I’ve led content design and migration programmes for some of Europe’s largest public institutions, financial organisations and charities – often working across complex, regulated environments with tight deadlines
SEFE Securing Energy for Europe
November 2024 to date
Senior content designer – intranet launch (Pulse)
Responsibilities:
- coordinating a team of four content designers to create new, user-focused content for the SEFE intranet
- editing and quality-assuring content to ensure clarity, consistency and a strong user focus
- designing and publishing intranet pages using Appspace
Achievements:
- delivered a smooth and on-time intranet launch, meeting all content deadlines
- delivered 30% more content pages than originally scoped without impacting quality or timelines
- worked closely with translators to ensure all priority content was published in both English and German
University of Cambridge
January to November 2024
Senior content strategist – major website migration programme
Responsibilities:
- developing the content strategy for migrating University of Cambridge public-facing websites to a new secure platform
- coordinating a team of four content designers to audit sites across the web estate and assess content for migration, redevelopment or deletion
- collaborating with stakeholders across the university to understand the needs of diverse user groups
Achievements:
- designed a fast, repeatable audit process that built a clear picture of user needs across a complex, decentralised web estate
- developed an HR content migration strategy that was successfully scaled across other university departments
- provided the programme team with clear evidence to support prioritisation, resourcing and delivery planning
University of Oxford
March to December 2023
Lead content strategist – major website migration programme
Responsibilities:
- auditing a representative sample of intranet and public-facing University of Oxford websites to understand user needs and inform migration strategy
- using analytics and qualitative insight to identify high-value content and opportunities to reduce page volume
- working with stakeholders across the university to clarify site purpose, audiences and content ownership
Achievements:
- produced migration recommendations that fed directly into a new, university-wide content strategy
- developed clear, visual audit outputs that helped site owners quickly understand migration challenges and make decisions
- ran workshops with key teams to validate recommendations and support long-term content improvements
European Central Bank
February 2023 to March 2023
Lead content designer – Banking Supervision website
Responsibilities:
- auditing all pages on the ECB Banking Supervision website to assess content quality, relevance and structure
- using analytics to evaluate effectiveness and identify content for improvement or removal
- developing user-focused recommendations to improve navigation and overall content strategy
Achievements:
- improved navigation by identifying a large volume of redundant and outdated content for immediate deletion
- created an editorial strategy that significantly reduced page count by merging fragmented content into clear guidance
- presented recommendations to senior stakeholders and supported teams to implement content improvements
Home Office
October 2022 to January 2023
Lead content designer – UK government security website (prototype)
Responsibilities:
- writing, rewriting and editing all content for a prototype site designed as a single source of security guidance
- working with departments across government to balance security requirements with user access needs
- converting complex, document-based guidance into clear, user-focused web content
Achievements:
- collaborated with an interaction designer to create a working prototype from scratch
- delivered a test site that stakeholders judged to be effective, useful and easy to navigate
- used daily feedback to rapidly iterate content and reconcile competing departmental requirements
Essex County Council (Essex Schools InfoLink)
January 2022 to September 2022
Lead content designer – Essex Schools InfoLink migration
Responsibilities:
- auditing over 10,000 pages and downloadable documents to assess migration effort and content value
- using data to identify priority content for migration to a new education professionals website
- working with service teams to restructure, rewrite and significantly reduce content volume
Achievements:
- designed the information architecture for all sections of the new site, supporting a smooth migration
- identified over 3,000 inaccessible or outdated documents for immediate deletion
- created prototype pages for user testing, which were rated as clear and effective by participants
Essex County Council (Essex Library Service)
November 2021 to December 2021
Lead content designer – Essex Library Service migration
Responsibilities:
- auditing all published pages on the existing library website to identify migration priorities
- using analytics to highlight low-value content for removal
- supporting service teams to write content in a clear, user-focused style
Achievements:
- used data to help teams focus effort on the content users valued most
- developed a new information architecture that informed content planning and delivery
- created exemplar content that guided writers and editors during later migration phases
Buckinghamshire Council
June 2020 to November 2021
Senior content designer – unitary council website migration
Responsibilities:
- auditing content across four district council websites to inform migration decisions
- working with subject matter experts across education, health and childcare to rewrite content for a broad audience
- mentoring newly appointed content designers and sharing best practice
Achievements:
- wrote new Family Information Service (FIS) content that tested as clear and easy to follow
- helped establish a consistent tone of voice for content aimed at both young people with SEND and their parents
- improved site navigation by running user testing and feeding insights back to the delivery agency
Credit Suisse
September 2019 to June 2020
Content designer – global intranet relaunch
Responsibilities:
- working with stakeholders and subject matter experts to capture and document user needs
- translating complex financial and organisational information into clear, accessible content
- collaborating with UX designers to develop flexible, user-centred page templates
Achievements:
- developed a content strategy that significantly reduced page volume and improved user satisfaction
- created best-practice writing manuals to support long-term content quality after project completion
- integrated core systems into intranet templates and clarified regional service differences for users
Department for Education
January 2018 to September 2019
Content designer – GOV.UK
Responsibilities:
- writing and editing high-quality, accurate and user-focused content for a wide range of audiences
- working with policy and subject experts to ensure content met user needs and departmental objectives
- converting PDF guidance into searchable, maintainable online manuals
Achievements:
- coordinated complex, cross-government projects such as the Care Leaver Covenant
- rapidly redesigned content to reflect policy changes in a fast-moving political environment
- improved accessibility and maintainability by replacing document-heavy publishing with structured guidance
British Red Cross
October 2017 to January 2018
Content designer – Redcross.org.uk relaunch
Responsibilities:
- working with stakeholders to understand user needs for fundraising, donation and partnership content
- writing clear, engaging content that balanced user needs with organisational goals
- collaborating with researchers, analysts and designers to support positive user journeys
Achievements:
- reduced the website from approximately 4,000 pages to under 400 through content consolidation
- helped design flexible templates suitable for a wide range of content types
You can download a PDF of my full CV.
David McComb 