Senior Principal Software Engineer

BBC Group and Public Services; London; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 102,000; Full time

Job summary

The BBC seeks a Senior Principal Software Engineer to lead its Operational Excellence team. This role involves defining and implementing operational standards, consulting for engineering teams, and driving continuous improvement in reliability and efficiency within the BBC Product Group. The successful candidate will influence key strategies and ensure the evolution of engineering practices across the organization.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

25 days annual leave plus options to purchase more

Defined pension scheme

Discounted health care and gym

Excellent career and development opportunities

Qualifications

• Significant experience in leading operational excellence initiatives.
• Deep expertise in software engineering best practices.
• Recognized industry presence in broadcast or media.

Responsibilities

• Define and embed operational excellence standards.
• Provide consultancy and hands-on support to engineering teams.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives for operational maturity.

Skills

Leadership consultancy

Continuous improvement

Operational excellence

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

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BAND: E
DEPARTMENT: Product Engineering & Data, Enablement Dev Operations
SALARY: £95,000-£102,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent, Full-Time
LOCATION: Newcastle or Salford - Hybrid

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.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

The BBC Dev Operations function is looking to appoint a Senior Principal Software Engineer to play a key leadership role responsible for Operational Excellence team and dedicated to defining, embedding, and measuring best-in-class operational standards across the BBC Product Group.

This role will provide hands-on consultancy and support to engineering teams, driving continuous improvement and operational maturity through practical guidance, maturity assessments, and training. By owning the operational maturity roadmap, this role will ensure that engineering practices consistently evolve in line with Product strategy and achieve the highest levels of reliability, efficiency, and quality.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT

• Define and Embed Operational Excellence Standards - lead the development, documentation, and implementation of operational standards and best practices to ensure consistent, high-quality engineering across all teams.
• Consultancy and Hands-On Support - provide expert guidance, leadership consultancy, and augmentation to engineering teams, supporting the adoption of operational excellence principles and resolving complex operational challenges.
• Operational Maturity Assessment - design and conduct operational maturity assessments for engineering teams, identifying strengths, gaps, and opportunities for improvement.
• Continuous Improvement Leadership - drive continuous improvement initiatives by analysing operational performance, facilitating retrospectives, and implementing actionable enhancements to processes and practices.
• Strategy Definition and Business Case Sponsorship - define and evolve the operational excellence strategy in alignment with BBC Product Group objectives. Sponsor and develop business cases for key operational excellence and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Roadmap Ownership - own and evolve the operational maturity roadmap, ensuring alignment with the BBC Product Group’s strategic objectives and supporting the ongoing evolution of operational capabilities.
• Industry Representation and Thought Leadership - represent the BBC Product Group in external forums, industry groups, and conferences, sharing best practices and contributing to the broader operational excellence community.
• Knowledge Sharing and Training - oversee the creation and delivery of training materials, documentation, and workshops to upskill engineering teams and foster a culture of operational excellence.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration - work closely with engineering, product, DevOps/SRE, and service management teams to ensure operational standards are understood, adopted, and measured effectively across the organisation.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL

• Significant experience in leading operational excellence initiatives within large-scale software engineering and/or SRE functions, ideally in digital media, broadcasting, or similar high-availability environments.
• Deep expertise in software engineering best practices, reliability engineering (SRE), and the implementation of operational standards for distributed, cloud-native, or broadcast-critical systems.
• Proven ability to deliver leadership consultancy, drive strategy definition, and sponsor business cases for operational improvements in broadcast or real-time media contexts.
  Demonstrated success in designing and executing operational maturity assessments, continuous improvement programs, and measurement frameworks for software delivery and platform reliability.
• Excellent skills in cross-functional collaboration, knowledge sharing, and the creation and delivery of training or documentation for engineering teams, with an emphasis on operational excellence in broadcasting or media technology.
• Recognised industry presence, with experience representing a broadcast, media, or technology organisation in external forums, contributing to thought leadership, and staying current with emerging trends in software reliability and operational excellence.

If you can bring some of these skills and experience, along with transferable strengths, we’d love to hear from you and encourage you to apply.

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.

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.

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC 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.

Information at a Glance

This is your BBC

At the BBC you can create and innovate in an inclusive environment while contributing to some of the world’s best loved content, and the BBC’s mission to inform, educate and entertain.

Find out more about the BBC

Life at BBC

Here you will benefit from:

• Fair pay and flexible benefits including a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week, 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pensionscheme and discounted dental, health care and gym.
• Excellent career and professional development.
• Support in your working life, including flexible working which you can discuss with us at any point during the application, selection or offer.
• A values-based organisation where the way we do things is important as what we do.

Benefits may vary if you are joining on an FTC basis.

Learn more about life at the BBC and our values in our candidate pack.

Candidate pack

You belong

We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, so all our employees feel that they can belong, thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to join us. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

We welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief.

Find out more about diversity, inclusion and belonging in our strategy below.

Diversity, inclusion & belonging strategy

Disability confident

We are a disability confident employer. If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process, or to carry out this role, please contact us via email and we’d be happy to discuss: [e-mail]

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.