An exciting opportunity has arisen for a highly creative, motivated, and organized Assistant Designer to join the Campbell Books design team at Macmillan Children’s Books, working on an innovative and diverse list of novelty books for children aged 0–6.
Your team:
The Campbell list is rich and diverse and is full of all types of novelty books for children aged 0–6. We are looking for a highly creative, motivated, and organized assistant designer to join our team. We’re very proud of our small design team and the fun and beautiful books we create. We aim to make an environment where you’ll thrive, learn and grow as a designer.
Your role:
Reporting to the Art Director, you will play a critical role in supporting the design team. In this busy, stimulating, and wide-ranging role, you will assist with vital administrative design tasks, work on existing and new novelty design projects, and hone your creative skills. You will also collaborate closely with the Editorial, Production, Communications, and Sales teams to help bring our preschool titles from initial concept to final approval.
Your key responsibilities:
Concept & visual development: Work with the Art Director and design team on new titles throughout the publishing process, including creating and developing engaging visual concepts, polished visuals, and physical dummies for internal use and sales presentations.
List management: Assist in the creation and development of backlist, reissue, re-use, and re-jacketed titles, as well as working on brand-new projects from the initial stage to final approval.
Cross-departmental collaboration: Liaise closely with Editorial and Production teams regarding project briefings, schedules, proofing, and corrections, and ensuring alignment on design deliverables.
Production support: Support the design team in preparing and delivering print-ready files to the Production team, ensuring all technical specifications and schedules are met.
Stakeholder engagement: Establish effective communication with the Sales and Comms teams to understand their design needs and expectations, providing highly finished visual assets for presentations.
Freelance coordination: Commission and manage external freelancers, including illustrators and designers, under management supervision.
Team support: Provide comprehensive administrative and design support across the team, assisting senior designers as and when needed.
Tech integration: Explore and engage with evolving creative tools, such as AI, safely and effectively within the design team’s workflow.
Essential experience, abilities and knowledge you’ll need to succeed:
Design foundation: A creative eye supported by a portfolio that reflects an interest in physical print design, layout, or children’s media, with a readiness to develop these skills further.
Software knowledge: Practical experience using Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator on an Apple Mac platform.
Organization & prioritization: Effective organizational skills with a proven ability to manage multiple project tasks simultaneously and prioritize workloads effectively to meet deadlines.
Communication & collaboration: Clear and collaborative written and spoken communication skills, with a proactive, supportive approach to working within a team and cross-departmentally.
Production awareness: A basic understanding of printing processes and a strong willingness to learn the unique requirements of novelty book manufacturing.
Inclusion and representation: An active dedication to promoting diverse voices and inclusive practices, taking personal responsibility for ensuring our workplace and publishing reflect the communities we serve.
Community: A collaborative approach to building a supportive and vibrant environment.
Curiosity: A strong drive for learning and a readiness to embrace different perspectives.
Integrity: A foundation of openness and honesty, taking responsibility for actions and learning from mistakes.
Desirable skills we’d love you to have:
Novelty & preschool interest: Exposure to, or a specific creative interest in, multi-format preschool children’s publishing (e.g., board books, pop-ups, flap books).
Industry insight: A general awareness of the children’s publishing landscape, high street retail trends, or competitor books.
Tech curiosity: An interest in learning about and experimenting with evolving AI design tools where appropriate for creative workflows.
What you’ll get in return:
In return we can offer you a range of great projects, a supportive and collaborative working environment as well as a competitive salary and benefits package.
Salary: £30,000 to 35,000
Note on salary: The offered salary is dependent on experience and expertise. We benchmark our ranges to ensure fair, competitive compensation that grows with your impact.
Closing date: 11th June 2026
Some of the benefits we offer:
28 days’ annual leave increasing with years of service + bank holidays
Generous pension scheme
Discounted private medical insurance
Group income protection scheme
Enhanced family pay and leave
Flexible working hours and summer hours (early finish on a Friday during summer months)
2 Volunteer Days per year
75% off all Pan Macmillan books and regular staff book sales (highly reduced rates)
Season ticket loan/advance
Cycle to work scheme
Discounts on shopping, Tastecard+ and gym memberships; Christmas club savings
Daily free breakfast and monthly company lunch
This is a full time, permanent role, and will be based in our offices in Farringdon, London, with some flexibility to work from home each week.
How to apply & eligibility:
Our process: All applications must be submitted via our careers site to be considered. We are unable to accept CVs or applications sent via email.
Our timelines: Because we review every application thoroughly and with care, our shortlisting process can take some time. We appreciate your patience and will be in touch as soon as we have an update on your application.
Right to work: All applicants must be able to demonstrate the right to live and work in the UK in order to be considered for this role.
Our commitment to diversity & inclusion:
At Pan Macmillan, we are committed to publishing a wide range of voices that reflect the full breadth of the communities we serve. Joining us means playing an active role in bringing our titles to life as part of a team that champions inclusion at every level. We are dedicated to building a workplace that is as diverse and welcoming as the stories we tell, ensuring all perspectives are celebrated across everything we do.
We welcome applications from all individuals, including any age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. Our efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are ongoing, and we continually strive to learn and improve. You can read our full Diversity & Inclusion Pledge here.
Disability confident scheme:
As a Disability Confident employer, we actively encourage applications from disabled candidates and people with long-term health conditions, aiming to offer an interview to everyone who meets the essential criteria for the role and chooses to apply under the scheme. The essential criteria can be found under our ‘Essential experience, abilities, knowledge and values you’ll need to succeed’ section.
Please note, some of our vacancies attract an exceptionally high volume of applications. In these circumstances, to ensure a fair and focused process for everyone, we may need to limit the overall number of interviews. Where this happens, we will look closely at who most closely aligns with the requirements to select the candidates applying under this scheme who best meet the essential criteria, in line with official government guidance.
Please remember that you are never required to disclose a disability to us, and you only need to share what you feel comfortable with.
Adjustment & support:
We want to ensure that all candidates are supported throughout the recruitment process. If you have any reasonable adjustments or accessibility requirements, please contact Kayelle Danyluk (Head of Talent Acquisition) at [email protected].
Privacy notice:
All personal information which we process in connection with your application will be treated in accordance with our Recruitment Privacy Notice here. Please read this notice before submitting your application.
