The Role
Lead UKTV's social media strategy and monetisation, manage an 11-person social team, grow audience and revenue across platforms, oversee editorial governance, collaborate cross-functionally, drive creative excellence and integrate AI into workflows.
Summary Generated by Built In
This is a FTC to start late September 2026 running for aprox 12 months.
The Marcomms team is responsible for advancing UKTV’s growth and popularity, building its brands, driving audience growth and enhancing our reputation. The wider Marketing & Communications department is comprised of 5 teams - Marketing, Creative Services, Social & Online, Media Planning, and Consumer Communications.
The Marcomms team is responsible for advancing UKTV’s growth and popularity, building its brands, driving audience growth and enhancing our reputation. The wider Marketing & Communications department is comprised of 5 teams - Marketing, Creative Services, Social & Online, Media Planning, and Consumer Communications.
The Director of Social is responsible for setting and leading UKTV’s social media strategy, driving audience growth, engagement, brand relevance and revenue across all online platforms. As a senior leader you will define the vision, priorities and operating model that ensure UKTV’s brands and content remain culturally relevant, discoverable and commercially effective in an increasingly digital media landscape.
Leading a high-performing team, you will oversee our community-first strategy that drives reach & talkability for U, as well as develop and oversee delivery of key social media campaigns. You will also drive commercial growth of YouTube for the business; to increase reach, revenue & time spent with our audiences.
Purpose of the role
A leader within the Marcomms Leadership Team, this role is accountable for growing audiences, monetising audiences where possible, and driving levers in social to build brand, recruit new & lapsed viewers into U as well as deepen engagement with loyal viewers.
As the most senior expert in social media within the business, you live and breathe social media, are passionate about its impact, and can effectively build relationships with stakeholders and executive leadership to represent and drive social as a key lever for commercial growth.
You will also, coach and inspire an in-house team of 11 social media experts, fostering a culture where the team can perform their very best.
The role will also collaborate with BBCS, UKTV’s parent company, leading collaboration & strategic planning on social media activity when needed and appropriate.
What we would like you to bring to the role….key experience, knowledge, skills & personal qualities
Experience and knowledge
- Experience in creating & executing social media strategy, linked to commercial, marketing & business objectives
- Experience of leading a high performing team, whose focus is to build, nurture and grow social media communities and drive fandom
- Experience providing team with clear strategic vision and setting stretching and motivating goals which deliver against company objectives
- Experience of driving audience growth strategies on social, with proven evidence of growing reach & revenue
- Extensive experience in a senior management role, including budgetary and/or P&L responsibility
- Experience of 360 campaigns, with social-first thinking at the heart
- Demonstrated ability to link social media activity to business outcomes
- Proven expertise at stakeholder management and influence across both peers and senior board level
- Evidence of data-first approach, and proved ability in agile workflows & optimisation of social media
- Demonstrable track record of driving creative excellence within social media, knowing how an idea or execution can earn attention and cultural relevance
- Experience leading organisational change, including upskilling teams and transformation
- Responsible editorially for all social media output, ensuring all adheres to relevant compliance & governance policies
- Crisis management experience, with experience and confidence in collaborating with relevant teams on navigating unforeseen challenges that could impact UKTV’s reputation
- Experience in using AI and integrating it into social media workflow, to improve efficiency and impact
- Deep understanding of social media and the media, entertainment, or streaming landscape
Skills & personal qualities
- A commercial leader with strategic ability and vision, winning hearts and minds of your direct teams well as others around you
- Passionate about social media, living and breathe culture, with a love for TV and entertainment
- Strong analytical mindset, with the ability to translate complex data into actionable insights and exec-level storytelling
- Strong sense of editorial judgement, understanding how social media output must be adhered to wider governance policies
- Exceptional communication skills, track record of delivering senior/board level papers and presentations
- Someone who can constantly adapt and drive the social media team’s ambitions in an evolving & ever changing market
- Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to influence across functions
- High motivation and comfort with ambiguity
- Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously, recognizing the relative strategic/financial value and prioritise accordingly
- High levels of personal resilience and confidence
What you will get to work on….key outputs and responsibilities of the role
- Lead a high performing team, providing them with clear goals and direction. Work to inspire, empower, motivate, and develop them, fostering an inclusive and high-performance environment where they can perform at their best
- Lead on UKTV’s social media strategy, ensuring flex where needed to change to social media landscape and business transformation & priorities
- Lead on UKTV’s social media monetisation strategy, in line with the social growth plan, working closely with strategy, finance, advertising to ensure cross-team buy-in
- Lead on relationships with social platforms, ensuring UKTV is at the forefront of BETA features and new platform opportunities
- As a senior expert and lead, represent the social strategy & team ambitions in various senior forums & meetings
- Oversee the development, editorial and management of the social media content & campaign output
- Drive creative excellence, create an environment for creative bravery, leading the team in developing award winning, innovative social media content & conversation
- Own social media governance and risk mitigation
- Collaborate with the Marketing Leadership Team to deliver cross functional solutions
- Ensure the appropriate resources, budgets, processes and systems are in place to efficiently & effectively deliver against business objectives and enable robust tracking, measurement & evaluation
- Identify future capability needs (i.e. AI) and embed into team culture and operations
- Lead by example on UKTV leadership values – see How We Lead capabilities
Hybrid-Working
At UKTV, we are working in a hybrid environment with a mixture of home and office working. Getting together in the office as a team and a company gives colleagues an opportunity to build and maintain great relationships, encourages our culture of collaboration and creativity while recognising that colleagues need to have a healthy and happy work-life balance. You’ll agree with your manager the split of time you spend in the office or at home based on the role that you do, how often you come together as a team and your personal preference.
Diversity & Inclusion Commitment
At UKTV, our inclusion vision is to truly represent society in our workforce and on-screen, and create a culture of fairness and respect where we champion difference so that every person feels included and empowered to do their best work. We are committed to ensuring a level playing field at UKTV where all employees and job applicants are given equal opportunity, and that we have diverse voices at the table in everything we do. We welcome applications from everyone and we want UKTV to be a place where you can be your authentic self, give your best and develop your career free from discrimination of any kind.
About
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 30 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands – U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W, U&YESTERDAY, U&GOLD, U&alibi and U&eden - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to UK viewers through free streaming service U, Sky, Virgin Media, NOW, Freeview and Freesat; and to Irish viewers through Sky, Virgin Media, Eir, Vodafone and NOW. Channel & content availability varies by platform. UKTV’s content is also available to UK viewers via dedicated FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee, Pluto TV and Virgin Media. UKTV is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers. The broadcaster is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.
Skills Required
- Experience creating and executing social media strategy linked to commercial and business objectives
- Proven experience leading and developing a high-performing social media team
- Track record of driving audience growth and monetisation on social platforms (including YouTube)
- Extensive senior management experience, including budgetary and/or P&L responsibility
- Experience delivering social-first 360 campaigns and linking social activity to business outcomes
- Strong stakeholder management and ability to influence at senior/board level
- Data-first approach with experience in agile workflows and optimisation of social media
- Proven creative leadership with a track record of driving creative excellence in social content
- Experience leading organisational change, upskilling teams and transformation
- Editorial responsibility for social output, including governance, compliance and risk mitigation
- Crisis management experience related to reputation and social media incidents
- Experience using AI and integrating it into social media workflows to improve efficiency and impact
- Deep understanding of the media, entertainment or streaming landscape and social media trends
- Exceptional communication skills including delivering senior/board level presentations and papers
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The Company
What We Do
UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 30 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands – U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W, U&YESTERDAY, U&eden, U&GOLD, and U&alibi - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to UK viewers through free streaming service U, Sky, Virgin Media, NOW, Freeview, Freesat and Freely; and to Irish viewers through Sky, Virgin Media, Eir, Vodafone and NOW. Channel & content availability varies by platform. UKTV’s content is also available to UK viewers via dedicated FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee, Pluto TV and Virgin Media. UKTV is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers. The broadcaster is part of BBC Studios, the UK's most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world's leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.
