Project Manager, BBC Media Action
Band: D
Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract until 30th September 2026, with possibility of extension
Location: The role will be based in one of BBC Media Action’s offices in Africa or Asia. Current BBC Media Action offices are in the following cities, and the role could be based in any of these, subject to the prevailing security situation at the time of appointment: Abuja, Addis Ababa, Dar Es Salaam, Delhi, Dhaka, Freetown, Hargeisa, Jakarta, Juba, Kabul, Kathmandu, Lusaka, Nairobi, Phnom Penh, Tunis, Yangon.
Applications are welcome from anyone with the existing right to work in any of those countries
Salary: The successful applicant will be employed and based in their home country, with salary set according to BBC Media Action’s local pay scales in that country.
If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process please contact the reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk. For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk.
This role may involve working with groups of vulnerable children, youth, and adults. For the successful candidate, mandatory training will be provided on BBC Media Action’s safeguarding policy and staff code of conduct. BBC Media Action operates a zero-tolerance policy concerning all forms of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. A police background check may form part of the recruitment process
BBC Media Action
BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development organisation, and we believe in the power of media and communication for good. We work in more than 20 countries around the world, supporting the independent media essential to democracy and development. Each year our projects and programmes reach over 100 million people facing poverty, inequality and insecurity with information they can trust, helping to improve health, bridge divides, challenge prejudice, and save and change lives. We follow the editorial standards and values of the BBC, but we rely on funding from donors and partners to carry out our work.
With new funding from the UK government and the European Union, we are launching two linked projects aiming to better improve the resilience of media ecosystems worldwide, contributing to protecting and promoting democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms and counter mis- and disinformation. The projects will operate across around twenty countries and involve more than a dozen global, regional and local media development partners as well as dozens of national and local media organisations. The projects will be led by a central team, the Global media development team, with some positions working across both projects. BBC Media Action is recruiting two Project Manager’s, each of whom will manage one of the two projects being implemented by the Global media development team.
Job Introduction
The Project Manager will work with key internal and external stakeholders to implement the project to agreed objectives and outcomes. The Project Manager will ensure the project is delivered on time, within budget and in line with donor compliance requirements.
The role will work with other members of the project team, including staff across country offices and with project consortium partners. The Project Manager will report into the respective Senior Project Manager / Project Lead.
Main Responsibilities
- Ensure project delivery is on time and on budget, legally and financially compliant and in line with the BBC’s editorial standards and approaches.
- Liaise with donors and drafts reports to donors.
- Manage key partner relationships, such as with project consortium partner organisations.
- Conduct and document due diligence on relevant partners, working closely with the Media development project finance team.
- Sub-contract consultants as required for delivery of the project.
- Contribute to the articulation of a project’s theory of change and ensure that key research findings are fed into project design and delivery.
- Manage project budgets (including budget forecasting), working closely with the Senior Project Manager and Finance team, to ensure the full and successful delivery of project outputs in accordance with that budget and in line with Media Action’s financial procedures and the funder’s operating guidelines.
- Comply with and ensures project compliance with BBC Media Action’s Safeguarding policy, whistleblowing policy, and staff code of conduct.
- Support the development of relevant project management tools that aid the effective planning and implementation of project activities, to include but not limited to theory of change, logframe/results framework and workplans.
- Negotiate and/or mediate conflicting views and priorities arising within the project to ensure solutions meet the needs of the project and BBC Media Action.
- Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with BBC Media Action Country Offices, project consortium partner organisations and other stakeholders for the benefit of the project, in line with BBC Media Action values.
- Participate in the design and coordination of monitoring, evaluation and feedback/learning sessions, and work with BBC Media Action Country offices to adjust project delivery based on learnings.
Essential skills, knowledge, and experience:
- Experience managing complex activities with demonstrated capacity to manage the project/activities effectively.
- Experience managing activity budgets and reporting/providing updates against scheduled activities and/or spend.
- Proven ability to build consensus and inspire different stakeholders or teams to work together to achieve goals.
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise time effectively within a range of often conflicting deadlines, juggling competing priorities to meet project needs and objectives.
- Ability to forge strong working relations quickly and gain the trust of colleagues and partners, for example with project consortium partner organisations.
- Confident public speaker with experience of presentations to colleagues, donors and stakeholders.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills.
- Excellent written and spoken English.
Desirable skills, knowledge, and experience:
- Strong technical understanding of media development and media freedom across different contexts and regions.
- Experience at developing and articulating theories of change and other relevant project management/implementation tools.
- Experience in managing large scale grants funded by either the European Commission or FCDO.
How to apply
Please apply at the following link on the BBC Careers website – https://careers.bbc.co.uk/job/Project-Manager-%28Charity%29/811509902/