Head of Performance, Talent & Leadership in City of London

Head of Performance, Talent & Leadership

Reporting to the Chief Talent and Inclusion Officer, the Head of Performance, Talent & Leadership will shape a strategy that enables people and leaders to thrive across the BBC. The role defines and delivers frameworks for performance management, talent development, succession planning, and leadership, working closely with Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, Learning & Development, and Talent Acquisition to ensure a cohesive and inclusive employee experience.

Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Define and lead the group strategy for performance management, talent development, succession planning, career architecture, and leadership frameworks.
• Create fit‑for‑purpose frameworks, tools, and guidance that are scalable and adaptable to different divisions and geographies.
• Ensure all frameworks are data‑informed, future‑focused, and aligned with business and cultural transformation goals.
• Set enterprise‑wide standards for talent and leadership, including clear accountabilities, performance indicators, and success metrics.
• Govern the implementation of talent and career processes across divisions, ensuring consistency, quality, and measurable impact.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior executives on leadership pipeline, high‑potential development, and succession risk.
• Lead divisional talent, leadership, and inclusion leads to deliver strategy, co‑creating aligned solutions tailored to organisational needs.
• Build effective partnerships across HR, particularly with Diversity & Inclusion, Learning & Development, and Talent Acquisition, to ensure an integrated and progressive people strategy.
• Stay abreast of external best practice, research, and future trends, bringing fresh thinking into the BBC to inform strategic direction.
• Identify technological developments that can accelerate the BBC’s approach, working with Technology Group stakeholders to leverage existing infrastructure and propose change where needed.
• Embed inclusive practices into all programmes to ensure leadership and talent systems are equitable and representative.
• Act as a senior change agent for the evolution of performance and talent culture across the BBC, including representing the function at internal and external forums.

Essential Criteria

• Extensive leadership expertise in Talent, Leadership, and Organisation Development within a large, matrixed, complex organisation.
• Track record of designing and implementing enterprise‑wide talent strategies, performance frameworks, and leadership development programmes.
• Proven ability to lead cross‑functional teams and influence effectively across all organisational levels.
• Demonstrated success in transforming legacy systems and cultures into modern, inclusive, future‑fit practices.
• Proven experience in translating complex business challenges into clear people strategies through analytics and strategic thinking.
• Expertise in performance management, talent development, career frameworks, and leadership models, ensuring relevance for changing organisations.

Expectations and Leadership

Being a leader at the BBC means putting the organisation’s interests, goals and values first, ahead of individual team or function needs. Leaders focus on outcomes, adapt quickly, simplify complexity, balance short‑term actions with long‑term impact, take full accountability for decisions, and prioritise capability development to create teams fit for the future.

Disclaimer

This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, its principal accountabilities, and the skills, knowledge and experience required for satisfactory performance. It is not a complete or detailed account of all duties.

Employment screening checks (reference, eligibility to work, safeguarding and adverse media/social media checks) will be conducted. Any offer is conditional on satisfactory completion of these checks.

For general queries, contact bbchr@bbc.co.uk.

Redeployment

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC. Priorities are given to those at risk of redundancy, with redeployment applications considered alongside external applicants.

Information at a Glance

This is your BBC

The BBC is an inclusive environment where you can create and innovate while contributing to world‑renowned content and its mission to inform, educate and entertain.

Life at BBC

• Fair pay and flexible benefits including a competitive salary package, a flexible 35‑hour working week, 25 days annual leave (with the option to buy an extra 5 days), a defined pensions scheme, and discounted dental, health care and gym.
• Excellent career and professional development.
• Support in your working life, including flexible working which can be discussed at any point during the application, selection or offer.
• A values‑based organisation where the way we do things is as important as what we do.

Benefits may vary if you are joining on an FTC basis.

Learn more about life at the BBC and our values in our candidate pack.

Candidate pack

You belong

We value and respect every individual\'s unique contribution, ensuring all employees feel they can belong, thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract a broad range of talented people; the more diverse our workforce, the better we can reflect our audiences.

We welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio‑economic background, religion and/or belief.

Find out more about diversity, inclusion and belonging in our strategy below.

Disability confident

We are a disability confident employer. If you need to discuss adjustments or access requirements for the interview process or to carry out this role, please contact reasonable.adjustments@bbc.co.uk.