Communications assistant

Closing date: 11 October 2024

Salary: £27,000 based in London; £24,840 based in Sheffield (+bonus +benefits)

Location: London, Sheffield

Contract: Permanent

This is a fantastic opportunity to work alongside a multi-disciplined, award-winning team responsible for a wide variety of publishing.

The Orion Publishing Group, a division of Hachette UK, publishes a wide range of commercial, literary, and award-winning popular fiction and non-fiction and is home to bestselling authors such as Sir Ian Rankin, Adam Kay, Michael Connelly, Cathy Bramley, Veronica Henry, Santa Montefiore, Clare Chambers, Michael Palin, Malala Yousafzai, Gillian Flynn, Candice Carty-Williams and many more.

In 2021 we won the Publisher of the Year award at the British Book Awards, and our award-winning Communications team has a proud track record of creating high-impact, creative, sales-driving campaigns to help bring our books to readers.

You’d be working in a creative and dynamic environment, utilising a wide variety of essential publicity skills to reach the widest possible readership.

What you'll be doing

As Communications Assistant, you will be working within the publicity department of the Orion Communications team to lead on administrative responsibilities within the department to ensure that all processes and procedures are managed accurately, efficiently, and professionally. You will also work closely with the Publicity Director and the wider senior team to support on publicity campaigns, having direct input on both creative and logistical sides of our campaigns.

Who we are looking for

The ideal candidate will be extremely efficient and bring initiative, creativity and passion to the role. The ability to multi-task, work calmly under pressure and be a strong team player are also vital as is a good knowledge of Word, Outlook, Excel and PowerPoint.

A confident self-starter, you will thrive in a busy environment and will have a demonstrable interest in publishing and an awareness of how Communications can affect the success of a book. You will be responsible, enthusiastic, have excellent organisational skills and a willingness to jump in and help wherever needed. Strong attention to detail is key, as is the ability to work both independently and as part of a larger team. You will relish the opportunity to travel with authors, help manage schedules and attend a range of events, some of which will be out of normal office hours.

We are looking for someone with excellent communication skills, both written and spoken, and who works well as part of a close-knit team. Good social media skills and telephone manner are also vital.

What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)


• Private medical insurance


• Generous pension schemes


• Rent deposit loans


• 2 community days per year


• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)


• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards


• Cycle to Work scheme


• Eye care vouchers


• Wide-ranging training library


• Development programmes (including mentoring)


• Up to 70% off book purchases


• A charity bookshelf


• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks


• Season ticket loans


• And much more!

The role will be based at our London or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

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 junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org

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