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 familial 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 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 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

We offer a 35-hour working week from our Farringdon office in London, where after a successful induction period 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 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.

• 50% discount on Usborne books.

Recruitment Process

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). Our senior design team will score portfolios against our criteria and anticipate conducting first interviews with shortlisted candidates starting the week commencing 27th August 2024. A further design test and interview will take place with finalists in September 2024.

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.

Unfortunately, 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.

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.