Job Introduction
BBC News is one of the world’s largest and most popular digital news providers. We are looking for an enthusiastic and creative assistant editor to lead our global newsletters team in London, UK.
We have ambitious plans to grow our audience in North America. Users want more original reporting, innovative digital storytelling and a richer global perspective on both US and international news. Alongside a significant expansion of the team in the US and Canada, the BBC is also investing in new UK-based roles which will focus on serving this audience.
We are seeking an assistant editor to run a stable of newsletters which showcase the best of the BBC’s journalism. This will need to be global in nature but appeal specifically to North American audiences. It’s a job for someone with considerable experience in digital newsletters - equally comfortable with commissioning, writing and editing news and feature copy as with curation of content. The job is based at BBC Broadcasting House, in London.
BBC News is committed to creating a more diverse, inclusive and agile organisation that responds quickly to changing audience needs, provides you with exceptional career opportunities, and strengthens our position as a world-leading source of trusted and impartial news.
Main Responsibilities
- You will use your considerable experience in newsletter journalism to deliver a number of daily news-focused emails for a global audience.
- You will manage a small team of newsletter writers and work with editors across BBC News to ensure we are consistently showcasing the best content.
- You will have very strong writing and editing skills, and a clear sense of the importance of tone of voice.
- You should be prepared to experiment with subjects and formats, and have creative ways to produce habit-forming journalism and features.
- A knowledge of the newsletter market is crucial and you should have a thorough understanding of audience metrics in this field.
- You should have good leadership and communication skills and the ability to inspire a team.
- Building a close relationship with the digital team in North America will be important and you’ll need a strong sense of current events in the US and Canada and changing national conversations in those countries.
For further information on the role, please contact: Jonathan Duffy, Head of Curation
Are you the right candidate?
- We are looking for an experienced senior digital platforms journalist, preferably with a track record of commissioning and editing international news and current affairs for newsletter audiences.
- You should be confident working with correspondents and journalists in other parts of the world to deliver interesting and original takes on current events.
- You must have a deep knowledge of the BBC’s structure and the content we produce, and ideas for how we make that content relevant to a newsletter audience.
- Some ideas on how newsletters can fit into the wider BBC output is vital, and a strategy on how we should use them to grow our North American readership.
- Strong writing skills are essential, and experience of taking editorial decisions quickly and independently.
About the BBC
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.
To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here
Package Description
Band: E
Contract type: Continuing
Location: London
Job Application Requirements:
- CV
- Questionnaire with opportunity to detail your experience
You are eligible to apply for an internal role if you are either on a BBC Continuing (Permanent) contract, a BBC Fixed Term contract, a casual contract or freelance contract and you have worked continuously for 6 months.
Any offer of employment with the BBC will be conditional upon you having the right to work in the UK.
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 – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
- Unrivalled training and development opportunities – 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.