Job Description

The role
We have a new opportunity for a Lit in Colour Manager to join our Brand team on a 12 month FTC basis to cover a period of parental leave. This role is offered with hybrid working from our office in Embassy Gardens, London a minimum of 2 days per week.
As the Lit in Colour Manager, you will be responsible for coordinating and managing all core campaign activities for Lit in Colour, our flagship social impact programme. Lit in Colour supports UK schools to make the teaching and learning of English Literature more inclusive of authors of colour, and to increase students' access to books written by authors of colour. Lit in Colour is also part of Penguin's wider Diversity and Inclusion strategy and commitment to being a purpose-driven organisation and brand.
Reporting to the Head of Social Impact, your role will also include maintaining strategic exam board, publisher and other third party relationships and it will therefore be essential that you are a strong relationship builder at all levels. You'll work to maintain and enhance existing networks; publishing and promoting key teaching resources, and applying your influencing skills to gain the support and championship of educational policymakers including the Curriculum and Assessment Review panel.
Lit in Colour
Just 1.5% of young people in England study a book by a writer of colour at GCSE. This needs to change.
If you agree, this could be the job for you.
Lit in Colour is Penguin's multi-award winning programme which supports UK schools to diversify the teaching of English literature, and give more students access to more books and stories by Black, Asian and minority ethnic writers.
In 2021 with our principal programme partner, the UK's leading race equality think tank, The Runnymede Trust, we published the Lit in Colour report. This research was fundamental to understanding the barriers preventing more books by writers of colour being taught in the classroom. Since then, we're focused on being part of the solution by working in partnership with organisations like exam boards and other publishers, cultural and education organisations, to give schools the tools they need.
This is a unique opportunity for you to make your mark on a future generation of readers.
Key responsibilities:
Managing partnerships

• Project manage the overall Lit in Colour campaign, keeping on top of key deadlines, ensuring key stakeholders are kept up to speed and managing the programme budget.
• Manage and maintain relationships with key partners and stakeholders to ensure the efficient delivery of agreed activities that promote and help schools study books by writers of colour including exam boards, publishers and cultural and other education organisation.
• You'll also have line management responsibilities for 2 heads (Senior Social Impact Executive and Social Impact Assistant).

Programme management

• Coordinate recurring operational and governance meetings including internal Teacher Stream, Exam Board Delivery, Project Board and Advisory Board meetings.
• Deliver and support events, training seminars/ conferences for teaching audiences/partner events such as Black British Book Festival, NEU Conferences, Twinkl CPD, British Library online sessions etc.
• Maintain and manage all freelancer relationships in partnership with Senior Social Impact Executive.

Communications

• Work closely with internal and external teams on Lit in Colour's media and comms strategy, to engage with and influence educational policymakers.
• Support ongoing coordination of communications responding to Curriculum & Assessment Review report ensuring both brand and campaign key messages relayed.
• Responsible for leading communications with key audience of teachers, colleagues, and young people, including sending Lit in Colour stakeholder bulletin, overseeing Teacher Newsletter. Working with internal teams is key to this.

Overseeing resource creation

• Commission and oversee the production of high quality Lit in Colour free teaching resources such as the annual (incomplete) Lit in Colour book list, curriculum & exam board specific resources, Twinkl's primary resource series.

What you'll bring
Essential criteria:

• Knowledge of contemporary and classical writing by writers of colour.
• Passion and enthusiasm for English literature reform, books and reading.
• Demonstrable project or programme management experience.
• Resilient attitude and awareness of emotional impact of working on issues related to race, racism, representation.
• Exceptional stakeholder management and collaboration skills, with the ability to build strong relationships quickly and effectively.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to tailor communication style to different audiences.
• Good IT skills - comfortable with Microsoft Word, Excel, Outlook.

Preferred criteria:

• Experience in campaigning, policy influence or public affairs.
• Experience of working directly with schools and teachers or delivering teacher training.

Application instructions
Please apply with your CV and Cover Letter outlining your reasons for interest in this role by 23:59 on Sunday 2nd November 2025.
AI
Here at Penguin, we believe in the power of authenticity and human creativity. When you apply for a position, we want to encourage you to showcase your unique voice. Throughout our recruitment process, please share your own thoughts, experiences, and skills. This helps us get a true sense of who you are and what you might bring to our team.
We celebrate creativity and diverse perspectives, so please be yourself! While we recognise AI tools can be helpful, we recommend using them thoughtfully to ensure your responses reflect you.
Salary
Up to 45,000 depending on how your skills and experience align to the role, plus benefits.
Hybrid working
While our offices across the UK are places to connect, collaborate and celebrate with colleagues, we recognise that flexibility around where you work is just as important. For this role we expect that you will work from the Embassy Gardens office in London a minimum of 2 days per week (Tuesday & Thursday), and be available to attend on other days as required by the business.
The recruitment process: You can read about our recruitment process at
As a Disability Confident Committed organisation, we're part of the offer an interview scheme. This is where disabled applicants who meet the essential criteria for the role can opt in to get to the next recruitment stage. There may be some situations where volume of applicants means we can't take all eligible candidates to interview.
We encourage you to tell us about any reasonable adjustments you may need by emailing . 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: The Random House Group Limited | Job ID: 283706

Skills Required