About Hachette UK
What is Hachette UK?
Hachette UK is the UK's second-largest book publishing group, with a heritage dating back to 1846. It is part of Hachette Livre, the world's second-largest trade and educational publisher (a Lagardère Group company). The Hachette UK family includes some of the most celebrated imprints in publishing: Little, Brown Book Group; Hodder & Stoughton; Headline; Orion; John Murray Press; Octopus; Hachette Children's Group; Quercus; Bookouture (digital-first imprint); Dialogue Books; and many more.
The group publishes across fiction, non-fiction, children's, audio, and academic categories, and counts authors like J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, James Patterson, Malcolm Gladwell, Susanna Clarke, and many other Booker, Pulitzer, and Costa winners on its lists.
Where will I work?
Hachette UK is based in London (Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment, EC4Y 0DZ), with additional offices in Bookouture, and a distribution centre in Didcot. Hybrid working is the norm for publishing teams. The Summer Fridays policy applies to publishing teams; warehouse and distribution-centre roles in Didcot follow a different schedule.
What is the Hachette UK team like?
Around 2,170 people work across editorial, marketing, sales, production, design, audio, digital, finance, IT, and operations. Hachette UK has a strong culture of internal mobility, mentorship, and learning across imprints. The group runs the Spirit of Hachette awards programme, employee networks, and regular cross-imprint training.
Work-Life Balance
Hachette UK runs Summer Fridays for publishing teams — during the summer months, people in publishing teams can make up hours during the week and leave at 1pm on Fridays. Quoting the company's reward & benefits page directly: "In the Summer months people in our publishing teams can make up hours during the week to leave at 1pm on Fridays." This is paired with strong holiday entitlement (28 days rising to 29-30 with service) and the ability to buy up to two extra weeks.
Note: this policy applies to publishing teams (London + national offices). Warehouse/distribution-centre roles in Didcot follow different working patterns.
Perks and Benefits
- Summer Fridays for publishing teams — leave at 1pm by making up hours earlier in the week
- 28 days holiday rising to 29 and 30 days with service
- Ability to purchase up to two additional weeks of holiday per year
- Hybrid working pattern across publishing offices
- Pension scheme
- Life assurance
- Income protection
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Books-at-cost employee scheme
- Cycle-to-work and travel season-ticket loans
- Enhanced parental leave
- Spirit of Hachette internal recognition awards
- Internal mobility and cross-imprint training