Assistant Editor, Weekend Planning and Commissioning

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Assistant Editor, Weekend Planning and Commissioning

Journalism

Permanent - Full Time

London, GB, W1A 1AA

BBC PUBLIC SERVICE B'CAST

Job Closing Date: 16/04/2025

THE ROLE

Job Reference: 22726

Band: E

Salary: £54,000 - £64,250 plus London Weighting, depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

Contract type: Permanent

Location: Office Base is London Broadcasting House. This is a hybrid role and the successful candidate will balance office working with home working.

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.

Excellent career progression - the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.

Unrivalled training and development opportunities - our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certification.

Benefits: We offer a negotiable salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 25 days annual leave with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care and gym.

Job Introduction

The assistant editor plays a key role in our drive to deliver high-impact journalism and significantly grow our digital audiences on weekends. They manage a team of senior journalists and journalists who commission, edit and sign-off news stories, features, deep dives and quick hits for the BBC News front page.

Main Responsibilities

As a key part of our seven-day planning and publishing operation, the assistant editor will work with Commissioning Group and editorial teams across BBC News to spot, commission and edit ambitious content which meets the different needs of audiences at weekends.

You will be responsible for identifying angles and formats that will work for weekend audiences, driving them through from commissioning to publication and optimisation.

You will lead a small team of senior journalists and journalists who will work closely with teams from across BBC News to deliver sharp and engaging weekend pieces. The general working pattern is Wednesday to Saturday, with occasional shifts from Thursday to Sunday.

Are you the right candidate?

You will be able to demonstrate the following:

• A thorough understanding of what makes a successful digital text commission - from culture deep dives to complex on-the-ground reportage - and a proven track record of delivering them.
• Deep understanding of the different needs of weekend audiences, and how audience insights and analytics can guide commissioning.
• Acute judgement to filter, select, shape and prioritise story ideas from a broad range of commissioning points.
• Extensive experience editing, subbing and signing off high-impact text pieces for digital audiences.
• Great people skills to build strong and trusted relationships with an extensive range of content teams, including News Content teams, World Service, and programmes.
• A particular understanding of the importance of visuals and different formats in digital storytelling including video.
• A rich appreciation of UK and global news priorities.

About the BBC

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

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.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual's unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

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.

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.