CV

As the UK's biggest youth music station, BBC Radio 1's digital media offering played a central role with the website reaching over 2 Million users each week. As senior producer (and producer before that), I was intimately involved with both the technical development of the site and the growth of the digital brand. As well as editorially overseeing the day to day production of content, I led a number of high-profile projects which helped not just grow reach, but re-define how audiences interact with what was traditionally an analogue service.

Responsibilities included:

• Managing daily production of content for the Radio 1 and 1Xtra websites
• Line managing a team of 5 producers and assistant producers
• Leading a number of major projects that develop the digital services
• Prioritising and securing resources for routine design and technical updates
• Developing the brand's social media spaces, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
• Working with marketing and station sound teams to coordinate digital and on-air promotional activity
• Commissioning and collaborating with external agencies to deliver both technical and content based propositions
• Managing stakeholders in the radio stations, design and technology departments, and across the BBC
• Reviewing video/audio/photo content ensuring its compliance with BBC editorial guidelines
• Ensuring the Radio 1/1Xtra websites remain relevant and engaging to their audience

Projects included:

Radio 1 Homepage (Sep 2011)

The new homepage was the most challenging, but rewarding project I have ever worked on and has ushered in a new era of audience interaction and engagement at Radio 1. The product delivers a 24/7 live feed of the radio output, allowing users to explore the music played, videos or photos captured and audience reaction on social media. Beyond this it enables users to login and choose their favourites and provides recommendations for other content they might like. This was a very ambitious project, besides being very complex technically, it required the modernisation of a number of radio production processes and the continuous support of senior stakeholders and on-air talent. On this project I did the following:

• Authored the project proposal and got budget approval
• Worked with the design team to define the concept and interaction patterns
• Developed both flash and functional prototypes
• Arranged user testing with members of the target audience
• Wrote the invitation to tender and commissioned an external agency to build the product
• Managed the indie (Kite) through the development process
• Negotiated changes in scope, timeline and budget
• Presented the homepage to station management, DJs and production teams
• Defined, evangelised and supported changes in radio production methods
• Secured budget and resources for ongoing development and support for 12 months after delivery
• Coordinated technical delivery, public launch and marketing campaign

You can find out more about the Radio 1 homepage in my BBC Internet Blog post. There's also background information from the designers and developers too.

Radio 1 Web app (Dec 2010)

The mobile web app was responsible for over a 200% increase in reach from touch screen mobiles. Making heavy use of HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript it delivered a native-app feel to the Radio 1 website when accessed from a phone and it worked seamlessly across iOS, Android and Blackberry (the most popular operating systems within the station's demographic). This was a rapid project on a small budget, but it packed a punch and introduced some BBC firsts including iPhone streaming and free messaging to the radio studio.

• Authored the project proposal and got budget approval
• Wrote the invitation to tender and commissioned an indie
• Collaborated with the designer to try various concepts and interaction patterns
• Worked with the developers to develop functional prototype
• Carried out extensive testing, provided detailed feedback and suggested improvements
• Developed some additional APIs on Radio 1 to increase functionality
• Coordinated launch and promotional activity

Achievements:

• Radio 1 weekly unique browsers increased from 1.3M (Q1 2010) to 3M (Q4 2011)
• Launched Radio 1/1Xtra Webapp (Dec 2010)
• Radio 1 web-app nominated for 'Judges Choice - Best Music App' at the BT Digital Music Awards (Sep 2011)
• Radio 1 Online won 'Best Place to Discover Music' at the BT Digital Awards (Sep 2011)
• Launched Radio 1/1Xtra Homepage (Sep 2011)
• Radio 1 homepage awarded a 5 out of 5 by Web User magazine (Sep 2011)
• Named BBC Radio 1 Employee of the month (Oct 2011)
• Listed in the UK Radio Academy's 30 Under 30 (Nov 2011)

As a producer at Radio 1 I felt incredibly privileged to work on a website with such a massive young audience. Unlike the traditional producer role, mine was focused on improving of the websites and producer workflow around content production. I worked closely with my colleagues in the design and technology department and the other producers in my team, to build some simple frameworks that would allow production to operate far more efficiently. For example I developed infrastructure that would allow video and photo content across the site to be aggregated automatically. I was also instrumental in several other major projects, such as the development of new homepages for both networks and integration with /programmes pages. Working very closely with external agencies we successfully delivered two stunning new websites on a relatively low budget. This not only demanded excellent communication with the indie, but detailed management of editorial tasks to ensure all content and workflow was correct for launch. Furthermore, throughout the year I produced content for various station events, such as Radio 1 in Ibiza, the Brit Awards and Creamfields, these experiences allowed me to widen my knowledge of radio production whilst, experimenting with new and innovative ways to excite the online audience.

I began my BBC career as a junior developer for Audio and Music and quickly secured a permanent role. As a client side developer I initially worked on the task team creating a variety of pages and concepts to help interactive teams deliver radio station priorities. Throughout this period I dedicated myself to working closely with interactive staff to understand their needs and to engineering high quality, flexible solutions that could be re-used across networks, thus achieving greater efficiencies. I was, and still am, very passionate about clean, valid, semantic mark-up; and was constantly striving to make limited content management systems exceed their original limitations. Following tasks, I worked on a number of major projects such as major festival sites and the program information tool. Here I seized opportunities to engineer powerful layout frameworks from scratch, creating re-usable code and detailed documentation. One of my proudest moments in this job came when I co-developed a podcast web-application for the (then brand new) iPhone, in my 10% time. This was highly innovative at the time and it fuelled my ambition to go on and shape many more BBC online offerings.

For many years I worked as part of the Arena's Operations team performing various duties. These include: DJ-ing, audio engineering and controlling lighting for sports presentations; assembling and installing power and lighting fixtures for major exhibitions; creating and developing IT systems within the building; assisting with the rigging and programming of lights for house events; assisting with the construction and wiring of internal construction projects. In the later years of my job I was responsible for coordinating all aspects of match night presentation for sporting events. My position has gave me a wealth of experience and knowledge in a variety of areas, whilst demanding I demonstrated initiative and innovation at all times.

Throughout the first term of my degree I held a part-time role in the Client Services team at TH_NK. My primary responsibilities were the maintenance and creation of websites. This involved generating markup in the form of CSS and XHTML, and updating databases. The role give me further IT company experience whilst improving my markup skills.

Over the summer of 2004 I developed a PHP based Groupware System for Ascari-IT as part of a Shell Technology Enterprise Programme work placement. As project manager I developed a system allowing team members and clients to work collaboratively and share information regarding project status and trouble shooting. By working closely with the Ascari team I was able to determine their specific needs and customise the solution to cater for these needs. The success of this project can be attributed to excellent communications between myself and the Ascari team and accurate interpretation of their requirements. My time with Ascari gave me the opportunity to further my skills in system development and project management whilst gaining vital experience in working for a modern IT company.