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BBC Studios is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation which operates in the UK and over 200 countries around the world. The company is a global creative powerhouse for the development, production and distribution of bold, British, content. We produce around 2,500 hours of content per year, operate in 22 markets globally and generate revenue of over £1.6bn, returning around £200m profit to BBC Public Service each year.

It is an exciting time for BBC Studios where we are now focussed on commercial growth across all our divisions. We are constantly looking for new opportunities to enable audiences to continue to enjoy their favourite BBC programmes and brands as well as introduce new and exciting BBC Studios content. We work hard to achieve this aim, fostering relationships with the best creative talent and establishing strong connections with a wide variety of platforms and commissioners.

BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit has an exciting new opportunity for a Commercial, Rights & Business Affairs Manager to provide support and oversee legal & business affairs activity within the Natural History Unit. The Commercial, Rights & Business Affairs Manager will have the necessary skills to support the Natural History Unit to realise its creative and business ambitions, operating at pace in a competitive and challenging global market.

The Natural History Unit (NHU) is an award winning global producer of natural history and wildlife programming and content, known and celebrated around the world for the quality of its output. The NHU has for over half a century pioneered the use of ground-breaking technical and creative innovation to open audiences’ eyes to the wonders of the natural world. Trusted by countless fans across the globe, and producing content for the BBC and other commissioners (including Apple, National Geographic/ Disney, and Discovery) the NHU’s portfolio of iconic documentaries and associated content includes: Planet Earth, Blue Planet, Frozen Planet, Seven Worlds: One Planet, Dynasties, Green Planet and Prehistoric Planet.

The Commercial, Rights & Business Affairs Manager will act as a principle point of advice and direction to both the NHU and the wider Business and Legal Affairs team and will represent the NHU at BBC Studios boards or forums as required. You will manage, conduct and oversee a wide range of legal & business affairs activities across the territories throughout various stages of production, from the initial concept/development stage and commission (for both BBC and non-BBC commissions), through to production/filming and final delivery for broadcast, in accordance with all relevant policies and frameworks.

• Be the principal point of contact for the production areas you support, and deliver timely and high quality legal and business affairs advice in order to maximise the opportunity for the business to deliver on its goals;
• Manage a broad workload autonomously and unsupervised, referring upwards as required;
• Be responsible, with the Senior Commercial, Rights and Business Affairs Managers, for the management of issues and legal risk within the unit and (when required) across Factual, escalating as appropriate;
• Carry out drafting, negotiation and agreement of intricate legal documents and deliver (as needed) effective and efficient framework deals;
• Propose structures for complex rights and commercial deals, understand and implement strategy, and provide a point of advice to decision makers;
• Support the Senior Commercial, Rights & Business Affairs Managers, including deputising when required;
• Effectively work alongside other Commercial, Rights and Business Affairs Managers in the team and assist in providing empowering support and/or supervision of the Business Affairs Executives and Assistant;
• Be a pivotal member of BBC Studios’ Business and Legal Affairs team in implementing the commercial, rights and business strategy. You will build, maintain and manage first class relationships with key external organisations and across BBC Studios and the BBC Group.
• Have an awareness of the key framework agreements with the stakeholder organisations representing underlying contributor rights in programmes (e.g. trade unions, collecting societies, trade associations and other representative bodies including Equity, PMA, WGGB, PRS, PPL, D:UK and, ideally, a familiarity with US guild agreements); and
• Assist in maintaining a culture and environment of trust, integrity and inclusion and propose new ways of working that may help deliver this objective.

At BBC Studios, we seek people who are passionate about who we are and what we do.

• As an accomplished Business Affairs Manager, ideally you will possess a legal qualification and have a minimum of 2 years’ PQE or have solid business affairs experience in factual television. You may also be a Business Affairs Manager with experience in other areas of television who is looking to gain production experience, or an experienced production Business Affairs Executive who is looking to step up.
• You will be confident and proactive at proposing pragmatic solutions to novel production scenarios.
• You will be able to prioritise a broad workload autonomously and unsupervised, assessing risk and referring upwards as required, demonstrating independence, responsibility, empowerment, judgment and discretion.
• You will have a comprehensive understanding of the television, radio and digital media industry and related BBC policy and strategy (or an ability to acquire the same) including commercial awareness and market knowledge.
• A sound understanding of programme making, the production process and deal making for factual programmes would be advantageous. However, you will have had experience in legal, rights and business affairs and have strong drafting, negotiating and influencing skills and contracting experience.
• Knowledge of programme development and commissioning terms (e.g. Discovery, National Geographic, Apple, Netflix) and of funding, rights acquisition, distribution issues and commissioning processes in this area would be an advantage.

The BBC is committed to building a culturally diverse workforce and therefore strongly encourages applications from under represented groups. We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of their background. We strive to be the best British content company in the world, attracting the best creative talents in the business, so that we can bring premium quality award-winning programmes, content and brands to the viewer no matter where they are.

The BBC Group has set out the first in a new series of bold steps to transform our programming and better represent the public we serve. We have the biggest financial investment to on-air inclusion in the industry, together with our existing commissioning budget, we are committed to throwing open our doors more widely than ever to diverse stories and diverse storytellers. Together with a diverse workforce we will accelerate the pace of change in increasing diversity and inclusion both on and off air

To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please visit our website.

Band: D
Contract Type: 12 months FTC
Location: Bristol, Flexible

Working Pattern: Hybrid Working (Home-based plus two/three days a week in the office)

We are really proud to share that we are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer and so if you require any reasonable adjustments in order to apply please do contact us at [email protected] with the job reference in the subject. We advertise all our roles on Evenbreak, the specialist job board for disabled candidates

• Flexible/agile working - opportunities across the business. We’re happy to discuss a formal flexible working pattern. Please indicate your choice under the flexible working question in the application. There is no obligation to raise this at the application stage but if you wish to do so, you are welcome to. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at the offer stage.
• Excellent career progression – the BBC offers great opportunities for employees to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the organisation.
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities – our in-house Academy hosts a wide range of internal and external courses and certifications.
• Benefits - We offer a competitive salary package, a flexible 35-hour working week for work-life balance and 26 days (plus an additional day which is a Corporation Day) with the option to buy an extra 5 days, a defined pension scheme and discounted dental, health care, gym and much more.