Senior commissioning editor

Closing date: 4th September 2024

Salary: Up to £40,000 dependent on experience and location (+bonus +benefits)

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

We have an exciting opportunity for an energetic senior commissioning editor to join the Hodder Fiction team.

Hodder & Stoughton is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 12 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

With over 150 years of ground-breaking publishing from book lovers, original thinkers and market leaders, our unwavering mission has been to publish the most compelling voices in every genre. We continue to find new ground, new audiences and new voices with every title we publish. We are passionate readers and believe in the power of words to change lives.

This role will sit within the Hodder Fiction commercial team and focus on genres including crime/thriller, book club and reading fiction, romantic comedies, historical fiction, and general fiction.

Hodder Fiction publishes household names and undiscovered gems, books that sweep you away or leave you looking at the world with new eyes. Hodder & Stoughton work with authors in all genres, across the Coronet, Hodder Fiction, Hodderscape and Sceptre lists, and are the publishers of many brand name fiction writers, including John Grisham, Stephen King, Sophie Hannah, Mike Gayle, David Nicholls, Stephanie Garber, Graham Norton, David Mitchell and Lucy Score.

What you'll be doing

• Reporting to the Commercial Fiction Publishing Director, the successful candidate will collaborate on the refreshed identity and strategy for the Hodder Fiction team and be responsible for helping drive commercial acquisitions (across genres including general fiction, romance, crime and thriller and saga) alongside the existing editors.


• You will work with the Publishing Director and other editors to grow the print and digital side of the list, ensuring continued profitable growth for the list overall.


• You will have excellent author and agent relationships and be comfortable being an ambassador for Hodder Fiction within the industry. You will be able to help attract talent to the list while building your own list of writers in the commercial space (you will also inherit some existing Hodder authors for you to manage and grow).


• You will contribute extensively to meetings and brainstorms (including helping to come up with IP ideas) and you will liaise with authors, agents, freelancers and internal teams to ensure high levels of care and energy across our publishing.


• You will be expected to be proactive and have a strong understanding of commercial fiction, a proven track record of commercial fiction publishing, plus a willingness to learn and be part of a dynamic and forward-thinking team.

Who we're looking for

• If you are a creative and big picture thinker hungry to acquire and achieve success for your books, then this job is for you.


• We’re looking for a confident, independent decision-maker with exceptional taste and strong commercial acumen.


• If you put the consumer at the heart of everything you do and are passionate about leading your publications to success, then we want to hear from you.


• We’d like someone with solid experience in acquiring and publishing commercial fiction; an assured project manager who thrives on strong relationships with their team, authors, agents and industry influencers.


• The successful candidate will be a team player: organised, efficient, dependable and proactive, with the ability to problem solve, communicate effectively both internally and externally, and prioritise multiple tasks as well as help galvanise junior members of the team.


• Applicants must have a keen understanding and enjoyment of the commercial fiction market plus a proven track record of publishing successful commercial fiction.

We value imagination, ambition and collaboration, and are looking for somebody who is eager to grow their skillset and hit the ground running.

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!

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.

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

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