Art Director, Fiction (12 month Maternity Cover) - #1695526

About HarperFiction

To help us further evaluate your application, we kindly request that you submit a one-page PDF portfolio with your CV highlighting your key projects, accomplishments, and relevant experience.

Please ensure that it gives a clear overview of your skills and how they align with the role.

HarperFiction is one of the UK’s most successful commercial fiction publishers, with a reputation for innovation, market-leading creative and strategic campaigns that deliver bestseller success.

We publish some of the biggest and bestselling brands in fiction, from Jeffrey Archer to Karin Slaughter, Cecelia Ahern to Dilly Court. We’ve achieved chart-topping success with our inexhaustible event publishing, including Rebecca F. Kuang’s Yellowface and Babel , Bella Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family and Abigail Dean’s Girl A. And we’re home to legendary estates, including Agatha Christie, George R.R. Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien. Complemented by our literary imprint, The Borough Press, and British Book Awards Imprint of the Year 2022, HarperVoyager.

We are seeking a talented and inspiring Art Director to join our fast-paced design team working across five divisions – HarperFiction, HarperNonFiction, Avon, One More Chapter and HarperNorth as maternity cover on a 12-month FTC.

The successful individual will be responsible for creating quality, commercial covers across all genres as well as managing the team. They will be expected to support the Creative Director and Studio Manager in the day-to-day running of the department.

This role will report directly into the Creative Director.

Key Responsibilities

• Create original, commercial book covers that lead the market across all genres
• Support the Creative Director and Studio Manager in the day-to-day running of the department, working alongside the Studio Manager to organise team priorities
• Work with the Creative Director to run weekly cover meetings
• Manage several direct reports, providing advice and art direction to ensure we consistently produce high quality solutions to briefs
• Work with the Creative Director to evaluate the creative processes of the Design team
• Collaborate with other departments to create and deliver any additional assets or strategies required to publish our books
  
  

Experience and Skills Required:

• You will have a portfolio of outstanding book cover designs that shows confidence in designing for all areas of the market
• Proactive and highly organised with the ability to handle multiple projects at any one time
• Experience in managing and art directing other designers
• Ability to work quickly, to stringent deadlines, without impacting quality or attention to detail
• A flexible, proactive attitude to adapt to demanding business needs
• Respond to constructive criticism in a calm and professional manner
• Expert skills in InDesign, Photoshop
  
  

Benefits

• Hybrid working model (3 days in the office)
• 28 days holiday plus bank holidays (option to buy and sell holiday days)
• Enhanced pay for maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave
• Private healthcare cover and life assurance
• Summer Hours
• Free access to HeadSpace, employee assistance programme (24 hour helpline), mental health first aiders, and a wellbeing portal
• Season ticket loans (from day 1 for entry level) and cycle to work scheme
• Relocation Rent Support Loan
• Employee networks: HC All In (open forum), Elevate (for ethnic minority colleagues), HarperParents, Menopause at Work, Pride at HC, Social Mobility Network and Neurodiversity at Work
• Unlimited training on our Learning and Development portal, management courses (up to MA level) and mentoring programmes
• Virtual GP and eyecare vouchers
• Gym membership discount
• Onsite physiotherapy (London only)
• Charitable donation matching and 2 volunteering days
• We're a certified Carbon Neutral company
• Green Electric/Hybrid Car Benefit Scheme (salary sacrifice)
• With Trees for Life we plant a tree in the Highlands of Scotland for every permanent hire
• Free e-books and audiobooks, digital newspaper subscriptions and discounts on books
• Subsidised canteen and retail discounts
• Onsite prayer room
  
  

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 internships or entry level positions. For more information visit https://www.btbs.org/

At HarperCollins, we value authenticity and integrity in our recruitment process. To ensure a fair and accurate evaluation of all applications, we ask that all responses to assessment questions reflect your own thoughts, experiences, and capabilities. This allows us to fairly assess your knowledge, skills, and experience to determine how they align with the role. We value diverse perspectives and genuine contributions, even if answers are not perfect. The use of AI tools or external assistance to generate responses is discouraged unless explicitly permitted for specific tasks.

If you wish to discuss anything regarding this position and/or your application to this role, please reach out directly to [email protected] with subject heading ‘Vacancy Query’ plus the job title and we will aim to get back to you within 5 working days.

Please note, if you are interested in the role you would need to submit your application via Applied. We do not accept email applications.