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, 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.

Whilst Usborne 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, family 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 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, you will take responsibility for typesetting text, proofreading translations, preparing proofs for editing, developing title suggestions and for managing the Italian editorial reprint schedule.

Other tasks include:

• Preparing and sending files and instructions to native speaker translators, setters, editors, and checkers.

• Proofreading material before submission to the Production team.

• Occasional writing and proofreading of blurbs and catalogues.

• Developing Italian book title suggestions.

• Working closely with designers creating covers for Italian editions.

• Translating smaller book titles as and when necessary.

• Handling and maintaining information on our database (Biblio)

• Overseeing all Italian reprints, revising content and book covers  required.

• Keeping the editorial schedule of Italian reprints up to date.

Skills & Experience

The successful candidate will ideally have :

• Native-level proficiency in Italian

• Previous editing or translating experience

• A good working knowledge of Adobe InDesign

• An ability to prioritise, juggle and manage multiple projects independently

• The ability to work well as part of a cohesive team with good communication skills

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

Location and Benefits

We offer a 35-hour working week from our offices in Farringdon, London. After a short initial 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 which include:

• 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;

• Healthcare Cashback scheme;

• Virtual GP service;

• Rewards and Discount services;

• 50% discount on Usborne books.

We particularly encourage applications from Black and Ethnic Minority candidates who are currently under-represented within this area.