Social Media Director - FTC

This is a FTC to start late September 2026 running for approximately 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 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 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 as well as others around you
• Passionate about social media, living and breathing 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, recognising 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.