• Description

The Commercial & Digital team is responsible for developing and growing UKTV’s revenue streams across sales, distribution, advertising and sponsorship, ventures and digital.

The Digital team are tasked with developing, evolving and implementing UKTV’s VoD and digital strategy covering U digital products and platforms, and partnerships.

The team consists of multi-disciplined, talented individuals across several different units: Curation, Product and Production & Development. We are tasked with developing a world-class BVOD service, as well as complementary digital products and partnerships to grow audiences and contribute to the long-term profitability of UKTV.

We’ve experienced rapid growth in VoD views in 2024, topping 460 million views last year, averaging 1.3 billion viewing minutes a month and almost 6 million registered users. We have ambitious plans to become a VoD destination: delivering new content, features, and functionality to U, our owned and operated VoD product, FAST channels and our pay platform partners.

Purpose of the role

This role will be based in the larger connected TV (CTV) squad working on the U VoD product, alongside other squads, to include mobile and web. You will be accountable for your squad’s effectiveness, organising and facilitating Scrum events, whilst promoting self-managing teams. Working as part of a high performing and talented cross functional team you will take on a servant leader mentality to remove impediments, eliminate obstacles and support the team to do their best work.

As we mature in our practices of Agile ways of working, this provides a great opportunity to continue to help shape how we work, continuing to grow our capabilities as a team to support the fast-paced growth of the product. A growth mindset and strong focus on continuous improvement, not just across our product but also how we work as a team is vital.

What we would like you to bring to the role ….key experience, knowledge, skills & personal qualities

Experience

• Demonstratable experience as a scrum master in digital, working on a direct-to-consumer product.
• Deep understanding of Scrum and Agile principles.
• Proven experience working across a connected TV product, alongside a deep technical understanding of the end-to-end delivery.
• Deep technical understanding and previous experience working closely with developers on a connected TV product(s).
• Experience promoting a culture of accountability whilst fostering a safe environment for experimentation and learning.
• Ability to promote a culture of transparency, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management experience.
• Strong facilitation, Agile coaching, and conflict-resolution experience.
• Challenging thoughts and ideas in a diplomatic manner to get to the right solution.
• Experience using data to drive decision making, specifically using velocity and burndown charts to provide the squad with the right data to improve effectiveness.

Knowledge

• Significant and demonstrable understanding of the Scrum Guide, to include principles and events.
• Understanding of the Agile Manifesto, including the values and principles.
• A clear grasp of the different Agile methodologies, with a focus on Scrum and Kanban.
• Proven knowledge of the software development life cycle.
• A confident technical understanding, such as version control, branching strategies and the principles of continuous integration and continuous deployment.
• Strong technical knowledge of connected TVs and devices, being able to confidently converse with, and where appropriate, challenge developers.
• Understanding of product backlog refinement and prioritisation (e.g. WSJF / MoSCoW)
• Basic knowledge of data privacy (e.g. GDPR) and software security.
• Knowledge of Agile metrics (e.g., velocity, burndown charts, cumulative flow diagrams) and how to use them to review team performance and identify areas for improvement.
• Techniques for identifying, addressing, and removing impediments that block squad progress.
• Knowledge of risk management and strategies to minimise impact on squad performance.
• Techniques for building trust and psychological safety.
• Coaching techniques to guide teams and individuals toward self-organisation and continuous improvement.
• Proficiency and proven experience using Jira, Miro, planning poker tools and retro boards.

Skills & personal qualities

• Ability to build trust, transparency and facilitate a psychologically safe environment.
• A solution focused mindset.
• Strong relationship management skills.
• Analytical thinking, using data to inform your decisions.
• Ability to facilitate a healthy, collaborative environment.
• Champion Agile transformation, not just within the squad but in the wider business.
• Organised and proactive.
• Excellent communication skills.
• A strong commitment to continuous learning and personal development.

What you will get to work on ….key outputs and responsibilities of the role

In this role you will be in one of the larger squads for the U VoD app reporting into the Delivery Lead, being a part of our ambitious growth plans, where you will get to:

• Deliver major changes and key updates to the U product on connected TVs, to align to our user needs and company strategy, meeting goals within agreed sprints.
• Work closely with several Product Owners across connected TV to maintain and prioritise the product backlog, with alignment to the project goals.
• Act as a link between the development team and external stakeholders, communicating project status, risks and dependencies, as appropriate.
• Facilitate Scrum ceremonies, including sprint planning, daily stand-ups, sprint reviews, and retrospectives.
• Act as a gatekeeper for the development team, shielding them from external disruptions.
• Facilitate a self-organising team, empowering ownerships of squad deliverables.
• Manage cross-team dependencies and co-ordinate as appropriate when working on larger, cross department projects.
• Remove impediments and blockers to ensure smooth delivery of sprint goals.
• Enhance team effectiveness through improved collaboration, transparency, increased adoption of Agile processes.
• Promote and coach the squad on Agile values, principles, and practices, to maximise productivity and champion these learnings across the wider business.
• Track and report on sprint progress, using metrics to include velocity, burndown charts and cycle time to surface trends.
• Encourage a test and learn mentality.
• Promote a culture of learning, utilising internal resources and facilitate workshops.
• Build an environment of trust and transparent communication.
  Commitment

About UKTV

UKTV has been at the forefront of branded television for over 30 years, entertaining the nation with programmes they love. Its leading brands - U&Dave, U&DRAMA, U&W, U&YESTERDAY, Gold, Alibi and Eden - span comedy, entertainment, natural history, factual and drama, and are delivered to UK viewers through free streaming service U, Sky, Virgin Media, NOW, Freeview and Freesat; and to Irish viewers through Sky, Virgin Media, Eir, Vodafone and NOW. Channel & content availability varies by platform. UKTV’s content is also available to UK viewers via dedicated FAST channels on Samsung TV Plus, Amazon Freevee, Pluto TV and Virgin Media.

UKTV is a significant investor in British creativity and is committed to working with new and established writers, directors and programme-makers. The broadcaster is part of BBC Studios, the UK’s most-awarded production company, a world-class distributor with international branded services, and a commercial subsidiary of the world’s leading public service broadcaster, the BBC.