Designer/Senior Designer

Sheffield, London, Edinburgh

Contract: Permanent

Closing date: 4 August 2026

Who we are and what we do

Octopus publish books for everyone. We love to enlighten, nourish, entertain and most of all inspire readers and listeners everywhere.

Octopus is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 10 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

What you'll be doing

We are looking for an experienced and versatile designer to work across our varied list of illustrated books, games and gifts.

This is an opportunity for someone keen to advance their career in book design and work with a team dedicated to producing beautifully designed books that inspire our readers.

You’ll be creating covers, layouts and templates with wow appeal and developing and managing the designs right the way through to packaging final files.

You'll be the sole cover and layout designer of approximately 20 titles per year and will manage and work with external freelancers on a further 20-25 titles. Those titles could be colouring books, card decks, illustrated gift books in the MBS space, photographic recipe books, literary companions, text-only paperbacks or quirky hardback micro-histories.

You will report to the Publisher of the Pyramid team and work closely with them, a Senior Editor, Assistant Editor and a brilliant Production team. It's a fun, whirlwind of a role in a team that thrives on spinning plates.

Who we are looking for

The ideal candidate will have several years' experience of book design (interiors and covers) under their belt and will have worked with both integrated colour and text-only books.

You'll need to demonstrate advanced technical competence - particularly in Adobe InDesign - as well as an incredibly high level of accuracy and a keen eye for detail as you will be responsible for handing over final, print-ready files.

You should have experience working in a fast-paced environment where you are used to working on multiple projects at one time, and be confident in your ability to meet key deadlines on production schedules.

You'll be a confident communicator as you'll be presenting designs in internal and external meetings, championing our visual strategy and working very closely with a dynamic team where communication and collaboration is key.

In your application, submit your CV and a Portfolio of recent relevant work (which is in the cover letter section).

What we offer

28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)

Private medical insurance

Dental insurance

Generous pension schemes

Rent deposit loans

2 community days per year

Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)

Retail discounts through Hachette rewards

Cycle to Work scheme

Eye care vouchers

Wide-ranging training library

Development programmes (including mentoring)

Up to 70% off book purchases

A charity bookshelf

An active range of staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including AgeWise, Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing, Women in Tech and religious networks

Season ticket loans

And much more!

This role can be based at our London, Sheffield, or Edinburgh, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week.

Our commitment

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds.

We want everyone to have the opportunity to perform at their best during our recruitment process. If you need any adjustments, you can let us know at the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of your application. We’ll make sure you’re supported throughout the process.

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 junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org