Head of 5 Streaming Technology

Channel 5 needs an experienced streaming professional to join its Product Technology & Operations leadership team. This role is an exciting opportunity to work in a fast-paced, commercially driven product technology team, alongside a number of other technology specialists and supplier partners.

Applicants should be passionate about the practical application of technology in streaming, with a professional or personal interest in online video delivery and streaming products in particular.

You'll likely have a background in software development or a closely related technical field with experience in system design, but are looking for a role with a broader remit where you can employ your skills across the entire technology estate.

Working within the product and technology team, you'll be responsible for the design and development of the core systems responsible for delivering Channel 5's content to its audiences across a growing range of digital platforms and devices.

What Will You Be Doing?

1. Hire colleagues as required, and manage on a day-to-day basis.
2. Lead, mentor and inspire a team of technology professionals, fostering a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning.
3. Support solutions managers in the delivery of platform solutions.
4. Be an authority who can guide and develop the team, enabling them to take on increasingly challenging exercises.
5. Act as an authority consultant to the broader team.
6. Lead relationships with our internal partners, including our internal video product team, and act as SME for those products within Channel 5.
7. Act as primary relationship manager with our infrastructure development partners.
8. Perform evaluation of developers, service suppliers and product vendors based on both the suitability of their technical solutions and consideration of the cost of implementation and support.
9. Develop architectural direction for our tech estate, and translate into developable steps to be delivered by development partners and tech solutions manager.
10. Perform technical vendor management across a range of incumbent technology service providers.
11. Oversee the development of technology solutions for Channel 5, guiding the specification of user stories and test cases, and assuring user acceptance.
12. Specify integration points between vendors' solutions, existing Channel 5 platforms and other dependent third parties.
13. Work closely with distribution partners to ensure technological advancements on My5 are consistent with partner platforms.
14. Develop and implement a comprehensive technology strategy that aligns with the company's objectives.
15. Work with operational teams to ensure products are designed to be supported operationally.
16. Support the establishment and management of appropriate non-production environments.
17. Point of contact for the architecture of VoD delivery systems, providing technical consultancy to internal teams and external suppliers.
18. Pay attention to industry trends, new products and technical developments and advise on their impact and benefit to Channel 5.
19. Gather and analyse business requirements to design, deliver and iterate best fit online video solutions.

What are we looking for?

1. Computer Science, Software Engineering or very similar technical subject qualification.
2. Self-motivated and highly organised, able to work well within a team, be flexible and handle time effectively against competing pressures.
3. Commercially focused, with an awareness of the impact of technology decisions on business priorities.
4. Must have led teams in the technology solutions space.
5. Strong oral and written communication skills.
6. Experience of software development, particularly based on web/internet technologies with use of APIs and service-oriented architectures (SOA) highly desirable.
7. Experience of agile application development processes including definition of stories and acceptance criteria.
8. Deep knowledge of VOD workflows and OTT delivery, including video encoding/transcoding, streaming protocols and DRM/content security schemes.
9. Understanding of the principles of origin hosting, the use of content distribution networks and other distribution/caching techniques.
10. Experience with multi-device/multi-platform services and vendors.
11. Extensive knowledge of the streaming sector, its evolving technologies, partners, pitfalls and benefits.