Job Introduction

The BBC’s Sports News reaches hundreds of millions of people a week across the UK and the World through our output on TV, Radio and Digital platforms. It has a track record of leading the way on major stories; delivering agenda-setting original journalism; and bringing the biggest sporting events to audiences with insight and impact.

Never before has sport been as central to the news agenda as now. Increasingly it is the prism through which many of the UK and the world’s biggest concerns – over identity, culture and politics – are played out. At the same time it continues to deliver exceptional human stories and on-pitch drama that engages huge and passionate audiences and brings the nation together.

That is why we need an exceptional leader to help commission and shape BBC Sport’s journalism and lead one of the best teams of journalists in the business. As this role involves bringing two existing teams together we also need a leader with a track record of collaboration and excellent people skills.

We want BBC Sport’s output to reflect and understand the audiences we serve - for example, the different geographical regions of the UK and the experience of people from underrepresented groups (eg people from Black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds, people with lived experience of disability, individuals within the LGBTQ+ community and those from lower socio economic groups).  We are therefore actively seeking individuals with skills or experience that can help contribute towards ensuring we maximise the diversity of our coverage and content.

Role Responsibility

In this role you will be working together with the Head of Journalism, to define and shape the sports news agenda across the BBC.

You will be responsible for commissioning stories, deploying teams and organising multi-platform coverage of sporting events across the UK and the World, ensuring BBC Sport continues to be the most trusted and valued sports news broadcaster.

You will also oversee the BBC’s Sports News TV output for Breakfast, the BBC News channel, BBC World and iPlayer, with a focus on creativity, ambition and serving all of the BBCs audiences.

As one of two Senior News Editors in the department, this role makes you responsible for managing a large team of 70-80 journalists and technical staff based in Salford and London. You will also be responsible for a significant budget and the need to make sure everything possible is done to deliver value for money, along with helping BBC Sport meet its sustainability goals.

The Ideal Candidate

We are looking for an experienced leader who is passionate about sport and journalism, with a track record in both.

You will be confident enough to commission original journalism and help BBC Sport to continue to set the agenda around some of the biggest and most challenging stories.

You will be committed to collaborative working and building a fully inclusive culture in Sports News and strong relationships across BBC Sport, BBC News and the wider BBC.

You will be somebody who believes sport is for everyone, with a particular passion for reaching younger and underserved audiences.

You will an exceptional people leader with a desire to find, grow and nurture talent at all levels.

You will be somebody who is always looking to the future, with an ambition to reshape output and story-telling to reach audiences wherever and however they want to consume and engage with sports news.

This is not an entry level role, we're looking for candidates with experience within the area, please review the criteria for the role before applying.

Package Description

Band: F
Contract type: 1 x Continuing
Location: Office base Mediacity when required, home working to be discussed

We’re happy to discuss flexible working. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

• Excellent career progression â€“ the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities â€“ our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.
• Benefits- We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (1 of which is a corporation day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.

The situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak is developing quickly and the BBC is keen to continue to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people across the BBC, while continuing to protect our services. To reduce the risk access to BBC buildings is limited to those essential to our broadcast output. From Wednesday 18th March until further notice all assessments and interviews will be conducted remotely. For more information go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/

About the Company

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity. 

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

Closing Date04 October, 2022