Head of Production, Video & Audio

The Times and The Sunday Times represent a combined 400 years of covering news and providing comment and analysis on the UK and the world. We are authoritative, credible, responsible, trusted and a part of the nation’s cultural heritage.

Your role: The Times and The Sunday Times are seeking an experienced Head of Production to lead the operational delivery of our digital storytelling. This is a newly created leadership position designed to unify our production standards across Video and Podcasts.

Day to day you will: 

• Serve as the single point of accountability for the full production workflow, guaranteeing a smooth, scalable process from recording through post-production to final distribution.
• Manage the Production Managers who oversee day-to-day video and podcast output, allowing you to focus on elevating production standards to a singular, world-class Times benchmark.
• Ensure that our technical infrastructure is future-proofed for a global audience by identifying and integrating the next generation of production technology, from AI-assisted workflows to cloud-based collaborative editing.
• Oversee the departmental budgets across the slate, planning and allocating spend per series and episode, and reallocating resources as needed to ensure optimal delivery outcomes.
• Establish and oversee robust end-of-production workflows to ensure all deliverables, paperwork, rights documentation, and compliance materials are accurately completed, securely archived, and distribution-ready
• Lead negotiations for music licensing, archive access, and technical procurement to ensure our teams have the best tools and rights in place.
• Coordinate the strategic development of our physical and virtual studio spaces to ensure they are optimised for the overlapping needs of cinematic video, high-fidelity audio, and live social broadcasting.
• Act as the primary operational partner to Heads of departments, translating ambitious investigative journalism into viable, high-impact multi-platform realities.
• Serve as the final authority on health and safety, risk assessments, and media law compliance (Copyright, Ofcom, Data Protection) across all non-print output.
• Design and manage a sustainable recruitment and freelance strategy, ensuring a diverse, top-tier talent pool is available to meet the demands of a 24-hour newsroom.

What we’re looking for from you: 

• Extensive experience leading production at a senior level within a major media organisation or broadcaster, with a deep, professional understanding of video (long and short-form), podcasts, and social-first content.
• A proven track record of management with the ability to move seamlessly between high-level operational strategy and the granular details of complex production workflows.
• Significant experience managing large-scale, departmental budgets, with the ability to forecast spend, optimise resources, and deliver maximum value across multiple workstreams.
• A “systems-first” thinker with experience designing and implementing production frameworks that bring together disparate teams into a unified, efficient engine.
• A sophisticated understanding of current and emerging media technologies, including the transition toward cloud-based production and AI-integrated workflows.
• Exceptional communication and diplomacy skills, with the ability to build trust and influence at the highest levels of editorial and commercial leadership.
• Robust knowledge of media law, copyright, and usage rights across global territories, alongside a deep commitment to rigorous health and safety and risk management protocols.
• The ability to remain unflappable in a fast-paced newsroom environment, pivoting quickly between the immediate demands of breaking news and the long-term planning of flagship series.
• A passion for mentorship and a proven ability to build, lead, and retain diverse, high-performing production and technical teams.

We are News UK: One of the leading media businesses in the UK and Ireland.  Our newsbrands include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun, The Sun on Sunday and The TLS. Our national broadcast brands include talkSPORT, Times Radio, Talk and Virgin Radio UK, and we have market-leading local radio stations across Ireland. Our world-famous brands provide news, analysis, opinion and entertainment to almost 40 million people each month. Spanning print and pixel, audio and video, events and experiences, our multiplatform brands are home to a plurality of opinion, representing the diverse communities we serve. News UK is wholly owned by News Corp.

Life at News

Driven by passion, guided by principles and acting with purpose. We represent, reflect and reach the nation, telling the stories that matter. We inform our audiences so that they can make decisions based on trusted information.

To do this, we believe our employees must represent different backgrounds, perspectives and experiences. We strive to maximise and encourage every individual’s potential and ensure everyone feels valued. We support this through our Diversity Strategy, which focuses on three main priorities – attracting talent from a wider, more representative pool, developing equity programmes to drive better representation in our leadership, and ensuring diversity in our workforce as well as the journalism and content we produce. We also currently have 13 employee led networks and groups that support our strategy and connect like minded employees socially.

Benefits

Some of our benefits include:

• Maternity leave up to 18 weeks full basic salary & paternity leave up to 2 weeks
• Wide range of training available, plus full LinkedIn Learning access
• Private medical insurance including coverage for pre-existing conditions
• Discounted gym memberships, free ClassPass at Home, weekly virtual yoga classes
• ‘Bikes for Work’ and ‘Electric Car’ scheme
• Up to 60% discount on Harper Collins books
• Access to exclusive events and competitions with exciting brands such as talkSPORT, Virgin Radio UK & The Times. Weekly virtual panel chats with top journalists and celebrities
• Access to wellbeing benefits such as EAP, physio/massage and counselling
• A generous pension scheme with employer contributions of up to 5%
• 30 days holiday, plus bank holidays and up to 4 volunteering days per year

We are committed to providing an inclusive recruitment process. If you require reasonable adjustments due to a disability or health condition at any stage of your application or interview, please let us know. You can contact us at [email protected] to discuss how we can support you to perform at your best.