Senior Journalist

JOB DETAILS

JOB BAND: D
CONTRACT TYPE: Full-time fixed term/attachment until 27/03/2026
DEPARTMENT: BBC Wales News
LOCATION: Wales hybrid
PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: 49133 - 53100 depending on relevant skills knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

Welsh language skills are not required for this role

Were happy to discuss flexible working. If youd like to please indicate your preference in the application though theres no obligation to do so now. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

Lead digital production embedded with BBC Wales Specialists team on a fixed-term pilot. Youll turn stories in key topic areas and briefshealth education climate society communities culture money and businessinto clear high-impact journalism that will contribute to us meeting our weekly target for unique visitors. Sitting in Digital and embedded in the Stories & Specialists team youll shape on-day pre-planned and breaking output to grow our digital audience and provide an unparalleled service in a pivotal election year.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM
Youll help define how we scale specialist briefs for digitaltesting formats sharpening workflows and assisting colleagues to back the best stories. Youll have autonomy tight feedback loops and clear KPIs (reach engaged time Youth%)with your learnings feeding directly into how we commission and plan in the future. Its hands-on fast and meaningful public-service journalism.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT:

• Lead the daily digital production spine for specialist coverage: live pages news stories explainers timelines headline/push craft and visual treatmentsclear accurate distinctive.
• Orchestrate on-day and breaking coverage on specialist-area stories affecting Wales; coordinate on-platform treatments SEO social and video.
• Translate data research and policy into accessible formats (cards Q&As short-form video) that travel on site and social.
• Coach correspondents and producers with audience motivations and format playbooks; track story KPIs (reach engaged time Youth%) and share actionable insights.
• Join the dots across digital and linear output in English and Welsh to maximise cross-platform impact and bilingual potential.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• Exceptional editorial judgement and senior-level digital production experience in news.
• A proven track record of developing compelling digital story treatments which have made significant impact with the audience.
• Strong knowledge of Welsh public-interest areas (e.g. NHS Wales education reform climate transition cost of living culture SMEs) and ability to make complexity clear.
• Proven skill across live pages explainers and social video; confident with headline SEO and push-alert craft.
• Calm organised and decisive under pressure; able to lead multi-item days and breaking coverage.
• Audience-centred mindset; uses data to inform choices while upholding BBC standards on accuracy impartiality and inclusion.
• Flexibility to work shifts including some evenings/weekends within our hybrid setup.
  
  DESIRED BUT NOT REQUIRED:
• Welsh language skills (spoken/written) or experience commissioning bilingual output.
• Familiarity with BBC tooling and workflows (Optimo Wolftech social publishing; basic data-viz).
• Experience designing/evaluating pilots and reporting impact against newsroom KPIs.
• Background partnering with specialist correspondents on impact output or audience-led series.
• Ability to facilitate cross-team collaboration and land distinctive high-impact digital output.