Director of News – BBC News

The BBC is recruiting a Director of News, accountable for setting and delivering its strategy across editorial, operational and financial dimensions.

Job Requisition ID: 48159

Job Closing Date: Friday 10 July 2026

The BBC is the world’s leading public service media organisation, established by Royal Charter to deliver impartial, high-quality and distinctive output that informs, educates and entertains. With annual income of approximately £5bn, it operates at scale across television, radio and digital services in the UK and internationally. With a global newsroom of c.4,500 staff, reaching 418 million people globally on average per week across 40+ languages, supported by World Service teams in 75 cities across 63 countries, BBC News is the most used and most trusted news provider globally, combining unrivalled scale with a deep commitment to editorial excellence, independence and the highest journalistic standards.

The BBC is recruiting a Director of News, accountable for setting and delivering its strategy across editorial, operational and financial dimensions. The Director of News will be responsible for sustaining and strengthening BBC News’ reputation for trusted journalism; upholding editorial excellence, impartiality and standards across all output; delivering universal reach and relevance for UK audiences; and strengthening reputation, reach and sustainable revenue in the dynamic global media environment. The remit includes oversight of editorial standards, organisational performance and long-term sustainability, alongside delivery of transformation to improve digital relevance and audience engagement.

The successful candidate will possess:

Senior editorial leadership experience within a large, complex and high-profile news organisation, with credibility to lead at global scale.
Strong editorial judgement, including experience managing high-pressure and high-visibility issues.
Experience leading large, matrixed organisations and driving transformation across structure, capability and ways of working.
Experience leading large-scale digital transformation and responding to changing audience behaviours, alongside sound financial and commercial judgement.

Key responsibilities will include:

Accountability for editorial excellence, standards and governance.
Maintaining and growing trust in BBC News across all platforms.
Setting and leading the strategic direction for BBC News, aligned to changes in audience behaviour, technology and the global news environment.
Leading innovation in approaches to journalism, stories and their distribution to improve digital growth, efficiency and long-term relevance.
Overseeing international strategy, including global editorial priorities, partnerships and commercial activity.
Contributing to organisation-wide decision-making as a member of the Executive Committee.

Reporting to the Director-General, the successful candidate will lead a globally significant newsroom and play a central role in shaping the future direction of BBC News. This is a senior leadership role with responsibility for a news operation which ranks first for independence and reliability.

Interested applicants should submit their CV and a brief statement detailing their suitability for the position to Spencer Stuart at [email protected]. Please be aware that all applications will be managed by Spencer Stuart, who will have access to your CV and personal details for the purpose of this vacancy.

The closing date for applications is Friday 10 July 2026.

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.

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Recruitment policy. This allows us to discuss any support you may need and assess any risks. Failure to disclose may result in the withdrawal of your offer.

For any general queries, please contact: [email protected]

We are unable to accept applications via CV and only applications made online will be considered. Please click on the APPLY NOW button to proceed with your application.

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.