Job title: Country Director, Sierra Leone
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
Reports to: Regional Director, Africa and Middle East
Salary: Competitive. This role will be contracted through our Freetown office under Sierra Leonean terms and conditions, and salary will be paid in Leones.
Duration: 12 months, with strong possibility of extension
Special requirements: Existing right to live and work in Sierra Leone. BBC Media Action will be unable to help secure a work permit for this position.
BBC Media Action:
BBC Media Action is the BBC’s international development organisation, and we believe in the power of media and communication for good. We work in more than 20 countries around the world, supporting the independent media essential to democracy and development. Each year our projects and programmes reach over 100 million people facing poverty, inequality and insecurity with information they can trust, helping to improve health, bridge divides, challenge prejudice, and save and change lives. We follow the editorial standards and values of the BBC, but we rely on funding from donors and partners to carry out our work.
Job purpose:
The BBC Media Action office in Sierra Leone is looking for a country director to provide dynamic, inspirational leadership and management to a diverse team delivering a range of exciting development projects. This exciting and influential role will be responsible for the overall running of our office in Freetown. The country director will take overall responsibility for ensuring strong management and high-quality delivery of a range of development projects which use the power of media to tackle issues of governance, media ecosystems/media freedom, youth, media literacy and other areas.They will ensure effective office management so that finance and administrative functions are carried out in line with donor rules, local regulatory requirements and BBC Media Action guidelines.
The country director will lead the expansion of our portfolio in Sierra Leone, including identifying future business development opportunities and overseeing the writing of new project proposals. They will represent BBC Media Action to the Sierra Leonean government, donors, media partners and other key stakeholders.
Main duties and responsibilities:
- Provide dynamic, inspirational leadership and management, and lead senior management team to ensure BBC Media Action meets our commitments to funders, partners and audiences in Sierra Leone.
- Manage and develop a diverse and dynamic team, ensuring that staff are appropriately supported and managed, and that the team is maintaining high standards of performance and professional integrity.
- Through effective line-management of team leads, take final responsibility for ensuring all activities are delivered within agreed standards, timescales and budgets, and all outputs adhere to BBC editorial standards.
- Ensure effective office management so that finance and administrative functions are carried out in line with donor rules, local regulatory requirements and BBC Media Action guidelines.
- Lead the expansion of our portfolio in Sierra Leone, including identifying future business development opportunities, establishing relevant relationships with donors and primes, and overseeing the writing of new project proposals.
Ideal candidate:
The ideal candidate will have substantial experience in the transformative and inclusive management of diverse teams of creatives and professionals. They will have experience managing large-scale, donor-funded projects in a developing-country context, preferably in Sierra Leone, and will have proven ability to deliver complex projects to deadlines and within budget. They will have experience developing and securing international development or media projects, including the ability to develop new project ideas and present these persuasively to potential partners and funders, and write successful proposals.
In addition, the ideal candidate will have significant budget management experience with overall responsibility for large budgets. They will have a record of forming effective relationships with a range of local and international partners, government and/or media, and managing effective teamwork between partners and stakeholders, including those with differing agendas. The ideal candidate will also have considerable experience of working in the media or development sector (preferably both) and demonstrable knowledge of the development and/or media context in Sierra Leone.
Safeguarding
This role may involve working with groups of vulnerable children, youth, and adults. For the successful candidate, mandatory training will be provided on BBC Media Action’s safeguarding policy and staff code of conduct. BBC Media Action operates a zero-tolerance policy concerning all forms of abuse and exploitation of vulnerable people. A police background check may form part of the recruitment process.
How to apply
Closing date: 8th March 2026
To apply, send a) your CV, b) a short covering letter setting out how you meet the skills and experience listed in the job description, and c) a one-page description telling us of a project that you have been involved in that you are most proud of and why, to apply-africa@bbcmediaaction.org Please include “Country director, Sierra Leone” in the subject line and send by midnight GMT on 8th March 2026