The Company

Usborne is an independent, family business, creating books which spark curiosity in children of all ages. These range from books for babies such as the bestselling THAT’S NOT MY®… series of touchy-feely books, to YA fiction from acclaimed authors such as Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé and Ravena Guron – with everything from Sticker Dolly Dressing to Philosophy for Beginners in between.

Whilst the company is now a market-leader in children’s publishing and one of the best-known brands in children’s books globally, the company retains a friendly and familial feel. If you want to work somewhere close-knit enough for people to know your name, but which has a first-class reputation around the world, Usborne is the place for you.

The Team

Our Foreign Language Publishing team creates hundreds of new Usborne titles every year in all of the major European languages, and many smaller ones, translating Usborne books for distribution right around the world. As part of the busy Foreign Language Publishing team, the Junior Italian Language Production Editor will work on the creation and maintenance of our Italian (own imprint) editions. 

The Role

We are looking for a detail-oriented, highly organised Production Editor, with native level Italian. You will be involved in every step of the creation of Italian editions, from receiving translations to the handing over of print ready files to the Production department.

Day to day responsibilities will include:

• Typesetting and preparing text for editing.

• Proofreading material before submission to the Production team and approving titles to print.

• Updating company databases with relevant title information.

• Developing Italian book title suggestions and working closely with designers to create covers for Italian editions.

• Occasional translating of smaller books from English into Italian.

• Working closely with Italian Production Editors on Italian reprints, revising content as and when necessary.

• Providing administrative support to ensure projects stay on track and files are organised efficiently.

• Supporting Production Editors with the Dutch programme by preparing files to send to external teams and creating images of books as and when required.

Experience & Skills:

Whilst this is a junior level role, you will need to have native-level written and spoken Italian and excellent English language skills. We would also like to see:

• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks.

• Exceptional attention to detail.

• Ability to work independently as well as collaboratively within a small team.

• Strong IT skills, including Microsoft Office.

Desirable but not essential:

• A good working knowledge of Adobe InDesign.

• Previous editing or translating experience.

• Familiarity with databases such as Biblio.

In addition to these skills any additional Dutch language proficiency would be of great interest to Usborne but is by no means essential.

Location and Benefits

We offer a 35-hour working week from our offices in Farringdon, London. After an initial induction period (where we require new staff to work in the office for 4 or 5 days per week), we offer a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home which we feel optimises our opportunities for collaboration and contact with our colleagues.

In addition to our transparent salary grading structure, for this role we also offer a range of benefits which include:

• 25 days paid holiday entitlement plus bank holidays.

• Industry-leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.

• Employee Assistance Programme and Mental Health First Aiders.

• Healthcare Cashback scheme.

• Virtual GP service.

• Enhanced Family Friendly benefits.

• Paid Volunteer Day.

• Rewards and Discount services and shopping.

• Cycle to Work Scheme.

• 75% discount on Usborne books.

Recruitment Process

We are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role and therefore applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK at the point of application. 

We expect to undertake first round interviews online with a further interview in person to be held shortly after. We are looking for someone to be available to take up the post no later than mid-end June, if possible.

Please let us know if you require reasonable adjustments at any point during the application and/or recruitment process.

Usborne is dedicated to building a diverse taskforce that reflects the wide range of communities that read our books globally. Decisions are made based on the individual’s skills and experiences and we particularly encourage applications from underrepresented demographics in Publishing.

AI notice

The use of AI has become more prevalent in recruitment application answers and content and whilst AI is undoubtedly a useful tool, we do not use any generative AI systems for the creation of our books. We therefore need to see that you're able to demonstrate your ability to originate ideas and write them in a compelling manner, not just generate them using a tool. Suspected AI usage is flagged by the Applied system and may result in your application being automatically rejected or down marked.