Senior Journalist; Social

Overview

JOB DETAILS

JOB BAND: D

CONTRACT TYPE:
Permanent, Full-time

DEPARTMENT: BBC Wales News, Digital

LOCATION:

Wales, hybrid

PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: £41,200 - £49,133, depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

We're happy to discuss flexible working. If you'd like to, please indicate your preference in the application – though there's no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

Welsh language skills aren't necessary for this role / Nid yw sgiliau'r Iaith Gymraeg yn hanfodol ar gyfer y swydd hon

Lead BBC Wales News’ social media team. You’ll help to set social strategy, run the on-day operation, and turn our strongest journalism into scroll-stopping posts and reels across BBC Wales News’ accounts. Sitting in Digital but working closely with Commissioning, Planning and Stories & Specialists, you’ll grow loyal, returning audiences—especially underserved groups—while upholding BBC standards in a fast-paced environment.

This is where BBC Wales News’ pivot to digital really lives: you’ll shape social formats, sharpen workflows, and help define how social media feeds our journalism (and vice versa). You’ll have autonomy, clear KPIs and fast feedback loops—with your learnings feeding directly into commissioning and planning. It’s hands-on and high-impact public service journalism.

• Lead daily social output:
  Plan, create and publish highly engaging social coverage of on-day, pre-planned and breaking news that is distinctive, visual and editorially compliant. Optimise content for each platform’s behaviour and our brand voice. Align with digital video, site and app, and linear to maximise cross-platform impact.
• Own the social strategy:
  Set priorities according to audience need. Develop formats that work well with social audiences and stay abreast of ever-changing social media algorithms.
• Make social the front door to our journalism:
  Create engaging content that also drives referrals back to our website.
• Coach and empower:
  Lead a small team of journalists to produce social content. Build playbooks, edit scripts and upskill reporters/producers on social storytelling and audience motivations.
• Measure what matters:
  Track and share audience insights (views, engagement, watch times etc) to inform future commissions.
• Run safe, compliant channels:
  Uphold the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines and legal responsibilities.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Senior-level judgement and proven social news leadership—setting priorities, shaping output, staying calm under pressure.
• Expert craft for social:
  Proven experience of creating and commissioning social slideshows, thumbnails, captions, reels and other platform-specific content.
• Audience-centred:
  Use data and research to inform choices – know what appeals to younger audiences in Wales. Balance the pursuit of engagement and reach with our responsibilities as a public service broadcaster.
• Editorial standards:
  Strong understanding of the importance of accuracy, impartiality and inclusion. Confidence in navigating user generated content (UGC), safety and legal considerations.
• Flexibility:
  Shift work, including some evenings and weekends within our hybrid set-up.

• Welsh language skills (spoken and written) or experience commissioning bilingual output.
• Familiarity with Photoshop, Social Flow and Wolftech.
• Experience of designing and evaluating pilots and reporting impact against newsroom KPIs.
• Experience partnering with correspondents and producers to land high-impact, social-led treatments.

You’ll sit within the Digital team, working day-to-day with the Digital Senior News Editor and Assistant Editors, to surface social opportunities early, shape pitches, and close the loop with audience insight.

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…