Non Executive Director

HOW TO APPLY

The BBC Board is recruiting for a new non-executive member. This appointment is made by the Board, following a proposal by the Nominations Committee. Although not a formal public appointment, the process will be guided by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.

The BBC has engaged an executive search firm, Egon Zehnder, to manage the selection process for this role. Please note that your application will be handled by Egon Zehnder, who will have access to your CV and personal details solely for the purpose of this vacancy. This means we will need to share your application with them. Please confirm your consent for this by selecting YES or NO. (If ‘NO’ is selected, we will be unable to progress the application.)

OVERVIEW & CONTEXT

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a world-renowned public service broadcaster. With a mission to inform, educate, and entertain, the BBC has grown to become one of the most respected and influential media organisations globally. The BBC is dedicated to delivering exceptional content that enriches people's lives and with a commitment to public service, innovation, and diversity, continues to be a trusted source of information and entertainment for millions of people around the world.

The BBC’s annual income of £5bn is primarily made up of the licence fee that is paid by UK households, along with other sources of revenue, such as commercial operations through BBC Commercial, a global producer and distributor. BBC Commercial supports the BBC by generating income for the Group. Its operations maximise the global value of intellectual property, brands and storytelling. The BBC operates across the UK and in 60 countries globally.

The BBC is the home for a diverse range of content across multiple platforms, including iPlayer, BBC Sounds, television, radio, online, and mobile. Its television channels, including BBC One, BBC Two, and BBC News, provide an eclectic and all-encompassing range of news, drama, documentaries, and entertainment. At the same time, BBC Radio, with stations like Radio 1, Radio 2, and Radio 4, brings music, talk shows, and cultural programming to audiences.

The BBC is committed to innovation and staying at the forefront of the media industry. It invests in cutting-edge technology and digital transformation to enhance the user experience and reach new audiences.

CURRENT OPPORTUNITY

Collectively, Board members are responsible for ensuring the BBC effectively, efficiently and independently exercises its functions as set out in the BBC’s Royal Charter and Framework Agreement. These are, to:

• Uphold and protect the independence of the BBC.
• Ensure that the BBC fulfils its mission and promotes its public purposes.
• Act in the public interest, ensuring that the benefits of decisions relating to the fulfilment of the mission and promotion of its purposes outweigh the costs.
• Set the BBC’s strategic direction and budget.
• Set a performance assessment framework and monitor delivery against it.
• Set the BBC’s editorial and creative direction, and standards.
• Ensure the proper handling of complaints about the BBC.
• Ensure the effective and efficient management of the BBC and its commercial subsidiaries.
• Exercise rigorous stewardship of public money, securing the effective and efficient management of the BBC’s finances.
• Ensure that the BBC complies with its legal obligations including those set by the Royal Charter.
• Consider proposals for material changes to the BBC’s UK Public Services, non-service activities, trading activities and commercial services.
• Observe high standards of openness and seek to maximise transparency and accountability.
• Appoint, and hold to account, the management of the BBC.
• Monitor the BBC’s engagement with, and reporting of performance to, its stakeholders, in particular to licence fee payers, and ensure it is assessing and meeting the needs of the diverse communities of the UK.

: MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

Non-executive directors have particular responsibility for:

• Bringing an external perspective to bear on the business of the BBC and contributing to the development of effective strategy and organisational change.
• Ensuring that the Board’s decision-making is in the public interest informed by the best interests of the audience and with appropriate regard to the impact of decisions on the wider media market in the UK.
• Providing an independent, objective viewpoint on the Board to test and constructively challenge management.
• Playing a key role in ensuring that the BBC maintains the highest standards of corporate governance, particularly with respect to financial reporting, internal controls and risk management
• Being a personal role model for, and taking an active and engaged interest in, a strong, positive and inclusive culture within the BBC.

ARE YOU THE RIGHT CANDIDATE?

As a non-executive member of the BBC Board the candidate should demonstrate the following essential skills and experience, as well as other desirable criteria.

Essential skills and experience
All candidates must be able to demonstrate a commitment to the independence, mission and public purposes of the BBC, as well as demonstrating they meet a majority of the following criteria to a high degree:

• Experience working at the highest level of public service or commercial life in the UK.
• Experience of sitting on and/or chairing main boards of organisations of significant scale.
• An understanding of the key challenges, changes and opportunities facing public service broadcasting in both the UK and the broader global commercial media sector, and the impact of these on audiences.
• A proven ability to think through complex issues strategically, independently and imaginatively, across a wide range of subjects.
• Experience exercising strong financial stewardship and securing value for money.
• Excellent communication, negotiation and relationship management skills, and the ability to represent the BBC capably to a wide range of stakeholder groups, including audiences, parliamentarians and the media.

Additional desirable criteria
In addition to the essential skills and experience listed above, in order to ensure the required mix of skills on the Board experience in some or all of the following areas is considered to be desirable for candidates to demonstrate:

• Experience of top level leadership within the UK Government or wider public sector, with insight into the dynamics and drivers of Government decision making at the highest level.
• Experience of advancing technology innovation in their organisation or more broadly.
• Experience of managing or overseeing a large scale UK arts, cultural or educational organisation.
• Understanding of local and regional issues in under-represented parts of the UK.

PACKAGE DESCRIPTION

Meetings of the Board: The majority of Board meetings will be held in London, although meetings of the Board (including committee meetings) can be held at any BBC site, generally within the UK.

All members of the Board will be required to attend Board meetings as well as some committee meetings. The chairing and membership of committees is determined by the Nominations Committee.

Time Commitment: The core time commitment for non-executive directors will be a minimum of 3-4 days a month, though more may be required for members who also Chair Board Committees. This includes:

• A minimum of 6 formal Board meetings a year, plus informal Board calls in other months, committee meetings and preparation for meetings as necessary.
• Studying Board papers and other written material, and providing advice.
• Ad-hoc meetings with members of BBC management, audiences and stakeholders.

Applicants should be aware that, during periods of significant activity and change, they may need to devote more time to the role. Candidates will need to be able to demonstrate that they have the capacity and flexibility to undertake additional duties and to commit additional time, as required.

Fees: The fees for non-executive directors are set by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and are as follows:
The base fee for all non-executive directors is £33,000 per annum. A committee chair fee of £5,000 is paid on top of the base fee for chairing one of the permanent committees of the Board.

Term of appointment: It is expected that the appointment will be for a period of up to four years, with the possibility of renewal for one additional term.

INDEPENDENCE OF MEMBERS

The BBC requires that all non-executive directors are not politically active whilst serving on the Board.

Additionally, in accordance with best practice in corporate governance the majority of non-executive directors of the BBC Board will be required to be demonstrably independent of the Corporation. Independence will be assessed at the point of appointment and also annually by the Board itself.

The criteria by which independence will be assessed will include whether a candidate:

• has been an employee of the BBC, or BBC Group, within the last five years;
• has or has had within the last three years a material business relationship with the BBC either directly, or as a partner, shareholder, director or senior employee of a body that has such a relationship with the BBC;
• has received or receives additional remuneration from the BBC apart from a Director’s fee, or is a member of the BBC's pension scheme; or
• has close family ties with any of the BBC's advisers, directors or senior employees.

CODE OF PRACTICE

In carrying out these responsibilities, all members will be expected to conduct business openly and transparently and in accordance with the highest standards of corporate governance.

The Board has established a Code of Practice in line with the Nolan Principles of Standards in Public Life; all members will be expected to abide by these.

Disclaimer

This 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.

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.