Success Stories

News UK: We are passionate about growing future tech leaders

Nainesh Mehta is an experienced product and engineering technologist who thrives by creating a passionate work culture and building world-class customer-first digital products. Also, he is the Director of Engineering at News UK, overseeing 220+ engineers across three core locations - UK, Bulgaria and India.

And that's the precise reason to talk to him - welcoming News UK and their partner Questers to our ever-growing partner network and our desire to learn more about the company and the role of junior talent.




Even if you haven't heard the name News UK, you must know The Times, Britain's oldest daily newspaper, founded in 1785, or maybe The Sun - the largest news brand in the UK. Well, News UK is the publisher of those massive newspapers which, together with The Sunday Times, reach more than 30 million people weekly. 

In addition, News UK Broadcasting is a leading UK and Irish media company which boasts independent local and national radio stations, including talkSPORT, VirginRadio, talk RADIO and Times Radio. 

As well as the News UK brands, there are teams building and looking after the content management systems, data insights and technology, and subscription and customer management systems behind the scenes. The tech sits on top of AWS and Google Cloud - companies with whom News UK have close working relationships.

News UK's technology teams play a crucial role in its digital-first news operation to maintain their dominant position at the cutting-edge of the news industry.

Actually, it's fascinating when you think about the scope the News UK tech team works on in terms of products, services and audience. And one part of the team is the Bulgarian team at Questers, which continues to grow, and the partnership with Telerik Academy is one step in that direction.

Now, we will let Nainesh Mehta share more about News UK's software products, the importance of junior talent, and why they partnered with Telerik Academy to source this talent.

News UK is a British newspaper publisher, but as we found out, it has an impressive tech team behind all the services. It would be interesting to learn about the software solutions you build and what is the most significant trend currently shaping your work?

We have several different customers in our business. Firstly, our readers and listeners who consume our products to read the world's latest stories. Secondly, our editorial teams who curate content for our readers and listeners.

For our editorial teams, we focus on balancing the right build vs buy level to ensure that we can deliver maximum value to the business. We have custom built tooling ranging from our editorial curation platforms to high-performance front-end solutions that provide the best user experience for our readers and listeners.

The huge importance of Core Web Vitals is shaping the work that we do. This ensures we can deliver a fantastic user experience to anyone visiting our digital products.

You've built a local tech team in partnership with Questers. When did your partnership start, and what is the focus of the Bulgarian team?

Our partnership with Questers started in 2018 and has grown substantially since. It was a strategic decision for News UK, allowing us to complement our existing UK and India technology hubs with talent from Bulgaria. 

The team in Bulgaria play critical roles across the core of our software development landscape, supporting everything from building web front ends and high-performance APIs to data science, infrastructure and agile project management.

Why is it important to invest in junior IT talent, and why does News UK do it?

News UK invests in junior talent to create a culture of growth in our company. Junior talent brings great energy to our teams, and we are passionate about growing future tech leaders.

Why did you choose Telerik Academy as your partner when sourcing master junior talent? 

Our partnership with Telerik Academy allows a continual cycle of talented junior engineers to join our team. News UK will further develop and upskill junior engineers to help us as a business meet our goals.

What is next for the News UK team at Questers?

We continue to grow our team and upskill our current talent pool at Questers as we look to support the business with its missions and goals this year.

Are you looking to jumpstart your career in IT? Find out more about our Telerik Academy Alpha programs. Are you a company seeking Master Junior talent? Then go through our business page or contact us directly.

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