Production Technology Specialist

Workplace: Salford (This is an office-based role; the opportunity to work from home in this role will be rare). 

Production Technology Specialist

ITV Granada Reports 

Contract until 31st January 2030

This opportunity is to cover a colleague who is working on a project

This is a rare and exciting opportunity for someone who loves technology to be part of a fast paced and dynamic ITV News team.  Working closely with operational and editorial colleagues at ITV Granada Reports, you will work across all technical areas from what’s gathered by a camera through to the delivery of content online and on air.

As a Production Technology Specialist, you will be a highly motivated individual as well as friendly and approachable.  You will be committed to working as part of a successful team supporting news production.  You will be an excellent communicator,  who is quick thinking and calm under pressure with strong and decisive decision-making skills.  You will be adaptable in your approach and able to understand and prioritise operational requirements across newsgathering, video/graphics production systems and studio operations. You’ll have a ‘can do’ attitude and always be looking for ways to help colleagues with technology and workflow issues.

We don’t expect you to know everything (there’s a great team in place to support you) but we do want commitment from you to understand our output, have the ability to quickly grasp new technology and always be willing to support people in their day to day work. You’ll be happy with varied working hours and be willing to travel when needed, within the region or beyond, to meet the needs of the newsroom.

Reporting to the Operations Manager but with guidance from the News Technology Management Team,  as our Production Technology Specialist you’ll be responsible for our front line proactive and reactive support, and occasional local or national ITV News technical projects.

If you have a passion for News and Technology and are looking to expand on your current skills and experience this could be the perfect role for you.

Apply now with your CV and a covering letter explaining what skills you could bring and why you are suitable for the role.

Please note, whilst the role will predominantly follow a regular pattern of work, working hours will be dictated by production requirements and will include out of hours and weekend working.  You will be willing to take exceptional out of hours calls, taking action where necessary.

Because of the nature of news/programmes production, there will be occasions when you are required to work long and unsociable hours at short notice.

Occasional travel for projects, training and to support other sites as required.

Key Responsibilities

To provide a first class technical and operational support service across the local ITV News nations/regions licence, under the guidance of the Operations Manager, News Technology Management Team and Tech Zone teams.

To engage with and support ITV technical project work as requested and led by the News Technology Management Team.

• To take responsibility for ensuring that all local systems and equipment are fully operational and meeting the needs of production at all times
• To be a highly visible, proactive and engaging member of the team, by being inclusive with your approach and communicating effectively at all levels
• To carry out centrally prescribed preventative and corrective maintenance regimes
• To assist with projects, driven by the News Technology Management Team, when requested
• To train, support and develop Production Specialist colleagues to help them provide appropriate and effective technical cover, when required.
• To provide remote and out of hours technical support cover for your home licence and other ITV newsrooms as required
• To handle local work requested by ITV Group Technology or Accenture (ITV’s outsourced IT support), when required.
• Working proactively and collaboratively with ITV Tech Zone to ensure local workplace technology issues are resolved.
• To enter records and details of problems, incidents and certification processes as mandated.
• To be familiar with systems and be operational as required
• To take appropriate responsibility for controlling spend on technical equipment for repairs and renewals.
• To commit to continuous personal and technical (or professional) development for the benefit of News operations

Skills you’ll need (minimum criteria) 

• Experience in a similar or related role and/or demonstrable, relevant outside interests and experience
• Analytically problem solving and ensuring the best course of corrective action is in place to meet broadcast & publishing deadlines.
• Be literate with the range of modern broadcast live production systems/workplace technology and to demonstrate an active interest in these systems and workflows.
• Experience of managing servers together with Windows and Apple user devices
• The ability to be a self starter and multi-skill to ensure issues, projects and requests are dealt with in a timely manner.
• Experience of working effectively as part of a team
• Confident and clear communication skills and the ability to explain technical details or limitations in a way that all colleagues can understand.
• Proven ability to learn and apply new skills

Other things we’re looking for (key criteria)

• A team player who demonstrates drive and resilience
• Brings a positive attitude to their work
• Confident communicator 
• Excellent attention to detail

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of what we do at ITV Granada Reports and we want to ensure we reflect our audience both on screen and in our workforce. ITV is for Everyone and we encourage applications from Deaf, Disabled and Neurodivergent people and People of Colour to apply for this role.

Newsrooms are busy and pressurised environments, involving live news production, which often requires colleagues to make quick decisions under pressure. We also need people who are able to use their initiative.

We need to test these abilities at the interview stage to understand how candidates will react when operating in a pressurised environment. This is a fundamental requirement of the role. We will always consider any request for reasonable adjustments as part of the interview process, for example sharing key themes when that is requested in connection with a neurodivergent condition, whilst still ensuring that we are able to test a candidate's ability to operate in the specific environment of a newsroom.

Closing date: Sunday 25th October at 23:55

Please note the notice period for this role is 3 months (this will include any new contracts/ secondments)