Careers

Hachette Australia is the second largest publisher in Australia and part of the Hachette Livre Publishing group.

Just as our authors are important to us so is our staff. We aim for a non-corporate environment which is an enjoyable place to work each day. We go to great lengths to look after our employees, and to give our authors the best publishing experience in the industry.

Working at Hachette Australia not only comes with competitive salaries, and an industry-leading bonus plan, other benefits include; summertime working hours, paid parental leave schemes, and training opportunities.

If you are enthusiastic about publishing, hardworking, and looking for a great place to work, then you will enjoy being on our team.

Senior Non-Fiction Publisher Role

Sydney CBD Location  

• Full-time permanent position based in our head office in Sydney or one of our satellite offices in Brisbane or Melbourne
• Join a fantastic culture
• Fun, driven and collaborative team environment

Are you looking for a new role where you can grow your experience and join a supportive team? Do you have exemplary commissioning, publishing and author service skills? Hachette Australia is growing its non-fiction publishing team and we are looking for a Senior Non-Fiction Publisher to help create and implement the vision for our non-fiction publishing program. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone with proven commissioning experience, gained in either a book or magazine environment, to join a thriving and collaborative team.

ABOUT YOUR NEW EMPLOYER

Hachette Australia is one of Australia’s largest international publishers with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Hachette’s mission is to make it easy for everyone, everywhere to unlock new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and opportunity. We are a trade publishing house with an amazing stable of international, Australian and New Zealand authors, including Stephen King, John Grisham, Delia Owens, Ian Rankin, J.K. Rowling, Enid Blyton, Peter FitzSimons, Geraldine Brooks, Michael Robotham, Dr Norman Swan, Shaun Tan, Jessica Townsend and Rebel Wilson.

ABOUT THE ROLE

As Senior Non-fiction Publisher, you’ll lead the non-fiction acquiring team, managing one team member, and will be responsible for acquiring and commissioning an exciting, innovative, agenda-setting and commercially focused list of authors, including underrepresented voices and high-profile celebrities, which identifies gaps in the market, emerging trends and stays ahead of the competition. In this role, you will perform the following principal duties:

• Develop our diverse non-fiction list, especially in the areas of popular culture, current affairs, memoir, biography and sport
• Seek out new trends and make the most of your excellent network of writers, thinkers, celebrities, influencers, agents and talent managers to sign up new authors
• Increase the profit of the local publishing non-fiction list
• Manage agreed budgets, control costs and royalty advances

ABOUT YOU

You’re a fit for the role if you have:

• Proven record of commissioning and publishing commercially successful titles informed by consumer insight
• Great creative instincts combined with strong commercial judgment and entrepreneurial flair
• Significant editorial experience, including content generation and proven experience working with complex and/or legally sensitive projects
• Excellent communication skills, and the ability to build strong relationships internally and externally
• Experience working to budgets and handling financial information/data
• Experience managing people and inspiring them to deliver their best
• Excellent negotiation skills, high emotional intelligence and great listening skills, and
• A collaborative mindset but are comfortable taking decisions autonomously where needed. 

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU?

At Hachette, our people are our greatest asset. Some of the benefits we offer for your personal and professional growth, along with 20 days’ annual leave per year plus public holidays, include: a wide-ranging training library, development programs, including mentoring, up to 50% off book purchases, two volunteer days per year to use at your charity of choice, many employee networks to join, summer hours (finishing at 1 pm on Fridays during the summer months), the option to work from home two days per week, and much more!

ACCESSIBILITY 

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, socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds. If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

APPLICATIONS

We’d love to hear from you if you are passionate about Australian content and are curious about the world around you; have an insightful understanding of the market; have a proven track record of discovering new trends and new voices; are fired up by pursuing emerging talent and expertise; and love to woo and build strong relationships.

If this sounds like you, please send your cover letter and a CV to careers@hachette.com.au. Your application must also include a prediction about a future non-fiction trend and how you would successfully publish a bestselling book that taps into it. The job application closing date is Monday 4 July 2022. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for interview.

Summer Internship Program

The Hachette Australia Summer Internship Program provides both a broad understanding of the trade publishing business and a deep dive into how the various departments within a commercial publishing house work together to take books to market – and ultimately into the hands of readers.

Applications for the Hachette Australia Summer Internship Program are now closed. Please check back for key dates for our 2022-23 Summer Internship Program.

Watch our 2020 virtual event for prospective interns and people interested to learn more about working in publishing.

You can also read our Frequently Asked Questions.

A Guide to Publishing

This booklet will show you what publishing is, what publishers do and how you can have a rewarding career in publishing – whatever your skills or background.

Read the PDF.

Internships

Hachette Australia supports the Australian Publishers Association/Copyright Association Cultural Fund’s Publishing Industry Internship Program – please click here for more information and to apply.