Hello!

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this. 

If you don’t know me, my name is Paul Rissen. I’m currently a Senior Product Manager at Springer Nature, working on the Nature Briefing*. 

I’m writing this note because, after four years at Springer Nature, and with a total of fourteen years experience in digital product development behind me, I’m looking for a new challenge.

What I’m looking for

I’m looking for leadership opportunities within the product space – and, ideally, roles within digital journalism or entertainment. I’d describe myself as being an archetype of the ‘bridge role’ – someone who understands and has experience in digital product development, whilst having a love for, and experience working with, the editorial side of a business. 

I also recognise the need for bringing a commercial mindset to product development, both in terms of working within a budget, and exploring commercial opportunities whilst remaining true to the core principles of a product and values of its’ users.

I enjoy working with people from all disciplines and backgrounds to forge a strategy and direction, whilst being pragmatic and practical in the short term. I’m a firm believer in the importance of a learning mindset, both for individuals and teams, going so far to write a book about experiment-driven product development.

My interest in digital journalism and narrative runs deep – I’ve spent years, both in my day job and outside of it, trying to develop products, platforms, services and ideas that foster better understanding of what’s going on in the world. 

As well as those more lofty goals, I greatly enjoy working with developers and other digital disciplines to help improve the day to day practice of journalism – tools for journalists which make their lives easier but can also be utilised for audiences too.

I can wax lyrical about this in person, but ultimately the proof comes in making, doing, exploring. I’m fully capable of product managing a team, setting priorities, managing a backlog etc, but at this point in my career I’m looking for the next step – continuing to have a real impact, but working with others to carve out a longer term strategy that improves a business and society at large.

My experience

I started my career at Siemens, specialising in data modelling and information management. After two years on their graduate scheme, I transferred over to the BBC. There, I spent years in a variety of UX and product roles, working on BBC iPlayer, education platforms, BBC News amongst others. For the last four years, I’ve been working at Springer Nature, product managing a recommendation service, an open access journal platform, overseeing the migration of another journal platform, and most recently, developing the Nature Briefing.

Throughout my career I’ve worked with a variety of disciplines and stakeholders from all levels of a company, both locally and remotely. I’ve recruited several people who have gone on to be leaders in their field. I’ve instigated, secured budget for, and commissioned projects, put together teams and delivered training both internally and externally. 

You can view my LinkedIn profile, read more about me, or see my full CV. 

Let’s talk

I’d love to talk to anyone who might be interested in hiring me for full-time roles – whilst I’m based in London, UK, I’d be open to (at the very least) discussing international opportunities too. You can get in touch by messaging me via LinkedIn, using the contact form on this site, or via private message on Twitter.

* https://www.nature.com/briefing – a email newsletter designed to be a daily appointment, bringing subscribers up to date with what’s going on in the world of science.