Journalist – Part Time

We’re looking for people who can help deepen our relationship with local audiences. You’ll be a creative journalist and storyteller who reflects the diversity, energy and character of Suffolk.

Job Requisition ID: 41297

Job Closing Date: 7th April 2026

Ipswich, GBR, IP1 3EP
| Ipswich, GBR, IP1 3EP

JOB DETAILS

JOB BAND: C
CONTRACT TYPE: Permanent, Part Time for 14 hours per week – Monday and Tuesday each week.
DEPARTMENT: East News
LOCATION: Ipswich
PROPOSED SALARY RANGE: £27,600 – £33,900 pro rata, per annum depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range for this role reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

BBC Suffolk is looking for a great journalist with sharp writing skills and strong editorial judgement to work across our digital and audio platforms. You will play a key role in creating, producing and publishing high quality local news that connects with audiences wherever they are – on air, online, on social media, and via smart speakers. You’ll be adept at responding to breaking news, generating original stories and collaborating with our digital team to ensure content is delivered in accessible and engaging formats. You’ll be a team player with a can do attitude, an organised approach, and a talent for telling the stories that matter most to our communities in a conversational and relatable way.

WHY JOIN THE TEAM:

We’re looking for people who can help deepen our relationship with local audiences. You’ll be a creative journalist and storyteller who reflects the diversity, energy and character of Suffolk. Every day, you’ll help make BBC Local famous for its outstanding journalism and its deep understanding of the people we serve.
BBC Local is the family of services we offer across local communities in England—including radio, online, social media and TV. With established brands and new platforms, we provide a rich mix of content from news to entertainment.

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT :

Producing, writing and editing news content for BBC Radio Suffolk and our digital platforms, ensuring it is accurate, engaging and relevant.
Creating and adapting stories for multiple formats, including audio, online articles, social posts and smart speaker updates.
Generating story ideas that connect with local audiences and attract new ones.
Working collaboratively with presenters, reporters, editors and digital specialists across BBC Local.
Building and maintaining positive relationships with colleagues throughout the BBC.

YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA :

First class writing, production and organisational skills.
Significant recent experience in a fast paced news environment, preferably working with audio or digital platforms.
Good knowledge of Suffolk.
Strong editorial judgement and an understanding of the BBC’s audiences and distinctive news values.
Excellent communication skills, with a commitment to dealing with colleagues in an inclusive, nurturing and kind manner.

DESIRABLE :

A creative approach to producing impactful content across different output areas and platforms—including radio and digital audio.
The ability to write stories into Optimo.
An understanding of our audiences and experience delivering content with diverse communities in mind.
Experience producing news content such as summaries, digital articles or audio features.
Knowledge of relevant law and ethics for journalism.

If you can bring some of these skills and experience, along with transferable strengths, we’d love to hear from you and encourage you to apply.

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]

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.