Senior Audience Engagement Editor

BBC Studios Ltd; Greater London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading content production company in London seeks a Senior Audience Engagement Editor to optimize content and enhance audience engagement. This role requires 5+ years in digital journalism with a strong grasp of SEO strategies. Key responsibilities include supporting editorial teams, curating digital content, and tracking audience trends to maximize impact. The position offers a flexible work environment with competitive salary and benefits, while contributing to a globally recognized brand.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

26 days holiday

Defined pension scheme

Career progression opportunities

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in a news environment.
• Ability to communicate with colleagues across departments.
• Strong ability to craft effective headlines.

Responsibilities

• Support editorial teams to commission and produce content.
• Prepare and share daily SEO and performance insights.
• Curate homepage and other key indexes on weekends.

Skills

Digital journalism experience

SEO strategies

Keyword and trend research

Communication skills

Organizational skills

Tools

Google Trends

Google Search Console

Chartbeat

CMS

Job description

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.

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.

Commercial News

At BBC Studios, (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.

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 a Senior 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, strong ability to craft effective headlines and select 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:

• Monitor and report on daily search trends and opportunities
• Track changes in rankings and search performance and make recommendations to journalists and editors around headlines, linking trending search terms and relevant keywords
• 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.
• Participate (via Zoom) in the weekday news editorial meeting in DC, representing the audience team.
• 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
• Help shape pitches and commissions across news and other verticals to support reach and habituation initiatives
• 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
• 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.
• Always think about the mix of stories, formats and audience needs at different times of the day and for your geographical zone
• Make sure our headlines are clear, fair and accurate, and that our image choices work for small mobile screens.
• Prepare and share clear and informative handover notes
• Stay across trends in audience behavior and digital news curation, including what competitors are doing in the space, to help inform our strategic decisionmaking
• 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

• Candidates should have digital journalism experience, ideally including experience working across audience, growth and/or curation
• An understanding of SEO strategies and best practice, and how to apply them to editorial output
• Demonstrated ability to do keyword and trend research to provide actionable recommendations, as well as the ability to make this information easy to digest
• Ease working in a CMS, and experience with tools like Google Trends, Google Search Console, Chartbeat, parse.ly, News dashboard, Newzdash
• Have a broad and deep interest in the news and factual content
• Clear and effective written and verbal communication skills
• Desire to understand, in detail, the consumer experience on BBC digital products
• 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
• 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

• 5+ years’ experience working in digital publishing in a news environment, ideally with experience in an audience, SEO or growth role

Behaviours

• 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.
• Collaborative, proactive and able to work independently, autonomous and problem-solving oriented
• Detail-focused whilst being able to maintain a view of the bigger picture
• Keen to challenge the status quo and take initiatives to drive positive changes
• 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 [e-mail].

What Will You Gain From Working at BBC Studios?

• Flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance
• 26 days holiday (plus an additional day which is a Corporation Day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days
• A defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more
• Excellent career progression – access to courses, webinars, workshops and the opportunity to work in different areas of the organisation

Package Description

Salary: Up to £60,000 depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

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.

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.

Redeployment

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

BBC Group and Public Services, Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, United Kingdom, W1A 1AA. BBC Studios Distribution Limited, company no: 01420028, registered address: 1 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London, United Kingdom W12 7FA.