to inform, educate, entertain and inspire readers of all ages and backgrounds. We champion a life-long love of reading and learning and seek to help build a reading culture with all the benefits which that brings society.

We are looking for a Senior Managing Editor for a fixed term of approximately 9 months in Bloomsbury’s Adult Editorial team in the Trade division, where we publish bestselling, award-winning and internationally renowned fiction and non-fiction from authors such as Isabel Allende, William Dalrymple, Peter Frankopan, Louise Kennedy, Kamila Shamsie, Patti Smith and Johann Hari – to name just a few.

In this role you will lead the Trade managing-editorial team, including line-managing the Managing Editor. As well as planning and overseeing the team’s workload and providing leadership to the wider department on editorial best practice, you’ll project-manage a list of fiction, non-fiction and poetry books from handover from the commissioning editor through to print. You’ll work closely with authors and agents, freelancers and colleagues to ensure that our books are produced to a high standard, providing a high level of author care and maintaining adherence to critical path. This is a non-commissioning role within editorial management, reporting to the Head of Editorial Operations.

Knowledge, skills and experience

We are looking for someone with

• substantial experience, gained in trade publishing, as a managing editor or project editor
• line-management experience
• a high level of organisation; able to successfully manage multiple projects and competing priorities
• excellent written and verbal communication skills; able to manage relationships with both internal and external stakeholders
• a keen eye for detail in all aspects of their work
• an excellent understanding of the entire publishing process and the ability to suggest and implement process improvements where needed
• a passion for literary and crossover fiction, history and other serious non-fiction, and poetry, and an awareness of the market

Additional information

The role is a full-time temporary position, for a fixed term of 9 months starting approximately in early June 2026. The role is based at our London office 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP on a hybrid-working pattern of two days office-based/three days home-based (or fully office-based if preferred). Allocated office days for this role are Monday and Tuesday.

Please apply with a CV and covering letter addressed to Human Resources (Word or PDF format only) via the ‘APPLY NOW’ button detailing how you meet the requirements outlined above for this role by 23:59 20th March 2026 For best results, please use a desktop to apply as some mobile browsers may not fully support the application portal.

Bloomsbury reserves the right to close the role early if we exceed the required number of applications

Bloomsbury Benefits

As well as a fantastic opportunity to join a global award-winning organisation, Bloomsbury offers the following competitive benefits package:

Working Pattern

• Hybrid working pattern of two days office-based/three days home-based (or fully office-based if preferred).

Holidays

• 25 days’ holiday
• 3.5 days’ Christmas company holiday

Other Benefits

• Two paid Personal Wellness Days
• Flexible Fridays – take Friday afternoon off by working an additional 3 hours and 30 minutes earlier in the week
• Work Anywhere Fortnight - For two weeks of any calendar year. The minimum period for Working Anywhere is one week, the maximum period is two weeks.
• Season Ticket Loan
• Learning & Development - Free access to LinkedIn Learning, BookMachine Campus, InRehearsal & IPG Skills Hub
• Share Save Scheme
• AXA Healthcare Plan (Private Medical Insurance)
• Ride to Work Scheme
• Peppy Health App
• In-house Doctor
• Eye Care Voucher Scheme
• EAP Advice and Counselling

Company culture – Employee Voice Meetings, Staff Networks (Bloom, Accessibility, Mental Health, Pride, and Parents, Guardians and Carers, Multi-Faith) and Mental Health First Aiders trained across the UK offices, Publishing Events and access to free Publishing Resources

Bloomsbury is a place where anyone of any background, race, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender identity, age, ability, or socio-economic status can thrive, feel comfortable, and be heard and accepted. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

We are willing to make any reasonable adjustments throughout the recruitment process, please flag to the recruitment team if required

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK

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.