Digital Transformation in Media: Building News UK’s Tech Hub in Sofia

The Background

News UK is the media group behind some of the most powerful media brands in the English-speaking world, such as The Times, The Sun, and The Sunday Times. The technology division develops cutting-edge solutions that enable the delivery of rich, interactive, and consistent content to millions of readers across multiple platforms.

The Challenge

Today’s readers access information in various ways. Digital is emerging as a dominant force, distributing rich and interactive content across multiple platforms. Having this in mind, the technology division of News UK undertook a major programme to transform the tech stack that has evolved from the print editions to a new scalable and efficient platform.

This platform was set to support the work of the media’s digital editors, corresponding to the requirements of its readers and their evolving models of content consumption. The rapid expansion of this programme required an extensive and efficient increase of News UK’s development capacity. A strategic decision to build a development unit in Bulgaria was made, and Pwrteams was chosen as a trusted partner to ensure the smooth establishment and swift growth of the division in the country.

Strategic Partnership

The operation kicked off in late 2018. The focus and commitment from Jeremy Burns – Head of Software Engineering in News UK and support by Paul Wilson – Technology Platforms Director, were key for the quick stabilization, nurturing of News UK culture, and resulted in achieving high-performance levels.

The team was set to look after key parts of the digital edition of The Times and other media products owned by News UK. For the purposes of this partnership, Pwrteams designated a team of HR and performance experts and a tech recruitment team to fulfil the requirements.

The Results

To date, the News UK team in Sofia is reaching 50 JavaScript engineers, automation QAs, and DevOps engineers with an appetite to grow to more than 80 by the end of 2021. They are distributed across the global tech structure of News UK and are very well integrated into it. The engineers in Sofia are trusted with the development of key digital products of News UK and have already completed several successful releases.