Editor, HarperNonFiction
Application Deadline: 2 August 2026
Department: Editorial
Employment Type: Permanent
Location: London
Compensation: £34,500 - £37,000 / year
Description
The Editor will provide broad editorial support for the Publishers and Publishing Directors on the Mudlark, Smart Thinking and Entertainment lists, and sit within the HarperNonFiction team. They will provide key editorial support across each list, which cover the full spectrum of the non-fiction market, including memoir, autobiography, pop-culture, current affairs, sport, history and pop science. They will have a wide range of desk editing responsibilities, which will also include some administrative tasks. They will have a great deal of direct contact with authors and agents, creative input on jackets and copy, undertake structural and line editing and work, check and collate proofs, and work closely with stakeholders across the HarperNonFiction team, including Production, Sales, Marketing and Publicity. The Editor will have first-class desk editing skills and enjoy working on their own initiative; they can also juggle competing priorities and anticipate the needs of the Editorial team in delivering best-in-class publishing, publishing comms and author care. The Editor will be a strong communicator, who combines creative flair with an eye for detail, and who can work co-operatively within the HarperNonFiction team.
Key Responsibilities
Editorial
Working closely with the Publishers and Publishing Directors on key books and alongside key authors
Writing cover and catalogue copy
Managing all aspects of production on key titles and seeing them through the process
Owning editorial schedules across multiple concurrent titles, proactively identifying risks, managing dependencies and ensuring projects remain on schedule
Creating Advance Information sheets as requested, monitoring and updating them
Checking and collating proofs
Performing structural and line edits
Managing manuscripts through legal review, ensuring legal queries and amendments are resolved efficiently prior to publication
Monitoring and inputting metadata across all relevant titles
Monitoring Amazon to ensure copy and jackets are up to date
Proof-reading and checking sales and marketing material, eg catalogues, rights sheets, presenters
Proof-reading cover runouts, author presentations and other texts
Helping manage reprints: responsibilities include organizing the re-branding of covers, updating prelims
Preparing cover and launch briefs
Working cross-functionally across Sales, Marketing and Publicity Teams.
Administration:
Publishers’ liaison with authors, agents, other departments
Provide advance/sample materials to other departments
Tracking materials to/from designers and editors
Organising purchase orders and processing invoices
Set up costings for P&Ls
Reversion requests
Skills, Knowledge & Expertise
Previous experience in Trade Editorial
Proven experience in structural editing, copy creation and proof management
Proven experience coordinating manuscripts through legal review and implementing editorial changes arising from that process
Substantial project-management experience
Administrative and organisational experience
Direct liaison with author and agents
Exceptional project-management skills, with the ability to manage multiple complex titles simultaneously while anticipating issues and identifying solutions
Proven ability to assess commercial non-fiction projects
Reliable, with the ability to use own initiative
An effective multi-tasker, with the ability to cope in a pressurised environment
Excellent command of the English language
Effective communicator at all levels
Excellent attention to detail
Advanced MS Word and Intermediate Excel and Outlook
