Interview Process

Virtual interview for shortlisted candidates – approx. one and a half hours of technical and values-based questions, diagram needs to be prepared ahead of time around “a complex system you have built, designed or worked on”

Job Introduction

Step into the world of the BBC, one of the UK's most iconic and beloved brands, where every working day is as unique as it is rewarding. Every tick of the clock, our content reaches millions of people globally, which is made possible by our top-notch Software Engineering team. They've been instrumental in pioneering innovative products and unique features that have firmly positioned us at the forefront of our industry. We don't merely adapt to an ever-changing world - we set the pace.

The BBC produces an incredibly varied range of content: from video, audio, and text; from comedy, drama, news, and educational content; and content produced all around the UK. With so much content being produced, it can be difficult to get the right content to the right person. The BBC is investing in its Search platform, with the aim to improve and modernise its search offering to provide more relevant search results to audience members – whether this is via our discovery engine, machine learning, or other forms of relevancy. We are looking at expanding and investing in the BBC’s audience facing search platform. We utilise the open-source Apache Solr project to serve up search results based on keywords but we’d like to expand this functionality into other areas such as:

• • Beginning to understand context around our content
• • Understanding the user’s requests (not just matching words)
• • Richer search experience
• • Machine learning
• • Personalisation

The BBC is a place where you will be able to make a real difference. You will be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you will be empowered to fulfil your potential. You’ll be doing this from our brand-new tech hub in Newcastle, which has been launched this year, as part of our commitment to investing across the UK.

We offer a warm welcome with full support settling in and foster a culture where everyone has an opportunity to succeed.  We're deeply proud of our values, which are intrinsic to the way we behave every day.  We take them seriously because we want our culture to thrive.  We want people to really enjoy working with us and get a buzz from knowing that what they are doing is making a difference and enhancing people's lives.

Main Responsibilities

We're looking for a Software Engineering Team Lead, who will represent and support our multi-disciplinary engineering teams within the BBC’s new pan-BBC Recommendations team. We value solid technical knowledge; hands-on experience is a bonus but not a deal-breaker. Our dream candidate is: