Senior Lawyer, Distribution Legal

Join to apply for the Senior Lawyer, Distribution Legal role at BBC.

Job band: E

Contract type: Permanent, Full‑time.

Department: BBC Legal, Distribution Team

Location: Role based in London’s Broadcasting House, with some hybrid working. Our in‑office team days are currently Mondays and Tuesdays, with additional days as required.

Proposed salary range: £104,000 – £114,000 per annum plus London weighting (£5,441 per annum) depending on relevant skills, knowledge and experience.

Flexible working: We’re happy to discuss flexible working. If you’d like to, please indicate your preference in the application. Flexible working will be part of the discussion at offer stage.

Purpose of the Role

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Senior Lawyer to join the BBC Distribution Legal team, which currently consists of the Head of Distribution Legal, two Senior Lawyers and two Lawyers. Trainees rotate into the team periodically.

As a Senior Lawyer, you’ll play a key role in supporting the BBC’s public service distribution activities—ensuring BBC channels, content, and products reach audiences across a wide range of platforms and devices, including Pay TV, Smart TVs, streaming devices, mobiles, smart speakers, in‑car systems, and social media.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide expert legal advice on complex distribution arrangements across multiple platforms, including broadcast, digital, and streaming, linear and non‑linear for TV and audio.
• Negotiate, draft and conclude a wide range of agreements to support the BBC’s distribution activities.
• Anticipate and assess risk and propose suitable practical and contractual mitigations.
• Liaise with stakeholders across the BBC to support strategic projects.
• Assist and support the development of junior lawyers and trainees in the team.

Essential Criteria

• A qualified lawyer with a minimum of 5 years PQE with substantial experience in broadcast, media or technology gained with a leading law firm and/or specialist IP, Commercial or technology team.
• Significant experience in handling IP, commercial or technology issues in the media sector.
• Substantial experience in reviewing, drafting, negotiating, and concluding carriage and distribution agreements and other ancillary legal documentation.
• Demonstrable experience in providing practical and commercially focused legal advice.
• Excellent communication skills and experience of building relationships with clients and colleagues.

Desired but Not Required

• A high level of technology literacy, including familiarity with Smart TV interfaces, streaming video services, social media, IPTV, mobile media and related functionality.
• In‑house experience.
• Experience of regulatory and data protection law.
• Knowledge of media rights and industry practices.
• Experience of dealing with artificial intelligence.

Disclosure and Informed Consent

Before your start date, you may need to disclose any unspent convictions or police charges, in line with our Contracts of Employment policy. This allows us to discuss any support you may need and assess any risks. Failure to disclose may result in withdrawal of your offer.

BPS25

Disclaimer

This job description is a written statement of the essential characteristics of the job, with its principal accountabilities, incorporating a note of the skills, knowledge and experience required for a satisfactory level of performance. This is not intended to be a complete, detailed account of all aspects of the duties involved.

Please note: If you were to be offered this role, the BBC will conduct employment screening checks which include reference checks; eligibility to work checks; and if applicable to the role, safeguarding and adverse media/social media checks. Any offer made is conditional on these checks being satisfactory.

For any general queries, please contact: bbchr@bbc.co.uk

Redeployment

The BBC is committed to redeploying employees seeking suitable alternative employment within the BBC and they will be given priority consideration ahead of other applicants. Priority consideration means for those employees seeking redeployment their application will be considered alongside anyone else at risk of redundancy prior to any individuals being considered who are not at risk.

Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at BBC by 2x.