Software Engineering Postgraduate Apprenticeship

The BBC is changing - we’re adapting to our audience all the time, so we need passionate software engineers to join us, to drive innovation and help shape the future of the BBC. We are seeking software engineers who are looking to advance their career with both on and off the job training. In addition to further developing your software engineering skills this 24 month MSc Digital and Technology Solutions Specialist in Software Engineering, delivered by QA in partnership with Northumbria University, will also develop you as a digital leader, with apprenticeship modules designed to develop critical knowledge and skills in innovation & business technology and technical & digital leadership.

The apprenticeship will provide you with the skills and knowledge to be able to:

• maintain digital and technology strategies through technology leadership
• investigate, identify and implement technological strategic solutions;
• direct digital technology provision by studying organisation goals, strategies, and practices
• deliver and support strategic plans for implementing digital technologies

If successful you will be placed in one of the following three teams, with the opportunity to rotate at a later date:

BBC Media Services Team

Do you want to help #BuildTheBBC? With 95% of the UK using the BBC every week, we’re the highest reaching media provider in the UK, driven by the strength of our Broadcast portfolio across TV and Radio. Beyond the UK we’re building one of the world’s biggest global media brands, reaching 372m people a week worldwide across TV, Radio and online.

Using cutting-edge, cloud-based technologies the Media Services team in London is responsible for publishing all the BBC’s online audio and video content, powering iPlayer, BBC Sounds, News and Sport. We handle live content, “catch-up”, and podcasts and support thousands of different devices, including PCs, phones, tablets, game consoles, smart speakers and smart TVs.

The iPlayer and Sounds apps have been installed on over 47 million phones and tablets, and we handle 50 million plays daily. Every day we ingest and publish over 1000 hours of content and publish several terabytes of new files.

The Media Services Playback team based in Salford is an integral part of the BBC’s Digital strategy, delivering consistent user experiences and core functionality across the BBC’s mobile estate. The team focus on player development for both Android and iOS platforms.

The media components we build are right at the heart of the BBC’s best loved products including iPlayer, Sounds, News and Sport to name just a few. Whether you’re catching up on last night’s episode of EastEnders, listening to Radio 1 or jumping right into live sporting action, our media player provides a robust, reliable and consistent playback experience.

BBC iPlayer and Sounds Team

The BBC is one of the UK’s most well-known and loved brands. Our product development teams build two of the BBC’s key products: BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Our mission is to secure the Internet future of the BBC and we have ambitious goals to be the number one online TV and audio services in the UK. This is a place where your work impacts millions of users every day across our products. You will have an opportunity to work on software at a scale that is hard to find elsewhere.

BBC Core Services Team

The BBC Core Services team is tasked with delivering the new core web and product services framework on which six of the BBC’s eight audience-facing digital services – News, Sport, Weather, Children’s, Education and Homepage – are based. This means enabling, and working closely with, these big and much-loved services to create the engaging digital propositions of the future through resilient and sound foundations. By working with us, you will help build out the wider BBC’s vision to create the world’s best digital services, using cutting edge technology, collaboration, and championing faster, simpler ways of ways of doing things.

We own and operate several systems and services which are vital to the operation of one of the biggest websites on the web. We use a range of technologies, and languages across our teams and to support our missions to operate the platform and help other engineering teams build amazing content for our audiences.

• You will be over 18 when the apprenticeship starts in January 2022

• By the time this scheme starts, you will have an Honours degree (2:2 or above) in an appropriate Computing, Technology or Engineering discipline

• Some industry experience is desirable but not essential

• You don’t already have an MSc in a Computing, Technology or Engineering discipline

• Please choose from the list below if you are applying for Salford or London

• Please provide us with your software experience to date

• This should be a list of all languages and technologies, including your level of experience for each.

• Please tell us about a deliverable you were responsible for producing; describing the approach you took to planning and organising the work.

• Recalling a software project you worked on that resulted in a good quality deliverable, what was it about the practices and methods used on this project that enabled that result?

Interviews will take place the week commencing 18th October for 14 days.Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate interviews outside of these dates. You will be assessed in 2 different ways, a strength-based interview and a technical assessment that will be provided beforehand.

We don’t focus simply on what we do – we also care how we do it. Our values and the way we behave are important to us. Please make sure you’ve read about our values and behaviours in the document attached below.

Diversity matters at the BBC. We have a working environment where we value and respect every individual’s unique contribution, enabling all of our employees to thrive and achieve their full potential.

We want to attract the broadest range of talented people to be part of the BBC – whether that’s to contribute to our programming or our wide range of non-production roles. The more diverse our workforce, the better able we are to respond to and reflect our audiences in all their diversity.

We are committed to equality of opportunity and welcome applications from individuals, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, socio-economic background, religion and/or belief. We will consider flexible working requests for all roles, unless operational requirements prevent otherwise.

To find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at the BBC, please click here

Key Information:

Start date: January 2022

Locations: Salford and London

Apprenticeship Duration: 24 months

What we are offering

• A salary of £23,318pa (£28,000 for those based in London) increasing on successful completion of the MSc apprenticeship
• Unrivalled training and development opportunities
• 25 days of holiday per year
• Eligibility to join:
  • BBC pension scheme
  • Employee discount scheme
  • Cycle-to-work scheme
  • Travel season ticket scheme

The situation regarding the coronavirus outbreak is developing quickly and the BBC is keen to continue to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people across the BBC, while continuing to protect our services. To reduce the risk access to BBC buildings is limited to those essential to our broadcast output. From Wednesday 18th March until further notice all assessments and interviews will be conducted remotely. For more information go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/

Mae’r sefyllfa gyda’r coronafeirws yn datblygu’n gyflym, ac mae’r BBC yn awyddus i barhau i sicrhau diogelwch a lles pobl ar draws y BBC, gan barhau i warchod ein gwasanaethau hefyd. I leihau’r risg, dim ond y bobl sy’n hanfodol i’n hallbwn darlledu fydd yn cael mynediad i adeiladau’r BBC. O ddydd Mercher 18fed Mawrth ymlaen, bydd pob asesiad a chyfweliad yn cael ei gynnal o bell, nes rhoddir gwybod yn wahanol. I gael mwy o wybodaeth, ewch i https://www.bbc.co.uk/careers/