Country Director at BBC

Job Reference: BBC/TP/788768/36027
Location: Abuja, Nigeria (with regular travel within Nigeria)
Job family: Business Management & Administration
Contract Type: Permanent
Band: E
Division: BBC Media Action
Job Category: Journalism
Reports to (title): Regional Director

Job Purpose

• To lead the development and implementation of the Nigeria country strategy. Responsible for building and developing a team to develop and deliver projects to agreed targets and objectives, ensuring compliance with BBC editorial standards in all outputs.      

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Provide dynamic, inspirational leadership and management to production, training, research and administrative teams.
• Provide sound management and editorial leadership to the country team, ensuring all outputs adhere to the BBC editorial standards.
• Manage and develop a diverse team, ensuring that staff are appropriately inducted, trained and developed, and performance is appropriately managed.
• Represent and be accountable for the organisation and ensure its work in the country is relevant and appropriate.
• Ensure all activities are delivered within agreed standards, timescales and budgets.
• Develop and implement country strategy, including identifying future business development opportunities and writing new project proposals.
• Lead the expansion of the organisation’s portfolio in the country, including identifying future business development opportunities and writing new project proposals.
• Develop and manage effective relationships with funding agencies, stakeholders and partners, including development of new funding opportunities.
• Report regularly to BBC headquarters on editorial, operational, legal and financial issues.
• Oversee the registration of country office as a branch office or equivalent , making sure it complies with local law.
• Oversee the establishment of a new office where required, including establishing systems and processes to ensure delivery and growth
• Ensure effective office management, so that finance and administrative functions are carried out in line with BBC guidelines and local regulatory requirements.
• Ensure the security, health and safety of staff are prioritised, that training and support are adequate and BBC security and safety procedures are adhered to.

Knowledge, Skills, Training and Experience

• Proven track record of developing and securing donor-funded multiyear international development or media projects, including successfully developing new project ideas, writing proposals, and presenting these persuasively to funders.
• Proven ability to deliver complex development projects to deadlines and within budget, with good track record of donor liaison and reporting.
• Significant experience managing budgets of over £1 million, including demonstrating effective use of resources and value for money.
• Substantial experience in the management of large, diverse teams of staff, including recruitment, management, discipline and professional development
• Demonstrable field-based experience of the international development and/or media-for-development market in Africa
• Substantial experience living and working overseas.
• Considerable experience of working in the media or development sector, preferably both.
• Substantial experience living and working overseas.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including experience working with colleagues whose first language is not English.
• A proven track record of forming effective relationships with a range of local and international donors and other partners, including at the highest levels of government and media, managing effective collaboration between partners and stakeholders, including those with differing agendas.
• Strong understanding of and commitment to international development, including the use of media for developmental goals.
• Demonstrable understanding of and preferably experience in media, with the potential to acquire strong editorial skills in order to make sensitive editorial judgements at a senior level.
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Dynamism, proactivity and personal resilience, and demonstrable ability to adapt to changing and uncertain circumstances.

Desirable:

• Experience working in Nigeria or on projects related to the country.
• Relevant language skills to the country.

Job Impact
Decision making:

• Reports to Regional Director or equivalent
• Identify a vision along with the plans which need to be implemented to meet the end goal. Evaluate situations, decisions, issues, etc. in the short, medium and longer-term.
• Create a vision and inspire others to realise it irrespective of circumstance.
• Present sound and well-reasoned arguments to convince others, draw from a range of strategies to persuade internal and external stakeholders in a way that results in agreement or behaviour change
• Build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people.
• Adopt a range of styles, tools and techniques appropriate to the audience and the nature of the information in order to get the message clearly understood.
• Take initiative, originate action and be responsible for the consequences of the decisions made.
• Think ahead in order to establish an effective and appropriate course of action for self and others. Prioritise and plan activities taking into account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resources requirements.

Scope:

• Manage a budget and contribute to budget setting.
• Recruit, manage and develop a team
• Lead on multiple ad-hoc projects.

Appendix:

• There may be sub-sets of the generic job described above which require additional technical skills. This appendix to the generic job description can be developed to cover such situations.