Image info: taken at bedouin camp, Wadi Rum, Jordan
About me
I'm Jonathan from Norwich, Norfolk in the United Kingdom.
When not enjoying my spare time with friends and family I fill my time with my other passions; I am a keen photographer, love to travel to off the beaten track parts of the world and also have an interest in archaeology and have done some work at Sedgeford in north Norfolk.
Check out some of my photography further down this page.
I enjoy travel and have travelled extensively, learning a great deal about myself and gaining some valuable life experiences over time. The biggest trip was in 2008 when I did the trip of a lifetime, taking an unusual route through Russia and Mongolia to Beijing, then Japan and Vietnam, then back to China via Hong Kong. Along the Silk Road overland in a truck through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey. Then through Syria, Lebanon, Jordon, Egypt, finishing in Sudan. I have also been to Morroco, Oman, India, Tajikistan and few more besides...
...
My working life
Digital delivery and web content management
Most of my working experience has come from an extensive number of roles revolving around digital content, particularly publishing and web development. I have supported websites, apps, and intranets at leading brand companies and have a long history of building accessible pages using various content management systems and coding HTML and CSS with a foundation built on testing, usability and user research experience.
Leadership
I have been a people leader successfully managing customer focused, high pressure, high volume, content teams within Agile environments; leading and delivering digital change rapidly and safely through development, testing and to deployment.
Managing and implementing change
I also have experience of going into companies/teams and leading change; transforming operating models by setting up safe, efficient, compliant processes for running busy web or content delivery teams.
Customer experience and retail
Additionally I have several years experience dealing with customers directling in a contact centre environment, handling claims, negotiating settlements with customers, engineers and solicitors, and I was commended for my customer service and ability to make savings in those roles.
It is also worth saying that I have some experience in retail, specifically in the area of warehouse work, processing deliveries, preparing and re-organising stock, stock taking, and working to Health & Safety Standards.
So altogether I have a broad range of skills and experience to call on in what ever I do...
Key skills and knowledge
- Content publishing, coding and image editing – HTML 5, CSS3, Bootstrap, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop, Acrobat Pro
- People leadership and project management – led content teams, managed projects, participated in scrum teams
- Systems, tools – content management systems (Tridion, Umbraco, Shopify, Salsify, Backbase, WordPress), monitoring tools (Sitemorse, Site Improve, Dynatrace)
- Web standards – accessibility, WCAG, DDA, Usability, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Google Search Console
- Methodologies – worked in Agile teams, Jira and Confluence Administrator, Certified Scrum Master (Scrum Alliance)
- Leading change – implemented processes, governance, ticketing systems to improve efficiency and throughput of my teams
- Customer experience – worked in busy contact centre environments, recognised for customer service and ability to save money
Professional career (most recent)
Find out more about the roles I've performed and my key achievements at the leading brand companies I have worked for under the tabbed sections below.
Virgin Money UK PLC
Banking and financial services company.
Managed multi-location team of content editors within an agile service and delivery area that supported website and app publishing for digital scrum and company-wide business teams. Provided people management to the content editor team. Responsible for resource and backlog control, prioritisation, capacity planning, and digital processes, governance, controls, audits. ‘On call’ support out of hours for planned outage and incidents.
Key achievements at Virgin Money
- Modernised ways of working – migrated team from spreadsheet-based work management process to Jira ticketing set up and implemented processes and governance to improve efficiency and throughput of digital delivery business area
- Designed and implemented digital framework for Jira – workflows, screen schemes, field config tailored to process
- Improved productivity (saved 42 hours/month) – replaced out-dated audit trail system with Jira ticket sell by date process
- Motivated team to achieve – understood team’s drivers, encouraged, led by example, set challenging, but realistic goals
Roles at Virgin Money
Content Manager – Content Team, Brand & Marketing 2016 - 2020
Digital Delivery Manager – BAU Team, Service and Delivery, Digital 2014 - 2016
Jira Administrator (concurrent) 2016 - 2020
- Managed cross-location team of content editors – people leadership, backlog control, prioritisation, capacity planning
- Co-ordinated and published sensitive, strategic, regulatory projects – FSMA, Brexit, Tax Year End, company results
- Owned and enforced aspects of digital governance – change processes, controls and audits
- Provided Jira administration support to business teams – scrum set up, workflows, field configuration frameworks
Ecommerce Manager – Delivery and Service, Digital 2013 - 2014
- Delivered BAU and project change for scrum teams – coding and publishing, project and stakeholder management
- Performed extra duties and continued to perform content editor role – approved other’s changes, conducted audits
- Provided ‘On call’ support out of hours – outage messaging, incidents, Dynatrace script recording, investigations
Content Editor – Digital Delivery, Marketing 2009 - 2013
- Published content using Tridion CMS – to meet demand from scrum and business team, successfully delivering to target
- Edited and coded HTML and CSS – built new websites and edited images (Adobe Fireworks, Photoshop)
- Completed diverse range of work – re-approvals, pricing change, new builds and projects, accessibility, testing, bug fixing
Professional career (further back)
Find out more about the roles I've performed and my key achievements at the leading brand companies I have worked for under the tabbed sections below.
Aviva (formerly Norwich Union)
Largest insurance company in UK providing insurance and savings products.
Wide range of experience in digital and intranet roles; usability, testing, content publishing and coding. Practical experience planning, facilitating, reporting on user testing, conducting heuristic reviews as technical lead on usability and accessibility. Financial services roles, internal and customer facing, experience in diverse analyst and project management roles.
Key achievements at Aviva
- Saved £20k on usability service costs – conceived, launched in-house usability lab service (TechSmith’s Morae software)
- Improved DDA compliance of Intranet sites – produced and rolled out publishing standards and 'accessibility awareness' training to company-wide publishing teams
- Achieved ‘top 5’ customer satisfaction rating – recognised for customer service and regular savings three years in a row
Roles at Aviva
Web Developer and User Experience (UX) specialist – (concurrent) Information Systems, IT 2007 – 2008
- Developed and published standards compliant Intranet sites using HTML, CSS, Dreamweaver, Fireworks
- Conceived, launched in-house usability lab service (TechSmith’s Morae software)
- Provided usability service; facilitated user testing, conducted heuristic reviews, conducted accessibility checks
- Wrote and delivered ‘accessibility awareness’ training to Intranet teams across company
Business Analyst (Technical Design Authority) – Solutions & Design, IT 2006 – 2007
- Produced high level designs, sitemaps, wireframes, prototypes and technical design standards for developers
Senior Systems Developer – Intranet Development Team 2003 – 2006
- Updated Intranet content for business teams and intranet community and managed stakeholder relationships
- Produced and rolled out Publishing Standards to content publishers - improving DDA compliance of Intranet sites
- Re-designed several key intranet sites – Pulse, Your IT, Research Central, Leadership & Care, HR4HR
Business Analyst (Digital/Intranet) – Business Solutions 2001 – 2003
- Provided project management services and consultancy to business teams to help deliver their projects
User Acceptance Tester – Quality and Assurance Testing 1999 – 2001
- Business acceptance testing of systems, produced test scripts for QA team, logged errors, provided recommendations
Intranet Co-ordinator – Claims (Motor and Household) (concurrent with role below) 1998 – 2001
Personal Incident Manager – Claims (Motor and Household) 1994 – 2001
- Handled new and existing claims in a busy call centre environment
- Negotiated settlements with customers, engineers and solicitors
- Liaising with clients in a professional and friendly manner by telephone and via e-mail
Clerk – Life New Business 1989 – 1993
- Dealing with customers over the telephone
- Data input, postal duties
Other experience, training and education
Find a further high level summary of the skills, experience and training I have had under the tabbed sections below.
Coding, content management, image editing
- HTML 5, CSS3
- Adobe - Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Photoshop, Acrobat Pro, Lightroom
- Bootstrap, JavaScript, .NET, PHP
- SDL Tridion CMS
- Umbraco
- Shopify
- Salsify
- WordPress
- Backbase CMS
- Crowd Comms - virtual or hybrid events platform (incl. live streaming, interactive polling, Q&A, live chat, gamification)
- Crowd Compass - CMS for mobile event apps
Web standards
- Accessibility, W3C WCAG, Disability Discrimination Act
- UX, Usability
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Methodologies
- Agile (Kanban, Scrum)
- Certified Scrum Master - Scrum Alliance
- Jira Administrator
Systems and tools
- Jira and Confluence
- Veeva Vault
- Sitemorse
- Site Improve
- Maxymiser
- Contentsquare
- Hotjar
- Dynatrace (issue analysis, script recording)
- Visio, MS Office
- Typeform, Survey Monkey, Cognito - interactive surveys and polling
- Poll Everywhere, Klaxoon - interactive meetings, polling, Q&As
- Google Data Studio
Photography and travel
People you meet make the memories, pictures help you remember...
Video (or image) info: Locals dune bashing in Empty Quarter, Oman
About my photography
I've had a keen interest in photography for a few years now and whilst I'd consider myself an amatuer I'm beginning to build up quite a portfolio of images. It all started in the back garden with close ups of flowers and has gradually progressed to an almost obsession with photographing people with a focus on travel.
I took and passed my City & Guilds Photography course a couple of years back and have progressed from there.
I've done a little traditional black and white work in the past - at one point having a makeshift dark room in my bathroom!
This was great fun and I got to use some interesting cameras including an old box Brownie, an excellent Rolleiflex TLR from the 1950s, a Mamiya 645 and various old 35mm cameras - even the odd Lomo camera too. Sadly I no longer have these wonderful film cameras.
Faces not places
I'm a great believer that it is the people you meet when you travel that have the most impact on you and leave lasting memories. You can never really understand or empathise with another culture unless you interact with the locals in the places you visit. Here are a few people that I'll certainy never forget...
Faces not places...
Meghwal woman in headscarf, Rann of Kutch, India
Faces not places...
Artisan showing embroidery work at Kala Rakshar Centre, Kutch, India
Faces not places...
Unforgettable face of market trader in Kyrgyzstan
Faces not places...
Girl carrying her little brother, rural India
Faces not places...
Traditional clothing, Gujarat, India
Faces not places...
Proud bedouin boy at Palmyra in Syria
Faces not places...
Exchanging glances with bread seller in Uzbekistan
Faces not places...
Village elder deep in thought, Gujarat, India
Faces not places...
Pulling faces for the tourists in India
