Country Director pool

Interested, qualified candidates should submit the application form by clicking on this link https://forms.office.com/e/kzBL2cUhY5

Interested applicants should complete the form by 11pm BST on 22 February 2024.

About us
BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development charity, which uses media and communications to help reduce poverty, address development goals, and support people to understand their rights. We do this through partnering with media, civil society, and others to produce creative programmes and other outputs which inform and engage audiences on key development issues. We also strengthen the media sector through building professional capacity and infrastructure of local media organisations in the countries in which we work.

We work in 24 countries around the world, reaching more than 100 million people a year.
We are seeking applications to establish a pool of highly qualified individuals for potential interim Country Director (CD) positions. Successful candidates would form a pool from which specific, short-term vacancies would be filled over the months ahead.

Job purpose
As an interim Country Director, you will play a pivotal role in our organisation’s growth and impact. The CD is responsible for providing dynamic, inspirational leadership and management to various teams, ensuring adherence to editorial standards, and representing and being accountable for the organisation in the country. This role also involves strategic planning, business development, relationship management, and reporting to headquarters.

Key responsibilities
Your responsibilities as an interim Country Director may include but are not limited to:

• Providing inspirational leadership and management to diverse teams.
• Ensuring all activities adhere to editorial standards, timescales, and budgets.
• Implementing country strategy and leading business development opportunities.
• Expanding the organisation’s portfolio and managing relationships with funding agencies and partners.
• Ensuring that internal and external reporting obligations are met.
• Overseeing office registration and compliance, and effective office management.
• Prioritising staff security, health, and safety.

Qualifications
To be considered for the Country Director pool, you should possess the following qualifications:

• Considerable experience in the media or development sector, preferably both.
• Experience living and working in a country in the Global South, ideally for a development organisation.
• Strong management experience, including recruitment, team development, and project delivery.
• Budget management experience and excellent interpersonal skills.
• Track record of forming effective relationships with various stakeholders.
• Ability to develop and secure international development or media projects.
• Strong commitment to international development and media for developmental goals.
• Understanding of media with the potential to acquire senior-level editorial skills.
• Written and spoken English.
• Adaptability, resilience, and proactive problem-solving abilities.

Impact and decision-making
As a Country Director, your role involves:

• Reporting to the Regional Director or equivalent.
• Evaluating situations, decisions, issues, etc, in the short, medium and longer-term.
• Presenting 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.
• Building and maintaining effective working relationships with a range of people.
• Adopting 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.
• Taking initiative, originating action and being responsible for the consequences of the decisions made.
• Thinking ahead to establish an effective and appropriate course of action for self and others. Prioritising and planning activities taking into account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resources requirements.