Delivering high impact investigative journalism that holds power to account is a strategic objective for World Service.



The new World Service Long form and Investigations department brings together and amplifies the impact of Languages' award-winning investigative and documentary making teams. It includes the OSINT Team, Africa Eye, Arabic Investigations, Eye Investigations, the Disinformation Unit, a newly formed China Unit and Podcasting in Languages, as well as Learning English. Operating all across the world, the group is made up of executive producers, series producers, OSINT experts, producers, journalists and researchers who produce fearless and pioneering journalism about various topics that only the BBC World Service can deliver.



The WS Longform also collaborates closely with all the Language Services and teams in World Service Content and Output to deliver the best value to our global audiences.


The department has also inspired and trained many young journalists across the globe to use OSINT and traditional tools of forensic journalism to reach and engage millions of the underserved audiences with its brand of immersive storytelling


Main Responsibilities


• Excellent editorial judgement to identify compelling stories from hundreds of incoming ideas and pitches, develop those with potential for impact, and have the ruthlessness to kill the stories that don't.

• To work with regional investigative editors to get their buy-in for the strongest stories and transform them into powerful long-form films.

• To find and develop pure OSINT stories into short-form impactful films working with the producers and the video editor/motion designer of the team.

• Outstanding and proven ability to transform investigative findings and visual evidence into compelling films with the flair for writing clear and incisive scripts, structuring short and long-form films and crafting them in the edit, and giving clear and imaginative direction to produce documentaries with a lot of motion graphics.

• Strong experience in managing complex investigations and the deployments of staff or freelancers in hostile environments (including surveillance states) as well as the handling of sources and contributors in these difficult places.

• To work closely with the BBC's High Risk, Legal, and Editorial Policy teams as well as with other senior editors in the department to ensure the safety of journalists, sources, and contributors as well as ensuring the respect of the BBC Editorial Guidelines.

• Rigorous fact-checking ability to ensure that all output meets the highest standards of accuracy and fairness. Though you do not need to be an OSINT expert, you must have a grasp of the methodologies and tools that allow you to critically interrogate every piece of evidence.

• Real flair for producing videos and content that feel native on various platforms (TV, radio, digital and social) and that catch fire on these channels.

• To inspire and lead an ambitious, talented, and diverse team of journalists; and set the highest standards of journalistic and film-making excellence for the team while ensuring the team members remain happy and motivated.

• Ability to collaborate with digital teams across BBC Output and Content areas to craft and lead an impactful rollout for our stories.

• To work closely with the production teams to ensure every aspect of the production is carefully planned so that filming and editing schedules ensure maximum productivity and programmes come in on budget.


Are you the right candidate?
We are looking for an experienced Executive Producer with excellent editorial judgment, outstanding writing and film-making skills, rich experience of managing complex investigations in hostile environments, a rigorous standard of evidence checking, a real flair for producing compelling journalism for various platforms (TV, radio news, digital and social), and an inspiring team leader.