Senior data journalist, BBC Verify

Job requisition ID: 54991
Closing date: 2 November 2026
Job band: D
Contract: Full-time, 12-month fixed-term contract
Department: BBC News
Location: Broadcasting House, London
Salary: £47,000 to £57,000, depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience. The expected salary range reflects internal benchmarking and external market insights.

The BBC is happy to discuss flexible working. You can indicate your preference in your application, although there is no obligation to do so at this stage. Flexible working will also form part of the discussion at offer stage.

Purpose of the role

BBC Verify is looking for a senior data journalist to join its team at Broadcasting House in London. This one-year fixed-term role covers the whole news agenda, from domestic to international coverage.

The successful candidate will find and develop original news stories using their data journalism skills. They will also support the daily and investigative output of the wider BBC Verify team and collaborate with teams across the BBC newsroom.

Why join the team?

This is an opportunity to become an important member of an established, high-profile data journalism team comprising data journalists, data scientists, data designers and statisticians.

The team is part of BBC Verify, meaning its work often involves collaboration with colleagues specialising in misinformation and disinformation, fact-checking and open-source reporting.

As part of BBC News, the team’s work reaches audiences across online, television and radio.

Recent examples of its work include:

• Documents falsified to evade tax on Abramovich’s wealth, BBC finds
• Just how hot and dry was your summer? Use our postcode lookup to find out
• ‘We have nowhere to return to’: How Russia is seizing homes in occupied Ukraine
• 18 deaths from battery fires show hidden danger of UK’s e-bike boom
• Track UK’s latest migration numbers: net migration, visas, asylum and small boats

Key responsibilities

As a senior data journalist in BBC Verify’s data team, you will work on short-term graphics and data requests, live page posts, longer-term projects and investigations.

You will work quickly with data, finding simple and striking ways to explain and visualise the figures driving the headlines.

A key part of the role will be developing original story ideas from data and pitching those ideas with compelling treatments.

Essential criteria

• Demonstrable experience in a specialist data journalism role, including bylined projects and original stories.
• Proven ability to develop news stories and interactives using software such as R or Python, spreadsheet software, Flourish and geographic information system (GIS) software, as well as familiarity with using artificial intelligence (AI) responsibly.
• Demonstrable ability to combine data from different sources, including unstructured data captured from multiple sources and structured data from application programming interfaces (APIs), databases or spreadsheets.
• Demonstrable experience of advising non-specialists on how to understand and interpret data.
• Demonstrable experience of leading informal project teams involving colleagues from design and development teams.

Desirable criteria

• Strong story-pitching skills.
• Strong writing skills.
• Statistical knowledge.
• The ability to identify the opportunities and risks associated with using AI to create data projects and improve workflows.
• Knowledge of data visualisation best practice.
• Broadcast experience.
• The ability to plan and manage multiple projects alongside daily requests.
• A willingness to train others and share skills.

As part of the application, candidates are asked to provide four to six examples of published work.

If you can bring some of these skills and experiences, alongside transferable strengths, the BBC would like to hear from you and encourages you to apply.

Further information

This job description sets out the essential characteristics of the role, its principal responsibilities and the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. It is not intended to provide a complete and detailed account of every aspect of the role.

If you are offered the role, the BBC will carry out employment screening checks. These include reference and right-to-work checks and, where applicable to the role, safeguarding and adverse media or social media checks. Any offer will be conditional on these checks being satisfactory.

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges in line with the BBC’s recruitment policy. This allows the BBC to discuss any support you may need and assess any risks. Failure to disclose relevant information may result in the withdrawal of an offer.

For general queries, contact bbchr@bbc.co.uk.

Applications cannot be accepted by CV and must be made online.

Redeployment

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the organisation. These employees will receive priority consideration ahead of other applicants.

Priority consideration means employees seeking redeployment will have their applications considered alongside others at risk of redundancy before applicants who are not at risk are considered.