Senior Journalist (Digital), Newsbeat

BBC Group and Public Services; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 39,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

An established industry player seeks a Senior Journalist to join their dynamic Newsbeat team in Birmingham. This role offers the chance to create impactful journalism tailored for a young audience, utilizing your expertise in digital formats. You will lead a talented team, driving editorial ambitions while ensuring high standards of accuracy and creativity. With excellent career progression opportunities and a commitment to diversity, this position is perfect for a passionate journalist eager to make a difference in the media landscape. Join a forward-thinking organization that values innovation and collaboration.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Training and development opportunities

Defined pension scheme

Discounted health care

Annual leave with options to buy extra days

Qualifications

• Proven experience in journalism with a focus on digital platforms.
• Strong writing and editorial judgment skills are essential.

Responsibilities

• Lead digital output and create engaging content for young audiences.
• Commission and publish stories across multiple platforms.

Skills

Journalism

Digital Content Creation

Video Production

Sub-editing

Media Law Knowledge

Team Leadership

Education

Degree in Journalism or related field

Tools

Video Editing Software

Content Management Systems

Job description

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Senior Journalist (Digital), Newsbeat

Journalism

Fixed Term - Full Time

Birmingham, GB, B1 1AY

BBC PUBLIC SERVICE B'CAST

Job Closing Date: 18/5/25

THE ROLE

• Job Reference: 23496
• Band: D
• Salary: £39,800 - £49,800. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
• Contract type: Fixed term contract / Attachment (9 months)
• Location: The Mailbox, Birmingham

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, gym and much more .

Newsbeat is the flagship news programme on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra and Asian Network, providing news to meet the needs of the networks’ target audience of 15-24 year olds. It’s a highly creative multi-platform team with a record of delivering original and impactful journalism for diverse audiences.

We’re looking for an experienced journalist with a range of written and video skills to help lead our digital output and work as part of a team of senior journalists driving editorial ambitions. You will be all over what’s reaching 15-24s on socials and know the difference between a viral meme and something with news value for the audience.

Main Responsibilities

You will have strong ideas for delivering original journalism in digital formats - by knowing what impacts and engages young audiences.

We’re looking for someone who can bring in and follow up on their own stories, as well as coming up with creative takes on the wider news agenda in the UK and globally.

You will be responsible for writing, commissioning and publishing content - including online stories, live pages and socials - and leading our digital team so sound editorial judgement is crucial. Newsbeat’s tone of voice feels distinct to other BBC content and it’s an ideas driven team, something you’ll be expected to both contribute to and support other colleagues to develop.

You will work with the management team, including the assistant editors and editors, to ensure our digital output reaches where our audience consume content online and is impactful inside and outside the BBC. Being passionate about our content is crucial to convince stakeholders it’s worth being promoted.

It’s a multi-platform team with opportunities to work on your stories beyond digital, including on-air reporting for our radio bulletins and programmes

Are you the right candidate?

We’re looking for an experienced journalist used to working in a busy newsroom with evidence of original, impactful reporting that has reached underserved audiences. It’s crucial you understand the role of Newsbeat and its diverse target audience, and how our digital output can best serve them.

You will be a digital production expert with brilliant writing and sub-editing skills, as well as a first-class understanding of video and audio. You will also know a great headline from one that doesn’t sell a story and know how important visuals are alongside that.

Sound editorial judgment and thorough knowledge of media law is a must, you’ll be expected to use creative flair while maintaining high standards of accuracy and impartiality.

You will have evidence of leading daily teams - helping to build an inclusive and collaborative department. A record of mentoring junior team members and experience giving constructive feedback to colleagues is also required.

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 behaviourshere .

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 clickhere .

Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct Employment screening checks which include Reference checks; Eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, Safeguarding and Adverse media/Social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.

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.