Description

Closing Date: 02-Sep-2024

THE ROLE
Package Description
Job Reference: 14176
Band: D
Salary:  Up to £58,600 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
Contract type: Permanent
Location: Office Base is London Broadcasting House. This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working.
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 negotiable salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym. You can find out more about working at the BBC by selecting this link to our candidate pack.
If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process please contact the reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk.  For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk.
Freelancers are eligible to apply for an internal role if they are on a Worker Contract and they have worked continuously for 6 months. If they have worked for less than 6 months continuously or have a break of 3 weeks or more between engagements, they must seek Divisional HR approval to apply for an internal role prior to submitting an application.
If they are unsure which contract they are on, they can speak to their booker or the HR BP, however if it helps - both a PAYE freelance or Modus Gross contract is considered a Worker contract and covered by the Worker terms found here.
Job Introduction
The News Design team is a multi-platform, multidisciplinary team within BBC News.
We are responsible for the design and visualisation of a story end to end, across all platforms from our website and app to our flagship news broadcasts and social accounts. The team brings together digital designers, broadcast designers, and developers to provide compelling visual coverage of the biggest and most significant stories.
We are a fast-moving, digital-first news organisation at the forefront of delivering visually compelling and data-driven stories to our huge audiences. As the Creative Director - News Studio, you will play a crucial role in leading the team which creates high value, long lasting topic identities and branding for our content.
Shaping the visual narrative, and delivering engaging design solutions that work across multiple platforms, this position requires a strong background in cross-platform design with hard won experience of design and storytelling in a digital and broadcast news environment.
You need excellent team leadership and change management skills, together with the ability to work tactically and strategically, engaging users, stakeholders and designers alike.
Portfolio or show-reel (and password link) needs to accompany the application.
Main Responsibilities
Leadership and Team Management:
Proven experience to provide strong creative direction, guidance, and mentorship to the team members. A bold design vision, and the persuasive skills to make the vision a reality.
Skills to foster a collaborative and innovative work environment that encourages growth and excellence.
Ensure efficient resource allocation and manage workflow to meet tight deadlines.
Conceive and orchestrate interdisciplinary workshops aimed at investigating and refining design and process obstacles, as well as enhancements to workflow.
Proven experience of bringing data and user research to your problem solving techniques, and advocating for data informed design.
Design Strategy and Execution:
Create and implement a design strategy for the News Studio team that aligns seamlessly with the wider design team and the organisation's overarching digital first goals and objectives.
Embrace and champion a design philosophy that prioritises scalability and reusability, while staying abreast of the latest technical and software advancements that can contribute to realising our vision of producing a single design and build, for universal deployment.
Senior collaboration skills enabling cross functional work with editorial and data teams to identify compelling story angles and visual storytelling opportunities. Advocate for the user - always.
A strong design vision and the ability to oversee the creation of standard setting, visually engaging storytelling that works cross platform from the beginning.
Ensure the consistent quality, accuracy, and relevance of work produced by the team. You know when to say no, how to persuade stakeholders, and instinctively bring data and audience insights to your problem solving techniques.
Cross-Platform Experience:
Ensure you work within and contribute to Atlas, the News Content Design System, collaborating to ensure your team's work is part of the bigger design language. You understand design systems and their power to deliver a unified brand experience.
Evidenced understanding of emerging trends, best practices, and evolving technologies in multi-platform design and visual storytelling.
Continuously explore new tools, techniques, and formats to enhance the visual impact and user experience of news content.
Change Management:
Experience in effectively leading a team through organisational changes, technological advancements, and shifting priorities.
Identify and address challenges related to process improvements, workflow efficiency, and resource allocation. Advocate or scale and re-use.
Implement change management strategies to ensure smooth transitions and effective adoption of new methodologies.
Senior Stakeholder Management:
Collaborate closely with senior leaders, editors, and stakeholders to understand their goals and illustrate the impact of branded storytelling on driving user engagement.
Act as a trusted advisor, demonstrating a deep understanding of designs’ role in storytelling and audience engagement across our platforms.
Drive the conversation on component and template focused design for the News Studio.
Are you the right person?
Experience in graphic design, visual communication, UCI, or data design)
Experience in a design lead role.
Proven experience in leading and managing a team of designers and visual storytellers.
Strong portfolio demonstrating expertise in infographics, digital and motion design across various digital platforms.
Cross-platform experience, adapting content for web, mobile, and social media.
Excellent knowledge of design principles, typography, colour theory, and information hierarchy.
Proficiency in industry-standard design tools and software (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, data visualisation tools).
Familiarity with HTML, CSS, and web publishing platforms is a strong plus.
Exceptional project management skills with the ability to prioritise, delegate, and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills for effective collaboration with cross-functional teams and senior stakeholders.
Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment and adapt to rapidly changing priorities.
About the BBC
The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC for different reasons and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy, prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.
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 here.
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.