About BBC Studios
BBC Studios is a world-renowned content studio and channels & streaming business, powered by British creativity, with a reach that touches audiences in every corner of the globe.
We work with outstanding creative talent who are responsible for platform-defining shows from Strictly Come Dancing to Bluey, Prehistoric Planet to Planet Earth III.
The range and quality of our content is unsurpassed, creating critical and commercial successes and global phenomena.
From BAFTAs to RTS Awards, BBC Studios is Britain’s most awarded production company and the only producer with three of the top ten shows on IMDB; we’re the home of bbc.com, the widest-read English language news website in the world; and the UK’s largest distributor of British content.
Digital News and Streaming
At BBC Global Digital News & Streaming, (a team situated within BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC) we aim to help people understand the world around them, make informed choices, and take an active part in society and democracy. As we expand our footprint to meet increasing demand for our style of quality and impartial journalism and unscripted content in North America, we are seeking motivated, passionate, high performing individuals across a variety of skillsets to join our global team. Our primary locations are New York, Washington DC, and London; we are seeking candidates whose location allows them to work hybrid from any of these offices.
Join us and be an essential part of one of the world’s most recognized brands and trusted news organizations.
The Role
BBC Studios is hiring an Audience Engagement Editor in London to support content optimization and editorial curation.
You will wear several hats, as you leverage audience insights to elevate our daily report and help grow readership in North America for bbc.com and the international BBC app.
Primary responsibilities include:
- You will support editorial teams to commission and produce content for impact across channels, including supporting specialist teams to sharpen their output across business, tech, science, climate, culture and travel verticals
- You will advise the curation team on story optimization and placement to maximize engagement, leveraging best practice as well as driving new learnings and insights to enhance curation, including for the weekends
- On weekday shifts, you will prepare and share daily SEO and performance insights for our fast-paced U.S. News team to help inform editorial priorities as they kick of their day.
- On weekends, you will work hands on curating our homepage, front of app and other key indexes, employing both your editorial judgment and optimization skills to ensure we provide a consistently rich, high-quality offering to digital audiences outside the UK
Success in this role requires collaborating with colleagues across various teams, including editorial, growth and product. Reactivity and communication skills are a must.
The right candidate will demonstrate strong editorial judgment, a sharp eye for headlines and visuals, and a keen sense of U.S. and global audience needs in the digital space. You will have knowledge of SEO and growth tactics, and a desire to deepen your understanding of analytics to draw actionable, real-time insights.
This role sits in the Audience Development team as part of Content Strategy & Programming unit of our Global Digital News & Streaming division. It reports to the Head of Audience of Development.
This is a full-time position, based out of Television Centre in London on a continuing contract.
This position will work 5 days / 35 hours per week. The anticipated work schedule is Wednesday – Friday (1000 - 1800 GMT) and Saturday – Sunday (800 - 1600 GMT). Some flexibility is possible on the weekday shifts.
What Does It Take?
Main Responsibilities
In this role, you will:
1. Monitor and report on daily search trends and opportunities
2. Track changes in rankings and search performance and make recommendations to journalists and editors around headlines, linking trending search terms and relevant keywords
3. Prepare and share a (US) morning growth note reporting on daily trends across search, social and our own site performance to inform commissioning and output.
4. Participate (via Zoom) in the weekday news editorial meeting in DC, representing the audience team.
5. Use real-time analytics tools like Chartbeat and help drive new learnings and insights to elevate on-site experience through A/B testing, strategic experimentation, and performance analysis
6. Help shape pitches and commissions across news and other verticals to support reach and habituation initiatives
7. Stay on top of breaking news during your shift, taking the initiative to offer audience/SEO advice, and when curating the site, ensuring appropriate changes are made quickly to relevant indexes
8. Manage indexes to shape the day’s offer across site and app, ensuring it is consistently rich, relevant and engaging, while rigorously adhering to our editorial values and guidelines.
9. Always think about the mix of stories, formats and audience needs at different times of the day and for your geographical zone
10. Make sure our headlines are clear, fair and accurate, and that our image choices work for small mobile screens.
11. Prepare and share clear and informative handover notes
12. Stay across trends in audience behavior and digital news curation, including what competitors are doing in the space, to help inform our strategic decision-making
13. Collaborate within our audience team to prepare wider performance reporting, analysis and strategic insights for stakeholders across the organization
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
Knowledge & Skills
14. Candidates should have digital journalism experience, ideally including experience working across audience, growth and/or curation
15. An understanding of SEO strategies and best practice, and how to apply them to editorial output
16. Demonstrated ability to do keyword and trend research to provide actionable recommendations, as well as the ability to make this information easy to digest
17. Ease working in a CMS, and experience with tools like Google Trends, Google Search Console, Chartbeat, parse.ly, News dashboard, Newzdash
18. Have a broad and deep interest in the news and factual content
19. Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills
20. Desire to understand, in detail, the consumer experience on BBC digital products
21. Enthusiasm for the BBC’s unique position as a trusted news brand and a clear understanding of the importance of impartiality - and what it means in practice
22. Strong organizational, planning and time-management skills, including the ability to work well under pressure and prioritize effectively, even when dealing with competing demands
Professional Experience
23. 3+ years’ experience working in digital publishing in a news environment, ideally with experience in an audience, SEO or growth role
Behaviours
24. Good communication skills - a great candidate will be able to talk to colleagues across departments, including non-specialists, and communicate effectively with people remotely across multiple BBC sites
25. Collaborative self-starter, autonomous and problem-solving oriented
26. Detail-focused whilst being able to maintain a view of the bigger picture
27. Keen to challenge the status quo and take initiatives to drive positive changes
28. Flexibility and adaptability to sustain performance, particularly under pressure to meet deadlines and changing priorities or circumstances.
Knowledge & Skills
29. Candidates should have digital journalism experience, ideally including experience working across audience, growth and/or curation
30. An understanding of SEO strategies and best practice, and how to apply them to editorial output
31. Demonstrated ability to do keyword and trend research to provide actionable recommendations, as well as the ability to make this information easy to digest
32. Ease working in a CMS, and experience with tools like Google Trends, Google Search Console, Chartbeat, parse.ly, News dashboard, Newzdash
33. Have a broad and deep interest in the news and factual content
34. Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills
35. Desire to understand, in detail, the consumer experience on BBC digital products
36. Enthusiasm for the BBC’s unique position as a trusted news brand and a clear understanding of the importance of impartiality - and what it means in practice
37. Strong organizational, planning and time-management skills, including the ability to work well under pressure and prioritize effectively, even when dealing with competing demands
Professional Experience
38. 3+ years’ experience working in digital publishing in a news environment, ideally with experience in an audience, SEO or growth role
Behaviours
39. Good communication skills - a great candidate will be able to talk to colleagues across departments, including non-specialists, and communicate effectively with people remotely across multiple BBC sites
40. Collaborative self-starter, autonomous and problem-solving oriented
41. Detail-focused whilst being able to maintain a view of the bigger picture
42. Keen to challenge the status quo and take initiatives to drive positive changes
43. Flexibility and adaptability to sustain performance, particularly under pressure to meet deadlines and changing priorities or circumstances.
Life at BBC Studios
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 behaviours here.
The BBC is committed to building a culturally diverse workforce and therefore strongly encourages applications from underrepresented groups. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of their background. More information on our D&I plan can be found here.
BBC Studios puts sustainability at the heart of everything we do both onscreen and offscreen, including delivering against the BBC Group’s science-based Net Zero targets. More information on sustainability at BBC Studios can be found here.
We are proud to share that we are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and we strongly encourage applications from disabled people. If you meet the minimum criteria for this role and declare that you are disabled, we will ensure to advance you to the next stage (minimum criteria above).
If you require any reasonable adjustments in order to apply please contact us on k.
What Will You Gain From Working At BBC Studios?
44. Flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance
45. 26 days holiday (plus an additional day which is a Corporation Day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days
46. A defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more
47. Excellent career progression – access to courses, webinars, workshops and the opportunity to work in different areas of the organisation
Package Description
Salary: Up to £42,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.
Contract type: Permanent role
Location: Office Base is London; Television Centre. This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working.