Unit Manager, Children & Education

JOB DETAILS

JOB BAND: D
CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent, Full-time
DEPARTMENT: Children’s and Education
LOCATION: Salford, hybrid working
PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: £55,000 – £65,000 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.

JOB PURPOSE

Children’s & Education is the BBC Department responsible for media content for Children across the UK.  Our mission “to serve ALL audiences through the provision of content which informs, educates and entertains” is delivered to young audiences via our recognised brands – CBeebies, CBBC and Bitesize. The Unit Manager is a key part of our Production team – providing strategic production management/business support across the C&E Department.  The role holder delivers effective leadership by ensuring production resource requirements are planned across the year, supports the best utilisation of funding, and facilitates the collation and understanding of performance data to ensure resources can be focused on the key priorities.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM

This is the entry point to the BBC for all future audiences.  As a Leader of our Production Management team you will work in close partnership with Senior Editorial leads to plan and deliver high quality projects to excite a new audience to make that initial introduction to the BBC.  The two Unit Managers within C&E each take responsibility for separate areas of Production – covering a portfolio of content spanning a broad curriculum offer to Students and Teachers via BBC Bitesize – as well as supporting the work across the website, Apps and social platforms which help magnify and promote both our CBeebies and CBBC content.  The role reports to the Head of Production.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT:

• Leadership and Operational Oversight: Lead the Production Management team and work closely with key stakeholders to manage day-to-day operations and ensure achievement of objectives.
• Financial Strategy and Accountability: Focus on overall business performance, ensuring accuracy of budgets and financial forecasts across the year and accountable for approving, setting, adjusting, and monitoring budgets within a slate, and assessing the financial viability of new content ideas.
• Resource and Headcount Management: Ensure efficient utilisation of headcount across the Unit and manage future planning of projects across the financial year.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Understand and use performance data to support discussions around repurposing resources to meet new priorities when relevant.
• Communication and Engagement: Develop and manage excellent communication across the unit, production management community, and department.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• Demonstrable business and finance skills, with the ability to create, forecast, and manage significant production resources and budgets.
• Strong interpersonal and collaborative skills, able to manage relationships across diverse teams.
• Current knowledge of the BBC and wider industry, with considerable experience delivering productions across various outputs or genres, on time and on budget.
• Strategic and leadership capabilities, including interpreting editorial briefs, generating efficiency ideas, strong negotiation skills and contract management, market awareness, and motivating teams to achieve results across a range of outputs.

DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED:

• Effective project management skills and a proven experience of delivering projects in a production environment.
• Comprehensive production expertise, including health & safety management, multi-platform technical understanding, commissioning and green light procedures, and advising on production systems and new technologies.

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.