Head of Department

Job Introduction

Are you ready to drive the next wave of digital innovation? BBC R&D has a long history of industry-leading, and industry-changing, research and innovation. BBC R&D has led the way with innovative technology and collaborative ways of working. Building upon years of industry and academic collaborations and partnerships, we are seeking a visionary leader to head our Propositions Team within R&D —a new initiative dedicated to delivering transformative, audience-centred digital experiences. Reporting into the Director, R&D, this role will be instrumental in shaping the future of digital services for our audiences, developing next-generation media solutions, and creating commercial opportunities that align with our Value for All strategy.

As the Head of Propositions, you will:
• Lead innovation: Define ground-breaking digital services that engage audiences across all platforms.
• Forge strategic partnerships: Cultivate and secure partnerships, leveraging significant resources to develop and sustain new propositions.
• Develop business models: Create strategic roadmaps and sustainable business models aligned with BBC's KPIs.
• Utilise R&D assets: Transform the BBC's industry expertise and technological inventions into viable, market-leading propositions.
• Build a high-performing team: Manage a multidisciplinary team of experts in product management, software engineering, business strategy, and more.
• Collaborate at scale: Align with senior executives and industry leaders, fostering innovation across sectors.

About BBC Research and Development

BBC R&D is undergoing a transformation to focus its resources and talent on key strategic areas that align with the BBC’s mission and growth goals. With an end-to-end, propositions-led strategy, the R&D team aims to drive audience engagement, facilitate digital transitions, and enhance BBC's leadership in public service media.

This reorganisation involves consolidating expertise into specialised Applied Research Areas (ARAs) and supported by cross-functional Horizontal Teams. Together, these groups work to deliver innovative solutions that reinforce the BBC’s position as the first global digital public service broadcaster (PSB).

Key teams and their functions
1. Applied Research Area - Media
• Purpose: To drive transformation in media production, streaming, and distribution, ensuring content delivery that is efficient, scalable, and accessible across internet-connected devices.
• Focus: Developing scalable media tools and systems, advancing streaming capabilities for optimal user experience, and building distribution platforms that promote BBC services across diverse devices and networks.

2. Applied Research Area - Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Purpose: To lead in AI application development with a focus on language and multimodal systems, integrating computer vision and natural language processing (NLP) tools.
• Focus: Developing AI models tailored to organisational needs, enhancing content discovery through AI-driven tools, and ensuring safety and authenticity through advancements in AI ethics and verification.

3. Applied Research Area - Foundation
• Purpose: To transform BBC’s content supply chain with software and data innovations, optimising media and AI workloads through distributed cloud computing.
• Focus: Enhancing supply chain efficiency, adopting cloud-native software approaches, and leading architectural shifts in data management, allowing for a more flexible, sustainable digital-first environment.

4. Propositions Team
• Purpose: To innovate new digital products, services, and interactions through end-to-end Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies, leveraging design, development, and partnerships.
• Focus: Designing cutting-edge digital experiences, securing industry partnerships, and developing GTM plans that enhance BBC's market presence and audience reach.

5. Advisory Team
• Purpose: To provide strategic guidance on technology trends, influencing BBC’s technology standards, policy decisions, and long-term research directions.
• Focus: Analysing emerging trends in internet-first media, AI standards, and immersive technologies, advising on regulatory engagement, and shaping BBC’s future tech strategy.

6. Portfolio & Delivery Team
• Purpose: To align, track, and manage R&D’s project portfolio, ensuring maximum impact and alignment with BBC strategies.
• Focus: Overseeing project governance, resource allocation, and outcome tracking, while supporting agile project management across high-priority initiatives.

This streamlined structure empowers BBC R&D to maximise its impact, adapting to an IP-first, AI-driven media landscape, and ensuring a sustainable, globally influential future for public service broadcasting.

Key Responsibilities

Lead propositions definition and development:

 
Own the process for defining and agreeing long-term opportunities or problems that Propositions will address and Direct the Propositions team to work with partners to define innovative digital services that engage BBC audiences on any internet-connected device. Ensure these propositions leverage BBC R&D’s insights, inventions, and capabilities to create compelling and differentiated experiences that enhance user engagement and satisfaction.

 
Drive strategic partnerships and investment:

 
Originate, negotiate, and close partnerships that bring in significant resources – services, intellectual property, financial, technical, and human - necessary to develop, scale and sustain propositions. Develop and present compelling business cases to secure investment from both internal and external stakeholders, emphasising mutual value and shared goals.

 
Develop strategic roadmaps and sustainable business models:

Create and manage comprehensive strategic roadmaps and business models that align with BBC’s KPIs and the objectives of partners. Ensure these plans incorporate BBC’s unique assets and are adaptable to evolving market conditions and audience needs.

 
Capitalise on R&D inventions, assets and industry expertise:

Maximise the value of BBC R&D’s technological insights, inventions and industry influence by transforming innovative ideas into viable, market-ready propositions. Collaborate with R&D and external technology leaders to co-create digital propositions that lead the industry and drive new revenue streams. This includes putting in place departmental capabilities to efficiently monitor and manage and exploit assets, including any equity or contractual interest in propositions and enabling R&D to realise commercial income from its intellectual property.

 
Lead a high-performing, cross-functional team:

Oversee a multi-disciplinary team comprising product managers, software engineers, delivery managers, and business strategists. Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and agility to ensure the successful delivery of high-impact propositions.

 
Manage strategic stakeholder relationships:

Build and manage relationships with senior executives and leaders within and outside the BBC. Use these relationships to align and secure commitment to propositions, ensuring their successful development and operation as continuing services.

 
Foster collaborative Innovation:

Use the BBC’s position, relationships and expertise to influence collaborative innovation across the industry. Develop propositions that can thrive, creating long-term value for all partners involved.

Are you the right candidate

We’re looking for someone with strong entrepreneurial skills and a proven track record of successfully building, scaling, and exiting a business or start-up. If you have hands-on experience navigating the challenges of growing a venture, from ideation through to a successful exit, we’d love to hear from you.
About you, the ideal candidate will have:

- A proven track record in defining and launching digital propositions and sustainable business models.

- Experience in securing partnerships, investment, and IP management to support digital growth.

- Expertise in leading cross-functional teams to deliver impactful, scalable solutions.

- Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to navigate public service values and commercial goals.

If you are a strategic thinker with a passion for digital innovation, we want to hear from you. This unique opportunity will be integral to help shape future BBC products and services.

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. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours here.

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 want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

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.