Senior Journalist, BBC Great Lakes

YOUR KEY RESPONSIBILITIES AND IMPACT:

• Oversee continuous digital publishing on the BBC Great Lakes website, commissioning and editing articles, video embeds, image galleries and social media posts to maintain a regular publishing pattern that keeps audiences returning throughout the day.

• Support the Assistant Editor to lead BBC Great Lakes transformation to a digital-first, video-led service, creating a culture of editorial ambition, personal accountability, mutual respect and continuous learning.

• In collaboration with the Assistant Editor, will develop and implement a data-led video strategy designed to drive measurable digital growth, with a focus on expanding reach among younger and female audiences.

• Commission, edit and deliver high impact original journalism, including exclusives, investigations, explainers and digital-first content.

• Use audience analytics tools to monitor digital performance during and after each shift, identifying what is resonating with audiences and adjusting commissioning and publishing decisions accordingly.

• Supervise the daily production of BBC Great Lakes visualized and linear radio output, ensuring the live programme is produced and broadcast to a high standard and is simultaneously suitable for streaming on YouTube.

• Manage the practical workflow of the shift, assigning tasks, monitoring progress against deadlines and redistributing resource as the news agenda changes. Contribute to the training and development of junior journalists, providing constructive in-shift coaching on digital production, writing, video and cross-platform working.

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

• Demonstrable experience of leading digital-first news output, with a clear understanding of what drives engagement, traffic and audience growth on digital platforms.

• Hands-on experience of commissioning and editing content for multiple digital platforms simultaneously, including news for website, YouTube, Facebook and YouTube Shorts.

• Strong working knowledge of audience analytics tools and the ability to act on performance data in real time during a shift.

• Clear understanding of what makes content perform on each platform: optimising for search on the website, maximising watch time on YouTube, driving shares on Facebook, and producing high-retention vertical video for Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts and Reels.

• Experience of producing or supervising visualised radio output, with a clear understanding of how to make broadcast content work simultaneously for audio and on-screen audiences.

• Excellent scripting, writing and sub-editing skills in Kinyarwanda and Kirundi and English.