Please note this is a hybrid role based on the successful candidate working at least two days a week in our London office. Remote contracts would not be considered for this role.

Purpose of Role

Comic Relief uses the power of entertainment and popular culture to change lives. As Interim Director of Production you will be responsible for ensuring we are effective in delivering campaigns and content that support our strategic objectives. As you will oversee a broad team that includes broadcast entertainment, stories, talent, photography, design and digital content, you will be expected to provide strong leadership and outstanding line management to your direct reports and teams. You will be accountable for on-time, on-budget delivery of content and campaign assets. This covers broadcast content, social media content, video production, photography, design assets, and working with talent and influencers. We’re looking for someone who can demonstrate experience overseeing and coordinating delivery of high-profile work across several teams. 

You will work closely with other directors representing Funding, Fundraising, Partnerships and Public Engagement, as well as a wider group of senior leaders representing functions including Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging; Finance, Technology, Data, Legal and Operations. You will be part of the Senior Leadership Team to lead the entire organisation and ensure we are progressing against our strategy and charitable aims.

Your Production directorate is the content delivery engine, getting amazing creative content and campaigns out into the world, working closely on briefs that originate in the Strategy & Impact areas of funding, public engagement, fundraising and partnerships; and ensuring sound process with the Operations areas of finance, safeguarding, HR and legal.

We’re looking for someone who can demonstrate first-hand experience of coordinating content and asset delivery across several teams concurrently for activities that have a large public profile. You'll be excited by the dynamics of people-centred and agile delivery at scale, within a values-based culture and organisation.

As this is a new role at Comic Relief, we are looking for an Interim director to help manage the team, ensure sound process, and help us determine what is needed in a more permanent role, as well as recommendations for the team moving forward.

Key responsibilities:

• Accountability for the production and delivery of content and campaign assets, working towards briefs and objectives set out by funding, public engagement, fundraising and partnership teams.  

• Manage a directorate that includes entertainment and talent, broadcast, digital content (including social media), stories, photography and design.  

• Work with other directors towards shared priorities, balancing needs and briefs with capacity and timelines.

• Ensuring on-time and on-budget delivery of campaign and year-round content

• Continuous assessment and optimisation of content, creative ideas, storytelling methods and formats to ensure the organisation is best positioned to achieve funding, fundraising, public engagement and partnership objectives.

• Creating a team that is optimised to deliver year-round, with the necessary tools and materials which could include story banks, asset management, tracking tools, etc.

People management

• Coaching people and teams to be creative, effective and solution-oriented, including direct line management of team leaders.  

• Proactively undertake planning, prioritise activities and set clear and realistic objectives based on capacity, expertise and aspirations

• Provide balanced, constructive feedback, undertake effective performance management to embed accountability and proactively support the professional development and growth of staff

• Maintain regular two way communication and dialogue with staff, ensuring information is cascaded and escalated as needed

• Model an enabling, inclusive and empowering leadership style that builds a values-based culture throughout Comic Relief

Operational Leadership

• As part of the Senior Leadership Team, provide Comic Relief with visible and responsive operational leadership, ensuring teams are collaborating and co-operating with each other to ensure shared ownership of relevant outcomes

• Ensure there is quality management information for all organisational areas that enables knowledge sharing and proactive decision making

• Build a strong, effective and well-led enabling department, with the necessary capability, expertise, systems and processes to deliver the organisation’s strategic and annual plans

Content production and delivery

• Ensure an effective planning and briefing process, so that the production directorate is able to effectively service the organisational objectives, as well as needs raised by the funding, fundraising, public engagement and partnership teams. This includes ensuring sound and effective processes for briefing, production planning and management, resourcing, scheduling, quality control, reviews and sign-off, and asset delivery

• Collaborate creatively and strategically with other teams around the organisation to identify content and campaign ideas, best use of channels and formats, and storytelling approaches that will help Comic Relief achieve it’s objectives and strategy

• Ensure a stories function that is able to identify, source, find, assess and capture stories from around the organisation and our funding portfolio

• Be accountable for all content quality and standards

• Take part in regular production meetings, including for broadcast and BBC

• Oversee production of Comic Relief’s annual Night of TV and related appeal films, working in partnership with BBC and collaborating on objectives with other Comic Relief directors including for funding, fundraising, public engagement and partnership.

• Work closely with Operations colleagues, including for Legal and Compliance, to ensure proper governance and adherence to relevant regulations and standards

• Hold ultimate accountability for production budgets, and plan and track all production related budget and expenditure, working with finance colleagues

• Work with your team to manage a roster of freelancers and agencies to support with production needs

Relationship building

• Hold key relationships with, and be both a contact and escalation point for, key external production relationships including the BBC, media companies, production companies and agencies, and story subjects and personalities

• Form strong internal working relationships with other senior leaders across the organisations
  
  

Person specification:

You will have

• Strong interpersonal skills, with experience of managing senior stakeholders and balancing a range of priorities and needs from across an organisation

• Excellent relationship and communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to build strong working relationships with internal and external partners

• Experience overseeing high-profile production activities, and a production function

• Knowledge of video production for different formats, including experience with broadcast TV content and production

• Experience in, or knowledge of, creating content in a charity and fundraising context

• A demonstrated track record in on-budget impactful delivery of content and campaign assets

• Capability to work collaboratively and lead cross-organisational projects

• Experience in measuring and reviewing the impact of content

• Experience of building and leading an inclusive team with effective performance management leading to team and personal growth

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Comic Relief we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.