Regional Director, News; Americas

JOB BAND:
Senior Leader
CONTRACT TYPE:
Permanent, Full-time
DEPARTMENT: BBC News

LOCATION:

Washington, D.C.

BBC News is the world’s most trusted news provider, committed to delivering independent and impartial news in an increasingly polarized world. We are embarking on a transformative journey to enhance our global reach, and develop our organisational structure to engage more with regional audiences.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM
As Regional Director, you will play a pivotal role, in conjunction with our commercial partners in BBC Studios, in driving commercial growth by developing regionally tailored strategies that expand audience reach and deepen engagement. By leveraging local insights and forging strategic partnerships, you will help unlock new revenue opportunities and ensure BBC News delivers compelling, high impact journalism that resonates with diverse regional audiences.

YOUR

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Develop a Regional Growth Plan:
  Set the editorial strategy and delivery plan for your region.
• Direct Journalism Production:
  Oversee the resources, commissioning, production and output of all journalism in your region, including all relevant language services, to enhance reputation and reach and provide value for money.
• Act as Ambassador:
  Represent BBC News as the most senior representative in your region, engaging with local political and regulatory stakeholders, and broadcast and digital partners.
• Manage Regional Budget:
  Oversee the allocated regional budget, ensuring effective strategic spend and ongoing cost efficiencies.
• Provide Leadership:
  Offer creative, inspirational leadership and editorial vision to enhance the quality of output in line with BBC News' strategic priorities. Work collaboratively with areas of Global Directorate and BBC News to reduce duplication and share skills and support where appropriate.
• Contribute to Governance:
  Participate in divisional and wider BBC Senior Leader governance, influencing the strategic direction of BBC News.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• To succeed in this role you will need to be a Senior level editorial and business leader with the following knowledge, skills, training & experience:
• Local regional knowledge - clear understanding of local markets and ideally some, if not all, of the languages serviced.
• Editorial Leadership - strong editorial and journalistic instincts through understanding how editorial outputs are commissioned, financed, produced, and regulated. Able to prioritise and oversee the management of multiple high risk stories in a newsroom environment including breaking news and deployments.
• Global mindset - able to adjust to different environments and cultures internationally.

• Determine how the region will deliver the regional growth plan and drive strategic priorities.
• Undertake a wide range of activities requiring complex analytics and decision-making.
• Lead the development of innovative solutions to facilitate BBC News' expansion into new directions or audience bases.
• Manage local language editorial teams and regional operational teams.
• Accountable for all editorial output for local audiences, operational performance, safety, and compliance.
• Build targeted regional partnerships and develop regionalized commercial strategies.
• Apply local insight and sector knowledge to understand the strengths and weaknesses of BBC News' services.
• Provide significant input to World Service Group and News & Current Affairs strategy.
• Develop clear editorial growth strategies for diverse and complex regions.
• Serve as the most senior role in the region and face-to-market for all key regional stakeholders, inclusive of government.

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.

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.

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