Why There’s Never Been a More Exciting Time to Be Working on the Sky Sports App

One of the biggest names in sport is redefining the digital experience right here in Leeds – and you could be a part of it.

It’s all going on at Sky Sports. A large chunk of their digital team is based in Leeds, which makes it an exciting place to be as they embark on an exciting vision. It’s innovative, it’s collaborative, it’s data-driven, but it’s also incredibly fast-paced – they want to get things into people’s hands as quickly as possible, so they can learn, iterate and shape the future. If that’s the kind of environment you want to work in, this is the place to hang your hat.

Building products with global reach

One of the things that makes Sky standout as a tech employer is its reach. Their products are used by millions of people, not just here in the UK, but around the world – and that can come with serious job satisfaction. After all, there’s nothing quite so career affirming as seeing someone on the train or in the pub using the app that you helped to build.

But it’s more than that. Sky has a global approach, which means one app has to serve the needs of every market and every customer. It’s the kind of opportunity developers and product managers dream of. A true challenge, and one that demands global collaboration, with stakeholders in all territories working together towards the same goal.

It’s not just a case of switching from Serie A to the Premier League, the app has to flex and adapt to give users the experience they want in the region they live in. It has to be slick, personalised and designed with the rich diversity of its user base in mind – something Sky is uniquely placed to do. Because accessibility is more than just a buzzword, it’s ingrained in their culture.

Everyone working towards one vision

When you work for a company like Sky, you’ll play at a whole different level. They have a grand vision for what they want to achieve – quite simply, they want to build the world’s leading digital sports destinations. Ones that use interactive experiences to compliment streaming and smart personalisation to drive habitual engagement. Ones that will keep people coming back.

This vision drives everything they do. It means everyone is working towards the same goal, always looking for opportunities to add value and improve the customer experience. But how they do it is open to interpretation. They have a plan, but they don’t let it hold them back. Goals give direction, guardrails keep them on track, but you have the power to shape the product.

“Keeping that drive is key,” Spencer Hudson, Head of Product for Sports Experience at Sky, explained. “That’s why the product lead role is so important – they set the vision and keep people engaged in it, so we’re not just getting our heads down, not just thinking about what we need to do today, we’re always thinking about the customer and the value we’re giving them.”

Targeting new audiences through innovation

You already know that Sky Sports is used by millions of people. They have a strong base of subscribers, a traditional audience of sports fans, and they’ll always be an important part of the mix, but the focus now is on attracting new audiences. And that’s going to be exciting because it gives them an opportunity to use new technologies, in new ways.

“We’re aware that there’s a large female audience that loves sports, so we’re looking at where they go at the moment, how they consume content, what are they wanting more of and how can we be more relevant to them.” Spencer explained, but at the same time, they’re bringing in the community, interactivity and game mechanics that Gen-Z prize so highly.

This is where it gets really interesting. New technology, new production capabilities and new levels of connectivity have changed the game, and at Sky, you can use them to build the future of sports news and entertainment. You can innovate, you can think outside the box and you can build the features that make Sky Sports the second screen of choice.