Personal Assistant to Publishing Operations Director (12-month FTC)

 We have an exciting opportunity for an experienced Personal or Executive Assistant to join our Publishing Operations team, supporting our Publishing Operations Director as a Personal Assistant (PA) on a 12-month contract to cover a period of parental leave.

As PA you will manage the Publishing Operations Director’s diary and daily schedule, allowing them enough time to prepare for meetings, attend to day-to-day requirements, whilst factoring in time for independent work.

You will liaise regularly with senior management, deal with confidential information and will have the opportunity to communicate to the department on behalf of the Publishing Operations Director. You will oversee the smooth running of the day-to-day office environment, as well as coordinating external visits to suppliers both within the UK and further afield.

We are looking for an experienced Personal Assistant to join the team and to take the lead on certain projects for the benefit of the wider department.

Key Responsibilities:

• Organise internal and external meetings, including Department Townhalls, other events and supplier meetings, as well as regular Senior Management meetings. Responsibilities include booking the rooms/venue, online MS Teams calls, arranging catering and minuting.

• Arrange travel for the department Leadership Team. Working with numerous suppliers to organise complex itinerary for trips abroad.

• Collate and produce monthly supplier spend reports in Excel. Querying anomalies with Production as and when needed. Presenting this financial information accurately for the Senior Management team.

• Provide high quality support to meetings, such as preparation of reports and agendas, formatting and producing high quality PowerPoint presentations and taking minutes.

• Process expenses for the Publishing Operations Director on time and with correct receipts. Code rebates from suppliers on SAP.

• Collate forward load reports for suppliers weekly through Excel.

• Approve and capture all direct reports’ holidays and input into Outlook diary.

• Order stationery for the department; represent Publishing Operations at monthly Facilities meetings; maintain a presentable office environment by rotating book displays.

• Organise supplier visits for colleagues. Support the Leadership Team with the running of the Publishing Operations-specific training programme with travel booking, administration, and PowerPoint creation.

What you will bring:

Essential criteria:

• Advanced Microsoft Office skills, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint.

• Previous experience working as a Personal or Executive Assistant at a senior level.

• Competent at using MS Teams and Outlook to set up virtual meetings and work groups.

• Strong organisational, attention-to-detail and communication skills.

Preferred criteria:

• Knowledge of the publishing industry and operations and working knowledge of Biblio is desirable but not essential.

Application instructions

Please apply with your CV and cover letter outlining why you are the right candidate for the role by 11:59pm on Sunday 18th May.

• Please ensure you include a cover letter, as it is a crucial part of our assessment process. The cover letter offers an opportunity to show how your experience and interests align with the role requirements. Typically, we expect the cover letter to be no more than one or two pages in length.

• Please note we are looking for someone to join the team from late August, and we are also happy to accommodate a reasonable notice period for the right candidate.

• We anticipate a two-stage interview process which will include a virtual first-stage interview and in-person second stage interview. We are happy to discuss this further with you throughout the recruitment process.

What you can expect from us

Salary

Circa £40,000 dependent on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus bonus and benefits.

Our people are the heart of our business, and we work hard to support a culture of responsibility and recognition.

Hybrid working

We as a Production-focused team appreciate and thrive best with an open, collaborative, and supportive way of working in-person at our office in London 3-days p/week, and remotely outside of these moments. We are happy to discuss our hybrid working approach with you if invited to an interview.

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. In a constantly evolving industry, we work hard to stretch the definition of the word publisher. Here, you’ll work with a breadth of talent who all play their part to make each of our books a success. Together, we make books for everyone because a book can change anyone.

The recruitment process

As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we offer interviews to candidates with a disability who meet the essential criteria for the role, and opt-in on their application form. The essential criteria for this role are listed as part of the ‘What you will bring’ section. There may be times when the volume of applications means we cannot take all eligible candidates to interview.

We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing PRHCareersUK@penguinrandomhouse.co.uk. Remember, you only need to share what you are comfortable to for us to support your request.

Please note, we are not able to accept agency CVs for this role. Any CVs sent speculatively will not be eligible for a fee.

Company: Penguin Books Limited 

Country: United Kingdom 

State/Region: London 

City: London 

Postal Code: SW11 7BW 

Job ID: 279720