BBC Media Action Tanzania Senior Production Manager

Contract duration: 24 months (with possible extension)
Background:
BBC Media Action uses media and communications to reduce poverty and promote human rights in developing countries. To achieve this, Media Action partners with civil society, local media and governments to:

• Produce creative programmes in multi-media formats, based on robust research, which inform and engage audiences around key development issues.
• Strengthen the media sector through building professional capacity and infrastructure.

BBC Media Action delivers a portfolio of media projects in Tanzania. It seeks to expand this portfolio of work, but also ensure that existing projects are delivered to time, to budget and to the highest standards, and in accordance with BBC editorial values as well as Media Action methodologies.
Job purpose:
The Senior Production Manager will be responsible for all radio, television and digital media production within BBC Media Action’s operations in Tanzania, across a breadth of projects, which includes drama and discussion programmes. This requires retaining an oversight and technical leadership role for all broadcast outputs, ensuring systems are in place to support all aspects of production, and every stage of the project from project design to start up, pre-production, production and post-production. This role will be key to maintaining continuity and consistency across a range of outputs and in future projects. The Senior Production Manager must ensure outputs are compliant with BBC guidelines as well as meeting project goals, and (s)he will be responsible for maintaining and developing effective working relationships with broadcasting partners.
Main duties:
1. To raise and maintain quality of all output
2. Ensure all production teams understand the development goals
3. Take overall responsibility for systems and resources used for radio, television and digital media production, ensuring policies and practice maximize their use effectively;
4. Oversee production teams for all projects in close liaison with Senior Projects Manager and Country Director, to ensure effectiveness and value for money. Ensure systems are in place to manage production resources including all production equipment, edit suites and audio booths ensuring effective systems are maintained between various productions and projects;
5. Ensure synergies between production needs and the admin requirements of reporting to donors on how their money is spent. Advocate the needs of broadcast teams within senior management and ensuring office and project policies and procedures are relevant and workable to meet the needs of broadcast teams;
6. Ensure compliance of all productions with BBC Media Action best practice for finance and administration and donor agreements. Observe BBC production and contractual guidelines and ensure they are understood by other team members and by contractors and consultants;
7. Lead the long term strategy on external relationships with eg. broadcast partners and Ministry of Information, and lead on managing relationships with public broadcasters and cable and satellite broadcasters;
8. Help shape the concept development and planning for all new productions, developing programme proposals for donors, developing production plans, and the recruitment of staff and freelancers needed for new work;
9. Support Senior Projects Manager and producers with writing reports for donors on production outputs;
10. Ensure programmes adhere to BBC editorial guidelines and values and Media Action’s best practices. Work with Senior Projects Manager to manage any editorial issues that may arise;
11. Support production teams to manage production budgets effectively, and to report to the Country Director and Senior Projects Manager to ensure appropriate financial management, monitoring and reporting;
12. Advise and support Country Director and Senior Projects Manager to manage risk related to production;
13. Support national, regional and local broadcasters and production houses to take on productions in the long term or produce similar output;
14. Capacity build BBC Media Action staff as well as local production teams working for other employers and manage the complexities of eg. commitments to another employer;
15. Mentor and support a team of local radio mentor trainers
16. Along with Senior Projects Manager and Country Director, ensure that BBC Health and Safety guidelines are observed on all productions, staff are trained and briefed to manage risk in a highly challenging environment and support is provided to others to take appropriate measures to minimize exposure to perceived risks;
17. Participate actively in the Media Action’s country senior management team.
Required knowledge, skills and experience:
1. Considerable experience in radio and/or TV production and preferably digital media;
2. Considerable production budget management experience
3. Demonstrable creative ability, with a proven track-record in designing, developing and making programmes;
4. Experience of project planning, with proven experience of successful project management against tight deadlines;
5. Experience of setting up systems for managing production resources
6. Excellent interpersonal leadership skills. Experience of leading and managing talent and production teams, as well as managing diverse teams;
7. Knowledge of BBC editorial values, aims and objectives, and an ability to apply these to media development projects. Ability to demonstrate strong editorial judgment;
8. Experience of developing written plans and reports for internal and external audiences;
9. Excellent communication skills in English (verbal and written);
10. Experience of building and influencing high level external relationships;
11. Experience of designing or commissioning training and learning for production teams.
Desirable
1. Experience of working in a developing country context, preferably in Africa;
2. Understanding of the principles of behavior change communication;
3. Experience of overseeing a multi-media production project;
4. Understanding of BBC health and safety requirements and how these can be applied in developing country contexts.
Key competencies
1. Managing relationships and team work: able to build and maintain effective working relationships with a range of people. Works co-operatively with others to be part of a team. Values individual's differences and demonstrates a commitment to knowledge sharing and informal learning, for the benefit of the team.
2. Strategic thinking: Able to identify a vision and create plans for implementation of that vision to meet the end goal. Evaluates situations, decisions, and issues in the short, medium and long-term
3. Leadership: Ability to inspire others to realize an identified vision.
4. Analytical Thinking: Able to simplify complex problems, processes or projects into component parts, explore and evaluate them systematically. Able to identify causal relationships, and construct frameworks for problem solving and/or development.
5. Change Management: Able to understand and anticipate the need for change and to build frameworks for planning and managing the continuous process of change.
6. Planning and Organization: Able to think ahead in order to establish an efficient and appropriate course of action for self and others; planning of activities taking into account all the relevant issues and factors such as deadlines, staffing and resources requirements.

Applications instructions:
Candidates should send their CV and a covering letter which outlines their experience and suitability for the role in English to:
tzrecruitment@bbcmediaaction.org, with the name of the position applied for in the subject line.
Please Note: this is a local post applicable to people who have the legal right to work in Tanzania. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
Application deadline:
Friday 5th October, 2012.