Journalist, BBC Sport, Social Media 1

BBC Group and Public Services; United Kingdom; Hybrid; GBP 28,000 - 38,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a dynamic team at an established industry player where your passion for sports and social media can shine. As a Social Media Journalist for BBC Sport, you will engage audiences with the latest sports news, covering major live events while maintaining the BBC's trusted reputation. This role requires creativity and a flair for writing, as you'll be responsible for managing some of the UK's biggest sports social media accounts. With flexible working arrangements and excellent career progression opportunities, this position is perfect for those who thrive in a fast-paced environment and are eager to make an impact in the world of sports journalism.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

25 days annual leave

Defined pension scheme

Discounted dental and health care

Training and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Professional experience in social media content creation for large audiences.
• Strong editorial judgment and in-depth sporting knowledge required.

Responsibilities

• Create and publish engaging content for major sports social media accounts.
• Cover live events and translate sports news for social audiences.

Skills

Social Media Management

Journalism

Content Creation

Editorial Judgment

Video Editing

Education

Degree in Journalism or related field

Tools

Instagram

Facebook

Twitter

TikTok

Job description

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Journalist, BBC Sport, Social Media 1

Journalism

Fixed Term - Full Time

GB

BBC PUBLIC SERVICE B'CAST

Job Closing Date: 09/02/2025

THE ROLE

• Job Reference: 21394
• Band: C
• Salary: £28,000 - £38,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
• Contract type: 3 x Fixed Term Contract / Attachment:
  • 2 x roles 1 Apr 2025 - 20 March 2026
  • 1 x role 1 Apr 2025 – 31 October 2025
• Location: Salford
• A typical week involves 4 x 10 hour shifts - While this is a hybrid role, days in the office are not fixed and the right candidate will need to balance office and 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 and much more.

If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process please contact the [e-mail]. For any general queries, please contact: [e-mail].

Job Introduction

Main Responsibilities

Social Media Journalists play a key role at BBC Sport, keeping our audience informed of the very latest sports news, covering major live events, driving online conversations around the biggest talking points and promoting the best of what BBC Sport has to offer across television, radio and online. You’ll do that as an author of some of the UK’s biggest sports social media accounts. This role will work predominantly creating and publishing content for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.

Our tone across social media is casual and conversational, but at the end of the day we’re still the BBC and that means you’ll be expected to uphold and build on the reputation we’ve carved out over many decades as the UK’s most trusted sports news source. Straddling that line between informal and authoritative is a real skill and something you’ll need to do daily in this role.

And while those core journalistic values of accuracy and impartiality are incredibly important, it’s not all facts, figures and breaking news reports on social media. After all, sport is meant to be fun and we like to reflect that in what we do on social media. Take a look at our TikTok account, for example, or our @bbcfootball account on Instagram: they’re aimed squarely at younger audiences and often skew light-hearted while still retaining BBC values.

This is a good time to mention working hours as it’s not your average 9-5. In this role, the standard work pattern is 4 x 10-hour shifts per week. A lot of sport takes place at weekends and in the evenings, so there’s an expectation you’ll be available to work at these times. Not every evening or weekend, of course, but you should be aware the role does often require “non-standard” hours.

The role is based in Salford and usually requires a 50-50 split of time spent in the office and working from home. Note that during major tournaments (e.g., Euros, World Cups etc.) there will be more office work required.

Are you the right candidate?

• Candidates for this role should have professional experience in a large organisation creating and publishing content on social media for large audiences. You’ll have a real passion and flair for writing engaging and succinct copy and really live and breathe social media.
• News or journalism experience is essential as much of the role centres around translating sports news stories and live sporting action to a social audience. Strong editorial judgement is required.
• In-depth sporting knowledge and experience covering live sport on social media is key but so is knowing your memes and social trends. We aim to inform AND entertain audiences. And while much of the output will centre around written work, a strong understanding of what works in the vertical video space is also required. Experience making/editing vertical video would be advantageous although not essential.
• You'll have a good grasp on what content works for social audiences. Why would we post a certain type of video on YouTube but not on Instagram? Which of our TV talent will connect best with our TikTok followers? And how might we best entertain the audience while still maintaining high editorial standards?

If you think you’d be a good fit we'd love to hear from you.

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. We also welcome applications from those who may wish to perform the roles on a part-time or job-share basis.

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 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.

DISCLAIMER

This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.

BBC Group and Public Services, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, United Kingdom, W1A 1AA. BBC Studios Distribution Limited, company no: 01420028, registered address: 1 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London, United Kingdom W12 7FA.