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 Holly Bourne and Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé – with everything from Magic Painting to Politics for Beginners in between.  You can see our books here at usborne.com

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

The Department

You will be part of a team of writer/editors and designers in our Wolverhampton office who create a wide variety of books including sticker books, puzzle books, activity books, sound books, reference books, and jigsaws. You can see some of the books our team create here:

https://usborne.com/gb/wipe-clean-easter-activities-9781801319164

https://usborne.com/gb/big-activity-book-dinosaurs-9781836041177

https://usborne.com/gb/usborne-scratch-activities-under-the-sea-9781805076964

The Role

As a designer no two days will be the same. You will get to engage your creative skills working with talented writers and fantastic artists, from thinking up new novelty and sticker books, working out books with peep through holes or ingenious flaps or maybe creating activities to help young children learn to read and write. You will be working on an amazing range of imaginative books, with design that makes books jump off the shelf and make people want to read them.

We are looking for a talented, enthusiastic and creative designer, with strong drawing skills, a flair for design, typography, illustration and most importantly a passion for creativity. You will need to work well under your own direction and with a creative team, developing eye-catching, fascinating books.

Experience

You may have just graduated from your studies in a design-led course or you may have a couple of years of experience in a similar design role, but be looking for the next step in your career. Whichever it is, you must have a good working knowledge of Adobe CC - InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and have a passion for great design.

Our department is a busy one so the ability to juggle projects, communicate well within and outside of the team and be able to adapt to changes in direction is a must.

Location and Benefits

This role is based in our Wolverhampton office and we work a 35-hour working week, where after a successful initial induction period (where we require new staff to work in the office for 4 days per week) we then operate a hybrid working model of 3 days in the office and 2 days working from home, which optimises our opportunities for creative collaboration and contact with our colleagues.

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

• 25 days paid holiday entitlement increasing with service to 30 days after 5 years.

• Industry-leading Pension Scheme and Life Assurance.

• Employee Assistance Programme through Health Assured 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

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

You will be asked to submit selected examples of your work as PDF's via email as part of the selection process (full instructions given). We anticipate conducting first interviews in person with shortlisted candidates starting the week commencing 19th May. A design test and subsequent interview will take place with finalists in early/mid June.

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'd like to see your original ideas and creativity in your portfolio, not work that has been generated by an AI tool.