BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit (NHU) is the leading producer of wildlife programming, creating award-winning content with a world class reputation.

Our output ranges from ambitious landmarks (Seven Worlds, One Planet, Dynasties and the forthcoming Frozen Planet II) to children’s programming (Deadly Dinosaurs and Andy’s Adventures), as well as ground-breaking travel, adventure, formatted, presenter lead and event programming such as Endangered for Discovery, The Year The Earth Changed for Apple TV+ and the BAFTA winning Springwatch for the BBC.

The successful candidate will be the creative driving force for BBC Studios Natural History development, through promoting and championing creativity, innovation and collaboration. The Head of Development is a key leadership role in the NHU, there to liberate and sell the ideas born from the NHU to the BBC and non-BBC clients, nationally and internationally.

This post-holder will lead the Natural History development team; will work closely with executive producers within the NHU and production executives, together with senior editorial and business colleagues in BBC Studios Factual. The post holder will have a determination and appetite for new business; they will be collaborative, always eager to bring people together to generate the best ideas and able to work across BBC commissioning teams and controllers, new relationships with external channels, BBC Studios Sales and Distributions, and international partners. The NHU’s Head of Development is a pivotal role in the projection of the NHU both internally and outside the BBC.

The priorities for this post-holder are as follows:

• Lead Natural History development in Bristol and in so doing, be based in Bristol.
• Work with Head of the NHU and executive team to build and maintain the development strategy of the department.
• Develop an expert knowledge of audiences.
• Build and manage the BBC Studios Natural History slate.
• Build and manage the non-BBC slate.
• Lead on key relationships with international partners.
• Help Head of NHU to build a development pipeline driven by creativity, reputation, purpose and profit.

Role Responsibility

• Provide inspirational leadership and direction for development across the NHU
• Lead the generation and pitching of original, ambitious and compelling ideas
• Discover, develop and nurture a diverse range of on and off screen talent in the Natural History genre and work with talent agents
• Work collaboratively with the NHU Digital team to develop new forms of Natural History content and respond to needs created by new digital environments.
• Build relationships with a range of commissioning editors, across all channels, both in the UK and across the Global Market.
• Collaborate closely with NHU executive producers, with BBC Studios Sales and Distributions, and international co-production partners.

The Ideal Candidate

• Proven experience in generation of ideas that have resulted in commissions, and proven experience in running a successful team that has generated commissions.
• Strong leadership skills, including inspiring and motivating teams.
• Experience in working with key on and off screen talent.
• Proven expertise in developing a variety of factual formats.
• Ability to develop and manage a wide range of complex internal and external relationships.
• Broad industry knowledge and sound understanding of the external trends and forces, with good knowledge of commercial opportunities worldwide.
• A respect and understanding of different audiences and how they are changing.
• Excellent pitching skills, practiced in using different pitching styles and production of must-have sizzles.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Programme making experience and an awareness of how productions and budgets work.
• Understanding of the digital environment, trends and opportunities.

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Package Description

Band: F
Contract type: Fixed term, 12 months
Location: Bristol

Start date: Feb 2022

Interviews will be held via Zoom in early Jan 2022.