Michael Joseph is looking for a highly creative and versatile Designer to join our award-winning Art department.
You’ll breathe new life into our non-fiction illustrated books, creating new looks for established brand authors and helping to turn little-known stories into tomorrow’s bestsellers.
About Michael Joseph (MJ)
Penguin Michael Joseph publishes some of the world’s most popular authors, specializing in women’s fiction, crime, thriller, cookery, memoir, and lifestyle books. Many of our authors are now, or soon will be, household names, here in the UK and around the world.
The Opportunity
Joining a team of 8 and reporting into the Head of Design for Illustrated Books, you’ll be responsible for working on book covers and insides across a range of illustrated non-fiction books including cookery, self-help, fashion, and gift.
You can expect to input into weekly covers meetings with the publishing teams and work closely with colleagues in Production, Editorial, Sales, Marketing, and Publicity.
Your unrivalled imagination will enable you to bring new ideas to life and you won’t shy away from taking creative risks to achieve fantastic results with each project. You’ll work super creatively and think outside the box, montaging images and playing with colour, figures, fonts, and more to produce the best covers in the business. You’ll be expected to attend photoshoots, providing art direction, and be responsible for selecting images to go into layout.
What You’ll Bring
We’re looking for someone who has experience working on illustrated books, although not necessarily within adult non-fiction. You will have an in-depth knowledge of InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop and a complete understanding of how an illustrated book is put together. You’ll also be confident with typography and have an awareness of type hierarchies.
You’ll be creative, organized, and have a keen eye for detail. While the Art department is a team of 8, only 2 people work on illustrated titles, so you’ll be confident working both independently and as part of a larger team, also liaising with external suppliers, freelancers, photographers, and illustrators providing feedback and creative guidance.
Overall, you’ll be a champion for your book and be able to drive the vision forward from design concepts through to finished products.
How to Apply
If this sounds like your next role, please apply by Sunday 6th October. Apply with your CV and some select parts of your portfolio in place of your cover letter. Show us your best work!
What You Can Expect From Us
Salary: Up to £33,500 depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.
Competitive Benefits Package:
Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition. Our benefits include:
- Financial – income protection, life assurance, childcare allowance
- Well-being – healthcare cash plan, critical illness cover, health checks
- Lifestyle – enhanced parental leave, tech scheme
For our full benefits list please visit:
Hybrid Working
While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate, and celebrate with colleagues, we recognize that flexibility around where you work is just as important. Michael Joseph colleagues work in our Embassy Gardens office 2 days a week, with flexibility on what days.
About Penguin
We’re the UK’s largest publisher, made up of some 2,000 people and publishing over 1,500 books each year. Our doors are open to all kinds of talent.
The Recruitment Process
You can read about our recruitment process at
As a Disability Confident Committed organization, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form.
Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.
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