content director

The Content Director works alongside the Advisory Chair (a senior figure drawn from industry each year in a voluntary role) and helps to assemble the Advisory Committee who are responsible for the annual editorial direction of the Festival – from developing session ideas to overseeing final production. The members of this committee are also volunteers working in the industry and are refreshed annually. The role also includes regular interaction with the Executive Chair, a variety of major funders and reporting to the board on the progress of the programme.

Person Specification:

The role demands an accomplished individual with at least five years’ senior festival, creative, production or journalism experience. The successful candidate will ideally have an in-depth knowledge of the television sector and a network of contacts combined with events management skills that include producing speakers and panel discussions.

Role Responsibilities: 

• Managing the creation, design and delivery of up to 60 sessions at the Festival, and smaller events across the year. Session formats vary from single speakers, panels, workshops and roundtables across a range of topics each year.

• Generate new ideas both for the Festival programme and the year-round activity of the TV Foundation

• Relationship building – the Festival relies on the voluntary expertise of very senior figures with a variety of demands. The postholder must be collaborative,             diplomatic and able to manage complicated relationships whilst robustly defending the Festival’s editorial independence

• Use research, delegate survey data and input from the Advisory Committee to identify key Festival themes;

• Conduct research to identify and examine industry trends and issues;

• Secure and liaise with high-level speakers and their representatives;

• Monitor relevant external events to ensure the Festival remains cutting-edge, including networking with external contacts and potential speakers;

• Working alongside the other members of the senior management team (Commercial Director, Operations Director and Programmes Director to ensure the organisations’ financial, logistical and charitable objectives are met)

• Event attendance involving evening, early morning events and some regional events, which may occasionally require travel and overnight stays;

• Liaising with the Advisory Committee, and managing Session Producers to curate the Festival programme;

• In addition to content creation, you will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of the Festival with the Head of Production and with the support of freelance         production staff from March-August each year

• Liaise with speakers and facilitators, ensuring they are fully briefed;

• Liaise with venues and the Production team regarding logistical aspects of event delivery;