Senior Designer

Job Title: Service Designer

Salary: £29,700 - £38,550

Location: Cambridge, UK

Contract: Fixed-term (1 year maternity cover)

Hours: Full-time, 35 hours per week

We are Cambridge University Press & Assessment, a world-leading academic publisher and assessment organisation and a proud part of the University of Cambridge.

About the role

We have an exciting opportunity for a Senior Designer to join our Design team. The Design team are at the heart of defining the Cambridge aesthetic by supporting our book cover and text design in Academic.

The role sits within our Books Content Operations team and balances technical and creative skills in book publishing. The primary responsibilities of the role are checking cover images for suitability, commissioning a range of covers from freelance designers and agencies and ensuring our quality and technical standards are upheld. A senior designer would also be expected to manage and support on high profile areas of design such as text design, higher education textbooks and/or trade titles. There would be opportunity for development into applied cover design for interested and suitable candidates. We encourage continuous improvement across our department, and as a team make recommendations for improving processes and ways of working collaboratively.

Additional responsibilities and accountabilities include

• Commission and manage cover design projects from brief to delivery.
• Review artwork for quality, brand consistency and technical accuracy.
• Lead design for high-profile titles and key publishing programmes.
• Contribute to design standards, process improvements and best practice.
• Support and mentor colleagues within the Design team.

This position has been classified as a hybrid role, requiring the selected candidate to typically spend 40-60% of their time collaborating and connecting face-to-face at their dedicated location. Aside from our hybrid principles, other flexible working requests will be considered from the first day of employment, including other work arrangements should you require adjustments due to a disability or long-term health condition.

About You

You are creative, proactive and can organize your time well to manage conflicting priorities and deadlines. You are an excellent communicator who can express your thoughts and ideas clearly, honestly and respectfully to other members of the design team as well as the wider department.

You must be able to keep accurate records on work in progress and learn how to use new systems quickly. You will have strong skills with Adobe Creative Suite software (particularly Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator), evidence of technical and aesthetic design skills and qualifications or relevant experience to prove these capabilities. Ideally, you will have an interest in and awareness of the Academic publishing industry. Knowledge of printing and manufacturing specifications and digital specification knowledge is desirable but not essential.

If you meet the above minimum requirements, we encourage you to apply. Your application will be even stronger if you can also demonstrate the following desirable criteria:

• Experience in academic, educational or trade publishing.
• Experience commissioning and managing freelance designers or agencies.
• Experience of book cover and/or text design.
• Knowledge of print production and digital publishing specifications.
• Awareness of current publishing and design trends.

For a detailed job description, please refer to the link at the bottom of the advert on our careers site.

We are a Disability Confident (DC) employer that is committed to equality and inclusion ensuring our recruitment process is accessible to all. The DC scheme's Offer of an Interview commitment applies to applicants who opt in, and disclose a disability or a long-term health condition, and who best meet the minimum criteria for the role. In instances where interviewing all qualifying candidates is not practicable and/or appropriate, we prioritise those who best meet the minimum criteria, as we would for applicants who do not have a disability or long-term health condition.

Please note that Cambridge University Press & Assessment will not ordinarily be able to provide sponsorship for vacancies of less than 12-months in duration. Applicants must therefore have an existing right to work in the UK to be eligible for this position.

Rewards and benefits

We will support you to be at your best in work and to live well outside of it. In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a world-class, flexible rewards package, featuring family-friendly and planet-friendly benefits including:

• 28 days annual leave plus bank holidays
• Private medical and Permanent Health Insurance
• Discretionary annual bonus
• Group personal pension scheme
• Life assurance up to 4 x annual salary
• Green travel schemes

Ready to pursue your potential? Apply now.

We aim to support candidates by making our interview process clear and transparent. The closing date for all applications will be 4th November 2026. We will review applications on an ongoing basis, and shortlisted candidates can expect interviews to take place from week commencing 9th November 2026. Please send through your portfolio along with your application.

If you are shortlisted and progressed through the stages, you can expect:

• In-person interview at our Cambridge office. You will be provided with a brief to complete a role related task which will need to be returned by email in advance of your interview.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process due to a disability or a long-term health condition, there will be an opportunity for you to inform us via the online application form. We will do our best to accommodate your needs.

Please note that successful applicants will be subject to satisfactory background checks including DBS due to working in a regulated industry.

We are committed to an equitable recruitment process. As such, applications must be submitted via our official online application procedure. Please refrain from sending your CV directly to our recruiters. If you experience technical difficulties or require additional support with submitting your online application, contact the Recruiter.

Why join us

Joining us is your opportunity to pursue potential. You will belong to a collaborative team that is exploring new and better ways to serve students, teachers and researchers across the globe - for the benefit of individuals, society and the world. Sharing our mission will inspire your own growth, development and progress, in an environment which embraces difference, change and aspiration.

Cambridge University Press & Assessment is committed to being a place where anyone can enjoy a successful career, where it is safe to speak up, and where we learn continuously to improve together. We welcome applications from all candidates, regardless of demographic characteristics (age, disability, educational attainment, ethnicity, gender, marital status, neurodiversity, religion, sex, gender identity and sexual identity), cultural, or social class/background.

We believe better outcomes come through diversity of thought, background and approach. We welcome applications from people from all backgrounds and communities, actively seeking to employ people from a wide range of different communities.