At GMG, we value and respect all differences (visible and non visible) in all people, and aspire to an open, supportive and inclusive culture which makes the Guardian a good place to work for everyone. Rebecca Ruane, Senior Analytics Manager said ‘We are excited to work with Women in Data, as we know that this partnership will allow us to further grow gender diversity across our teams and continue to build an inclusive culture of learning and opportunity. In the Data & Insight department we have set diversity and inclusion objectives to focus on improving recruitment, retention, culture and business outcomes. Through the partnership, we are excited to be able to share our learnings to a wider audience and, where we’re doing well, we hope to inspire other data communities as well as importantly broaden our pool of potential candidates in the future.’
Data has become a crucial resource for businesses, as it can help a business learn more about customer desires, needs and business operations.
Data and Insight plays a massive role in what we do across the Guardian, and will only become more important over the coming years. Over the next 5 years as a business we want to be truly reader centric to be more relevant in their lives and give them more opportunities to support our journalism. This will allow people to be part of the Guardian’s mission: to use clarity and imagination to build hope. Data really does sit right at the heart of enabling the business to achieve this.
There is a real hunger for better, richer, more useful data and insight, so our priority is to channel this and meet the demand. This means making data easier to understand and access for those in the business not working in analytics so they can make decisions based on data day to day.
We also need to balance that demand with a growing consumer awareness on data use and improved regulation relating to people’s data rights. We’re already seeing this lead to innovation in utilising data in more ethical and privacy focused ways, whether that’s through our data ethics framework, clean room technology or edge computing and so it’s exciting to see how we and the whole industry will adapt.
For data to be as useful as it can be, it’s not enough for a single team to be working on it in isolation – everyone needs to have a comfort and familiarity with the numbers and insights that are most important to us.
Therefore, as a data industry, we need to focus on supporting those from a non analytical and data background to understand its importance and how to use it in their roles.
Guardian Media Group is a global news organisation that delivers fearless, investigative journalism – giving a voice to the powerless and holding power to account.
Their independent ownership structure means they are entirely free from political and commercial influence. Only their values determine the stories they choose to cover – relentlessly and courageously.
The Guardian is owned by Guardian Media Group, which has only one shareholder – the Scott Trust.
The Scott Trust, named after our longest serving editor, CP Scott, exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity.
Today more than half of their revenue comes directly from their readers, helping to support Guardian journalism and keep it open for everyone.
Expertise: Commercial Analytics
Education: BSc Mathematics & Statistics
Social media details: LinkedIn
A bit about me…
I joined the Guardian back in 2018 as an Associate analyst shortly after graduating from university and I have since enjoyed working with different areas of the business, learning about all things advertising and promoting diversity within the team.
Fortunately, I got a taste of working in data quite early on during my placement year analysing pharmaceutical manufacturing data and haven’t looked back since!
Outside of work, you’d find me in the park either roller skating or at a random evening class picking up something new to learn.
Why did I join The Guardian?
I knew I wanted to work with data but somewhere that would allow me to be creative with it. At the Guardian, I have the opportunity to explore new analytic methodologies, learn new languages or tools, work with various people around the business whilst being in a buzzing and current environment.
Specifically my role involves working closely with developers, sales and operations to understand how to best optimise our advertising inventory on the Guardian. This includes exploring programmatic and pageview data to AB test changes, build predictive models, build dashboards and deep dive on audiences.
What do I like most about The Guardian
The people! I’m surrounded by talented people who are always enthusiastic about sharing their knowledge and expertise.
Expertise: Dimensional Modelling, Analytics Engineering
Education: BSc Physics and Philosophy
Social media: LinkedIn
A bit about me: I’m an analytics engineer who transitioned out of analytics roughly two years ago. I have experience working in data teams in the telecoms, educational technology, hospitality and, now at The Guardian, news and media industries. Figuring out ELT pipelines to meet business requirements is like one massive puzzle, and I absolutely love it!
Why did I join The Guardian?
I joined The Guardian because I was looking for a workplace which would value me and where I could add value. The Data Design team was still relatively new when I joined so it seemed like the ideal place to build that two-way relationship with a company whose ethics are broadly aligned with my own.
What do I like most about The Guardian?
I love working at an organisation which has such a long and complicated history. The Guardian existed long before I was born and I have no doubt will continue to exist long after I’m gone. I am one small cog in a massive machine. Yet I still feel I’m making an impact. That’s a pretty special workplace to me!
Expertise: Market and Audience Research
Education: BA Social Anthropology from LSE, MRS Advanced Certificate in Market & Social Research
I’ve been at the Guardian for nearly 10 years, in a variety of research roles. In my current role I’m the Research team lead for Editorial and Journalism products in the Data and Insight team, which involves leading strategic planning for research for these teams as well as delivery of research and insight. Day to day, my role could involve planning and project managing research projects, writing and analysing surveys, watching interviews or focus groups, or presenting our findings to internal stakeholders. I really enjoy being able to work both with data using statistical techniques to analyse surveys, and also to speak to readers directly to understand their thoughts in depth.
At the Guardian we prioritise answering our stakeholder’s questions with data and insight using a variety of methodologies, so in the Research team we work closely with analysts and data scientists within Data and Insight to deliver a holistic understanding of our audience. It’s really valuable as a small research team to be a part of a wider Data and Insight department, and to be able to draw on the expertise of the different data professionals within the team.
Expertise: Data Management, Data Analytics & Visualisation, Data Governance
Education: BA (Hons) Politics and International Relations
Social media details: LinkedIn
A bit about me: As someone who read a Politics degree, and also worked in the charity sector at the very beginning of my career, I never would have expected to be working in a data-driven career. The key thing I understood and have learnt is that Data Analytics, Data Science and even Data Governance are all tools, and it’s important to have a sound understanding of the problem you’re facing so that your ‘tools’ can be of best use. Overall, emerging into the world of Data and Technology 3 years ago has been a ride and a half, and I haven’t looked back since! I’ve done a variety of different work, and some of my favourite work was collaborating with the Director of Public Policy here at the Guardian to produce insights and visualisations on fossil fuel advertising – something which the Guardian is strongly against.
Why did I join The Guardian? Because the Guardian’s ethos aligns with my own. Values of honesty, integrity and genuinity are values I strive to apply to my own life on a daily basis. I am proud to be contributing to the health and success of the Guardian, working in the Data & Insights department to ensure the organisation can continue to produce raw, hard-hitting journalism that touches so many people’s lives.
What do I like most about The Guardian? Definitely the people! Every single person I’ve met at the Guardian is extremely warm and supportive, I don’t know how the organisation manages to consistently hire such amazing humans!
