Post Production Technical Operator Apprenticeship - Level 4 - BBC Studios - NHU Archives - Bristol
BBC Public Service
Bristol (BS8 2LR)
Closes in 6 days (Thursday 13 November 2025)
Posted on 6 November 2025
Contents
Summary
Join the BBC as a Postproduction Technical Operator Apprentice. Work in ingest hubs, studios and on location, supporting content across TV, radio and digital. In Bristol, help BBC Studios’ Archives preserve Natural History footage and support productions in comedy, drama, and factual genres with secure media management.
- Wage
-
£22,950 a year
- Training course
- Post production technical operator (level 4)
- Hours
-
19 months - 35 hours per week.
35 hours a week
- Start date
-
Tuesday 8 September 2026
- Duration
-
1 year 7 months
- Positions available
-
1
Work
Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.
What you'll do at work
As a Post-Production Technical Operator apprentice (PPA26), this is a brilliant opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute – you will gain experience in:
- Editing content for a variety of BBC platforms. Digitising and managing content
- Delivering TX files to the playout provider, and keeping systems and applications accurately up to date
- Teamworking and communication skills, working as part of a varied team providing services, and talking directly to other departments across the BBC
Where you'll work
Bristol
BS8 2LR
Training
Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.
Training provider
LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY
Training course
Post production technical operator (level 4)
Understanding apprenticeship levels (opens in new tab)
What you'll learn
Course contents
- Work in line with agreed workflows, adapting to operational changes as they occur.
- Multitask on simultaneous projects, often for different clients, prioritising the work to ensure that all tasks are completed on schedule.
- Analyse and interpret the work order and technical specification to complete the scheduled tasks.
- Use process documentation and work order reporting systems for efficient, accurate and timely communication with other departments about the progress of the work in hand.
- Work accurately with a high degree of attention to detail.
- Analyse and advise on the quality of audio, video and data throughout the post production process to colleagues, customers and suppliers.
- Follow post production processes to ensure the necessary quality is achieved.
- Access and interpret the relevant information pertaining to technical specifications and client requirements, and apply to the post production process.
- Use appropriate technical vocabulary to document and communicate compliance with, or exceptions from, technical standards.
- Assimilate information from multiple sources and apply to task in hand.
- Ensure data is transferred securely between client supplied sources and post production storage systems, performing data integrity and virus checks.
- Ingest and export media content and metadata to/from post-production systems, syncing the audio to video and applying colour transforms (LUTs) as required.
- Arrange media content in agreed folder structures, using consistent and unambiguous folder and file naming conventions.
- Prepare graphics and still images for ingest using software such as Photoshop where basic manipulation is required.
- Encode and transcode audio and video data to required specifications.
- Export finished content or work-in-progress with metadata from post-production systems to required specifications and naming conventions.
- Provide technical advice to clients and colleagues on an appropriate file specification for a given requirement.
- Dispatch and receive physical assets to/from external organisations and audit the process.
- Use file transfer software for fast, secure and audited delivery of assets to external destinations.
- Communicate work progress to colleagues and clients as appropriate.
- Manage access by clients to shared storage systems according to company protocols.
- Ensure data integrity when moving media between storage systems.
- Backup, archive and restore media, sequences and metadata according to company practice.
- Safely delete media as instructed and complying with company protocols.
- Maintain content security measures, both electronic and physical as required by the employer and their clients.
- Enact business continuity procedures.
- Prioritise the workload to ensure the scheduled tasks are completed on time, liaising with colleagues and clients.
- Provide frontline operational support to clients in editing suites, to ensure that they can find and work with their media.
- Take ownership to resolve and/or escalate faults/incidents to the appropriate person, within agreed governance constraints.
- Connect and set-up post production editing equipment using appropriate cables and connectors.
- Perform and check data conforms of sequences prior to colour grading or online editing.
- Transfer picture data between grading and editing systems, ensuring the data integrity of content and sequences is maintained.
- Relink ingested media to updated sequences as editorial changes occur.
- Prepare and transfer audio data to the dubbing suite.
- Perform basic editing functions necessary for the preparation of media and sequences for creative processes, or for formatting of finished content for delivery (e.g. adding line-up signals, idents, patching in QC fixes, audio laybacks).
- Analyse and interpret the results of reports from audio and video test equipment.
- Consistently assess and identify faults in content, using the correct terminology to accurately describe and record them.
- Use own judgement and discretion to decide what is acceptable and what is not in relation to quality control, depending on the context of the material, its intended use and the required technical specifications and customer requirements.
- Deliver accurate and concise Quality Assessment Reports with clear indications of mandatory failures, advisory warnings and client approved exceptions.
- Provide technical advice on remedial action to correct faults identified.
- Communicate findings to both clients and colleagues accurately, and in a diplomatic manner.
- Comply with company Health and Safety policies and practices, identifying, mitigating and reporting any incidents or risk to the appropriate person.
- Consistently work in a safe manner for self, colleagues and clients.
- Use appropriate legacy media physical handling procedures.
- Carry out basic operation of videotape recorders and audio recorders.
- Digitise tape content into editing systems.
- Playout finished content from editing systems to tape.
- Provide technical advice to clients and colleagues on the implications of using legacy format in contemporary workflows.
- Work in line with agreed workflows, adapting to operational changes as they occur.
- Multitask on simultaneous projects, often for different clients, prioritising the work to ensure that all tasks are completed on schedule.
- Analyse and interpret the work order and technical specification to complete the scheduled tasks.
- Use process documentation and work order reporting systems for efficient, accurate and timely communication with other departments about the progress of the work in hand.
- Work accurately with a high degree of attention to detail.
- Analyse and advise on the quality of audio, video and data throughout the post production process to colleagues, customers and suppliers.
- Follow post production processes to ensure the necessary quality is achieved.
- Access and interpret the relevant information pertaining to technical specifications and client requirements, and apply to the post production process.
- Use appropriate technical vocabulary to document and communicate compliance with, or exceptions from, technical standards.
- Assimilate information from multiple sources and apply to task in hand.
- Ensure data is transferred securely between client supplied sources and post production storage systems, performing data integrity and virus checks.
- Ingest and export media content and metadata to/from post-production systems, syncing the audio to video and applying colour transforms (LUTs) as required.
- Arrange media content in agreed folder structures, using consistent and unambiguous folder and file naming conventions.
- Prepare graphics and still images for ingest using software such as Photoshop where basic manipulation is required.
- Encode and transcode audio and video data to required specifications.
- Export finished content or work-in-progress with metadata from post-production systems to required specifications and naming conventions.
- Provide technical advice to clients and colleagues on an appropriate file specification for a given requirement.
- Dispatch and receive physical assets to/from external organisations and audit the process.
- Use file transfer software for fast, secure and audited delivery of assets to external destinations.
- Communicate work progress to colleagues and clients as appropriate.
- Manage access by clients to shared storage systems according to company protocols.
- Ensure data integrity when moving media between storage systems.
- Backup, archive and restore media, sequences and metadata according to company practice.
- Safely delete media as instructed and complying with company protocols.
- Maintain content security measures, both electronic and physical as required by the employer and their clients.
- Enact business continuity procedures.
- Prioritise the workload to ensure the scheduled tasks are completed on time, liaising with colleagues and clients.
- Provide frontline operational support to clients in editing suites, to ensure that they can find and work with their media.
- Take ownership to resolve and/or escalate faults/incidents to the appropriate person, within agreed governance constraints.
- Connect and set-up post production editing equipment using appropriate cables and connectors.
- Perform and check data conforms of sequences prior to colour grading or online editing.
- Transfer picture data between grading and editing systems, ensuring the data integrity of content and sequences is maintained.
- Relink ingested media to updated sequences as editorial changes occur.
- Prepare and transfer audio data to the dubbing suite.
- Perform basic editing functions necessary for the preparation of media and sequences for creative processes, or for formatting of finished content for delivery (e.g. adding line-up signals, idents, patching in QC fixes, audio laybacks).
- Analyse and interpret the results of reports from audio and video test equipment.
- Consistently assess and identify faults in content, using the correct terminology to accurately describe and record them.
- Use own judgement and discretion to decide what is acceptable and what is not in relation to quality control, depending on the context of the material, its intended use and the required technical specifications and customer requirements.
- Deliver accurate and concise Quality Assessment Reports with clear indications of mandatory failures, advisory warnings and client approved exceptions.
- Provide technical advice on remedial action to correct faults identified.
- Communicate findings to both clients and colleagues accurately, and in a diplomatic manner.
- Comply with company Health and Safety policies and practices, identifying, mitigating and reporting any incidents or risk to the appropriate person.
- Consistently work in a safe manner for self, colleagues and clients.
- Use appropriate legacy media physical handling procedures.
- Carry out basic operation of videotape recorders and audio recorders.
- Digitise tape content into editing systems.
- Playout finished content from editing systems to tape.
- Provide technical advice to clients and colleagues on the implications of using legacy format in contemporary workflows.
Training schedule
You’ll study for your industry-recognised apprenticeship qualification, learning both on and off the job.? This involves attending blocks of teaching at London South Bank University, covering best practice for media ingest, storage management, media export, secure digital despatch, support for creative colleagues in content finishing and quality assessment of finished content. Modules include:
- Video technology
- Audio technology
- Metadata and timecode
- Codecs and files
- Edit assistant operations
- Networks and storage
- Data Conforming and finishing
- Quality Control
- Archiving and legacy technology
Requirements
Share if you have other relevant qualifications and industry experience. The apprenticeship can be adjusted to reflect what you already know.
Skills
- Attention to detail
- Organisation skills
- Problem solving skills
- Logical
- Team working
- Creative
- Initiative
- Non judgemental
- Patience
Other requirements
Passionate about media content Can work calmly under pressure Brilliant organisational skills and are great at problem-solving Can you manage multiple deadlines and demands on your time? Enthusiastic self-starter, flexible and adaptable to out-of-hours working
About this employer
We are a leading early careers employer and hire more than 250 apprentices each year. We are committed to skills and talent development both inside and outside the BBC and, as one of the world’s most creative and technologically-advanced organisations for the last 100 years, a career at the BBC means learning from the best. We want people who show potential to join us at the BBC. Don’t worry if you don’t have extensive experience, it’s your passion and values we are interested in.
Disability Confident
A fair proportion of interviews for this apprenticeship will be offered to applicants with a disability or long-term health condition. This includes non-visible disabilities and conditions.
You can choose to be considered for an interview under the Disability Confident scheme. You’ll need to meet the essential requirements to be considered for an interview.
After this apprenticeship
This is a fixed-term apprenticeship - your contract lasts for the duration of the scheme.
Once completed, you’ll be supported with career development, employability training, and networking opportunities to help you take your next step - whether that’s at the BBC or elsewhere in the industry.
Ask a question
The contact for this apprenticeship is:
LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY
earlycareersrecruitment@bbc.co.uk
The reference code for this apprenticeship is VAC1000349850.
Apply now
Closes in 6 days (Thursday 13 November 2025)
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