Head of Digital Curation

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Head of Digital Curation

Department: VOD Team

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: London

Description

We have an exciting opportunity for a Head of Digital Curation to become a key member of the wider VoD leadership team.

This role is strategically responsible for the curation and presentation of content across the VoD estate, primarily UKTV Play, but also influencing and securing prominence of our content on third party platforms VoD services - FTA, Pay and FAST.

This role works in partnership with colleagues in Programming and Commissioning and inputs their expertise into content making decisions for VoD. The Head of Digital Curation will create the curation strategy to maximise the usage of content and delivers a curated and tailored experience to our audiences

What we would like you to bring to the role....key experience, knowledge, skills & personal qualities

Experience

• Prior experience in a similar role managing and curating digital content within a streaming service, broadcaster, the video-on-demand supply chain, FAST channel operator or large digital media organisation, preferable cross-genre in relevant areas such as drama, comedy, lifestyle, entertainment, music and factual. Some experience in community management and retention would be advantageous.
• A strong proven track record of developing content presentation strategies in a digital environment.
• Extensive experience of using content or schedule management tools, or social media management tools.
• Extensive experience of using research, performance data and insight to set and evolve editorial curation decisions, with multiple VoD platforms and audience segments.
• Proven experience of defining top-level requirements for new or improved curation features to product development, delivering against digital strategies.
• Experience of developing and enhancing editorial relationships with third-party VoD platform and TV partners.
• Experience of Agile working, collaboratively and cross-functionally with other teams.
• Experience of leading and managing a team.

Knowledge

• Extensive knowledge of the video on demand marketplace, competitor VoD offerings and products, and video consumption in social media. Knowledge and practical experience of delivering optimal content offerings in an aggregated content environment to different user segments on different platforms.
• Knowledge and understanding of how pay and free-to-air VoD platforms, FAST channels and social video platforms operate, their priorities, limitations, and challenges.
• A solid technical understanding of VoD platforms and workflows.
• Knowledge of the wider VoD landscape and ability to translate this into identifiable threats and opportunities for UKTV.
• An appreciation of the importance of Rights issues, the broadcasting regulatory context and relevant UK and EU law, and of their legal aspects.
• An extensive understanding of the UK's Ofcom guidelines.

Skills & personal qualities

• Proven ability to develop, reach, engage and grow audiences and watch time through compelling content curation and presentation, and its place in a holistic VoD viewing experience. (with product, marketing, and data)
• A strategic thinker able to balance strategic planning and thinking with tactical decision-making. Use insight, research, and performance data at the heart of decision-making, experimentation, and iterative improvements.
• Experience of working in an agile environment. Demonstrating a collaborative, iterative, proactive, and flexible approach to work and comfortable leading and working at pace in a dynamic environment with constantly changing priorities. Able to deal with ambiguity. Good organisational skills, with the ability to handle multiple tasks, manage prioritisation and follow a structured approach to problem solving.
• Excellent written and visual communication skills, commitment to quality and attention to detail.
• Strong relationship management and influencing skills, able to confidently challenge and collaborate successfully with internal teams and external suppliers and partners.
• A passion for the TV and digital industries, with a keen interest in the programmes across the UKTV network.

Key Responsibilities

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 environment where they can perform at their best.
• Lead the digital curation function to devise, plan and oversee execution of the digital curation strategy and activities across the UKTV Play estate. Responsible for defining and evolving the curation strategy to maximise content discovery, reputation and frequency of visits, taking into the account the audience variations by platform.
• Oversee digital curation activities across the UKTV Play estate across the viewer lifecycle from awareness and consideration to retention of users through timely content merchandising and prominence.
• Lead on ensuring prominence and promotion of content with third party platforms - D2C, Pay and FAST - tailoring content selection, supporting platform editorial teams with content catalogue and recommendations.
• Define and brief VoD content requirements and roadmap to Programming to ensure the delivery of a digital-first content catalogue to meet the business requirements. This includes responsibility for advising the Programming team of the strategy, informing the team of required content volumes, viewing targets, active user volumes, user profile requirements, exclusivity needs and relevant timescales, as well as influencing genre and tonal mix. The role is also responsible for providing feedback on how the content mix is performing against the required targets, and meeting KPIs and OKRs, in order to drive improvements.
• Plan and develop the content proposition and lead in-life management of UKTV's FAST channels.
• Develop and implement digital curation ways of working within the team and across the business, to ensure efficiency, provide continuous improvement to viewer growth and engagement.
• Define new content curation requirements for Product, including new features and CMS functionality to improve viewing, grow habitual use, onward journeys.
• Contribute to the technical projects including identifying opportunities to improve the VoD ways of working and processes - VoD metadata, the Whats'ON scheduling platform and CMS.
• Accountable for ensuring all digital content across the product estate meets the highest merchandising and display standards: tone, quality, on brand, including metadata and imagery.
• Lead on digital content initiatives for new Commercial projects - to formulate, evolve and execute editorial, scheduling and curation strategies to deliver exponential growth.
• Collaborate with marketing to enable a 360 approach to content prominence for priority titles on VoD. Responsible for ensuring curation priorities are reflected in major campaigns, performance marketing, social and CRM activities, aligned with on-air promotion and merchandising activities.
• Champion the use of performance data to support curation decisions, optimising the content presentation to the audience, including multi-variant testing of images and metadata, testing the timing of scheduling, promotion, or position of content of changes, and influence product improvements or new features.

How we lead: Our Leadership Qualities

As a leader for the business, we're looking for...

Strategic thinking and vision

• Translating strategic ambition into clear and measurable goals for your team/s.
• Using storytelling to create a vision and inspire your team to deliver their best work.
• Driving collaborative working across teams to deliver value for our audiences.
• Pro-actively contributing to areas of company-wide strategic focus.

A Digital-first mindset

• Identifying and integrating data and insights to better inform business decisions in your area.
• Encourage a test and learn approach, ensuring your teams can iterate and adapt their work based on results.
• Embrace new ways of working, tools and technologies to improve agility.

Leaders who embrace ambiguity and change.

• Challenging the status quo, championing a growth mindset and continuous change.
• Role-modelling resilience and a growth mindset that recognises the need for ongoing change.
• Having strategies for dealing positively with your own discomfort and emotions.

As a leader for your team, we're looking for....

Authenticity and empathy

• Creating and maintaining a psychologically safe environment, ensuring all perspectives are valued and exclusive behaviour is challenged.
• Being curious about yourself and others; know your own strengths and areas of development as a leader, actively listen and challenge your own thinking, seek feedback and adapt your approach.

Courage and conviction

• Being bold and decisive; adopt an entrepreneurial mindset and be prepared to take risks.
• Facing into challenging conversations, difficult decisions and messages.

Leaders who develop capabilities and people

• Pro-actively identifying and developing capabilities within your team.
• Creating a continuous improvement mindset in your team and a culture of constructive feedback.
• Coaching your team and supporting them to develop their skills; proactively manage talent in your team.
• Empowering your team to take responsibility for their own development, helping them grow and thrive.

Diversity and inclusion

• Purposefully putting diversity at the heart of your decision-making.
• Fostering a sense of belonging and proactively creating and maintaining an inclusive working environment.

High-performance culture

• Role modelling the desired behaviours and set the standards for those around you.
• Creating a high support/high challenge culture which delivers on strategy.
• Setting ambitious goals that stretch and empower your team/s and motivate them to deliver.
• Challenging where behaviours or standards are not being met.