BBC deputy director general Mark Byford is to leave the corporation in March 2011 and the post closed, the BBC is expected to announce.
Mr Byford is in charge of the BBC’s journalism and his responsibilities include editorial policy and planning for the London Olympic games
He joined the BBC in 1979, aged 20, as a “temporary holiday relief assistant” in the television newsroom in Leeds.
The BBC has not officially confirmed the decision yet.
Mr Byford, whose salary is £471,000, has a total remuneration package worth £485,000, according to the BBC’s 2008/2009 accounts.
Mr Byford took on his current role in January 2004, but just three weeks later had to step up to acting director general after Greg Dyke resigned following the publication of the Hutton Report.
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