Careers at High Line
Managing Editor, Antidote Books and Odessa Editions
The Role
Position Details
- Title
- Managing Editor, ANTIDOTE BOOKS and ODESSA EDITIONS
- London
- Hybrid
- Duration
- Permanent — four or five days a week
- Reports to
- Head of Imprints, ANTIDOTE BOOKS and ODESSA EDITIONS
- Start Date
- As soon as possible for the right person
- Salary
- £45,000 — £52,000 (pro rata for four days a week), depending on skills and experience, plus benefits
Overview
Job Summary
We are hiring a founding Managing Editor, based in London, to run the editorial engine behind both Odessa and Antidote. You will turn acquisitions into finished books, alongside our out-of-house freelance team — on time, on budget and to a first-class standard. Our first list is due in Spring 2027.
Each imprint has its own Executive Publisher, who sets the vision, and commissions, for the list. You will be the person who makes those books come to life, owning the schedule from delivered manuscript to finished copies. You will oversee teams working on copy-editing, proofreading, legal reads, indexing, production and more, successfully keeping two growing lists moving without letting standards slip.
This is a hybrid role which can be worked over four or five days a week: you’ll spend two days a week in the office with your colleagues and two or three days working from home.
Applications
How to Apply
Please send your CV and a cover letter outlining your experience and why your skills align with the role to our Executive Publisher, Joel Simons, at
Joel.Simons@antidote-books.com by 11:59pm on 30th October 2026.
Applications are treated in the strictest confidence. High Line Publishing Studio is committed to building a team with a plurality of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We welcome applications from all candidates.
Role Specification
What You'll Do
Editorial Management and Scheduling
- Independently manage and take responsibility for the schedules for both imprints, from manuscript delivery to finished copies, and keep the Executive Publishers, authors and agents informed at every stage
- Take books through copy-editing, typesetting, proofreading and indexing, briefing and managing freelancers to a consistently high standard
- Proofread, write and check copy, including cover copy, sales and marketing text, and final proofs
- Co-ordinate with designers on jacket corrections and files
- Manage authors’ corrections and permissions, and handle legal reads with care, especially on sensitive or contested books
- Liaise with international publishing partners on text and jacket files
- Anticipate problems before they arise, ensuring a smooth and positive relationship throughout between authors and freelance team, and onwards to production, sales, marketing and publicity
Production and Budgets
- Work with typesetters, designers and printers on specs, quotes and schedules
- Track production costs against agreed budgets and flag pressure points early
- Bring excellent copy-editing skills and meticulous attention to detail, including a strong grasp of grammar, spelling and proofreading process
- Help build and maintain each imprint’s design standards, including house typefaces and series style
Building the Operation
- Help set up the systems a startup publisher needs: schedules, title information and metadata, workflows and a reliable (and growing) freelance pool in both the UK and US
- Create an onboarding protocol at the point books are commissioned (including draft Title Information sheets, cover briefs, US/UK schedules etc)
- Co-ordinate with sales, marketing, publicity, rights and distribution, so every book arrives with the right information at the right time
Two Imprints, One Standard
- Balance the needs of two distinct lists, one spanning fiction and non-fiction, the other idea-led non-fiction, without either losing priority
- Bring deep experience and calm judgement to every stage of the book-making process, including when a book draws scrutiny, and protect quality under deadline pressure
Role Specification
Who You Are
Essential
- A minimum of 5 years’ experience as a Managing Editor, Senior Desk Editor or Production Editor in UK trade publishing
- A proven record of taking a full list through to publication on schedule, including complex non-fiction with notes, images, permissions and legal reads
- Excellent copy-editing and proofreading skills, a strong command of house style and meticulous attention to detail
- Proficient in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel for scheduling and budget tracking
- Experience briefing and managing freelance copy-editors, proofreaders, typesetters and indexers
- A working knowledge of print production, costs and schedules
- Proven ability to work on your own initiative, managing author relationships and handling complex editorial issues promptly and effectively
- The confidence to manage up and across: holding Executive Publishers, authors and agents to deadlines, kindly and firmly
- Open-mindedness and discretion: comfortable working on books that challenge orthodoxy and on arguments you may not personally share
Desirable
- Experience in an independent or start-up publisher, where you built processes rather than inherited them
- Experience with fiction as well as non-fiction
- Familiarity with Jewish and Israeli writing, or with books in translation
- Knowledge of title management and metadata systems, and of working with a distributor
- Experience managing large teams of freelancers across time zones
Role Specification
What We Offer
- A central role at an ambitious new publishing studio with a clear and necessary mission
- Real ownership: the chance to design how two imprints make their books, not just follow someone else's process
- Close, daily partnership with both Executive Publishers and a small, senior team
- Books that matter, published in all formats and distributed globally by Hachette
- A competitive salary plus benefit
- Hybrid working based out of our London office
- A culture that values creative bravery, intellectual honesty and open, reasoned argument