Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
My career in the UK
Timeline
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Sam Shedden

Ivanhoe East,VIC

Summary

A highly skilled editor with a track record of developing successful news publishing strategies, delivering audience growth at scale and launching digital news products


An experienced leader with the ability to effectively manage media teams and build engagement for online news brands across a range of channels.

Overview

17
17
years of professional experience

Work History

Executive Editor

ReadWrite.com
11.2023 - Current
  • Grew newly purchased website from 200,000 monthly page views to 2,000,000 monthly page views.
  • Created and staffed new content, such as A.I. and recruited a specialist news team.
  • Responsible for all editorial staff output, 15 people
  • Enhanced publication quality by implementing rigorous editing and proofreading processes.
  • Regular performance monitoring and reporting to C-suite
  • Manage the editorial budget, freelance spend and all recruitment

Head of Customer Loyalty

National World Publishing LTD
10.2021 - 11.2023
  • Responsible for the subscriber acquisition, marketing projects, external relationships and customer profiles at one of the UK's largest regional news publishers
  • Build and manage relationships with major advertisers and agencies
  • Made UX changes to our premium subscription sites
  • Managed marketing campaigns and marketing team
  • Researched and performed market analysis
  • Built subscriber and agency relationships
  • Regular reports to C-Suite
  • During the coronavirus pandemic, I launched and ran a live news team for print and digital products to reflect the increased demand for news during the Covid-19 outbreak
  • Managed team of 15 to cover seven day news cycle across Scotland
  • Use of analytics to monitor KPIs of team and inform content decisions
  • Delivered content plans around major events which included video, news, features and interviews

Audience Editor (Scotland)

JPIMedia
09.2020 - 10.2021
  • Company Overview: JPIMedia (now National World) - UK
  • Ultimately responsible for growth of the The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News websites and digital reporting team
  • The Scotsman is one of the largest quality news publications in Scotland
  • In Australia it is most similar to The Australian
  • JPIMedia (now National World) - UK

Head of Digital

The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News
06.2018 - 02.2020
  • Led a new team charged with increasing engagement and audience on all of the group's Scottish titles (which includes The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News)
  • The Scotsman became the biggest site in the group for audience in 2021 due to my team's SEO strategy
  • Page views increased 27% (23m) during this period
  • Combined existing teams and managed a new engagement team across four of the biggest titles in company's Scotland portfolio
  • Launched several acquisition campaigns which helped the Scotsman grow subscribers by 19% in 12 months
  • Responsible for performance of all newsletter editions at titles under my remit
  • Responsible for homepage management

Deputy Head of Digital

The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News
10.2017 - 06.2018

Assistant News Editor

The Scotsman
09.2016 - 10.2017

Content Editor

The Scotsman
09.2015 - 09.2016

Researcher

Holyrood Communications
08.2014 - 09.2015

Digital Journalist

Daily Record
01.2014 - 09.2015

Freelance writer

Various
08.2013 - 09.2015

Features Writer

Glasgow Commonwealth Games Ltd
07.2014 - 08.2014

Area Manager

Aldi UK
05.2011 - 05.2013

Financial Fraud Associate

Royal Bank of Scotland
05.2008 - 01.2009

Education

Master of Arts - Digital Journalism

University of Strathclyde
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
08-2014

Bachelor of Science - Marketing

University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Newcastle, England, UK
06-2008

Skills

  • Journalism
  • Multimedia production
  • SEO
  • Analytics
  • People management
  • Copy editing
  • Editorial management
  • Content strategy
  • Interviewing skills
  • Social media management
  • Editorial planning
  • Budget management

My career in the UK

As I've worked over a decade in the UK media industry and many of the companies I've been employed by may be unfamiliar to Australian hiring managers, here is a quick summary of each company.


  • ReadWrite.com: An American technology news website owned by a multinational European technology and digital marketing firm called Clickout Media.
  • National World Publishing LTD: Formerly known as JPIMedia, National World is one of the largest news publishing groups in the UK with over 100 titles to its name.
  • The Scotsman: The most prestigious newspaper in Scotland. Similar in its market position to The Australian. Owned by National World.
  • Edinburgh Evening News: A busy daily newspaper and website focused on news regarding Scotland's capital and surrounding areas.
  • Holyrood Communications: A political communications firm which also has a magazine focusing on the public sector.
  • The Daily Record: One of Scotland's biggest news sites. Tabloid in style and approach. Similar in tone and style to news.com.au or Herald Sun.

Timeline

Executive Editor

ReadWrite.com
11.2023 - Current

Head of Customer Loyalty

National World Publishing LTD
10.2021 - 11.2023

Audience Editor (Scotland)

JPIMedia
09.2020 - 10.2021

Head of Digital

The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News
06.2018 - 02.2020

Deputy Head of Digital

The Scotsman and Edinburgh Evening News
10.2017 - 06.2018

Assistant News Editor

The Scotsman
09.2016 - 10.2017

Content Editor

The Scotsman
09.2015 - 09.2016

Researcher

Holyrood Communications
08.2014 - 09.2015

Features Writer

Glasgow Commonwealth Games Ltd
07.2014 - 08.2014

Digital Journalist

Daily Record
01.2014 - 09.2015

Freelance writer

Various
08.2013 - 09.2015

Area Manager

Aldi UK
05.2011 - 05.2013

Financial Fraud Associate

Royal Bank of Scotland
05.2008 - 01.2009

Master of Arts - Digital Journalism

University of Strathclyde

Bachelor of Science - Marketing

University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

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Sam Shedden