Matt aims to see more skilled workers reaching for the Sky

Matt Grest has been a devotee of all things computer generated since he was at primary school.

He developed a fascination with the virtual world when the personal computer was still a space age concept.

Today, as the head of technology at Sky@LeedsDock he is determined to make Yorkshire a global centre for well-paid jobs in the technology sector. The operation he leads is based in an area that had struggled to get into its stride as an economic hub.

All that changed last summer, when entertainment company Sky revealed that it had chosen Leeds as the location for its new, world-class technology facility.

The hub is creating hundreds of skilled jobs at the cutting edge of digital technology, focused on creating and developing Sky’s next generation of websites and apps across its services.

Based at Allied London’s Leeds Dock, the company predicted that Sky@Leeds Dock will establish a “dynamic and creative environment” that will transform the way Sky’s technology teams operate.

The teams based there are responsible for best-selling products such as Sky+ and Sky Go.

But to get a real insight into the scale of Sky’s ambitions, you really have to visit their Leeds hub. The affable, enthusiastic Mr Grest was delighted to provide a whistle-stop tour.

He told me: “Over the course of the last few months, since we really started to grow our Leeds operation, we’ve added around 350 highly skilled people to the workforce. They are working on a range of Sky’s digital products. Sky’s website and mobile apps, Sky Sports, Sky News, Sky.com, – it’s all developed out of Leeds with the people you see around you.

“It has had a significant economic impact – we share the vision of Allied London, our landlord here. We want this to be the best place to work in the North of England.

“We had the opportunity to move into many different office spaces around the city. We looked long and hard, and we chose Leeds Dock because of its iconic nature.”

The key factor underpinning Sky’s decision was the easy access to a skilled workforce.

Mr Grest recalled: “We put a pin in the map at Leeds and we drew a one-hour commuting radius around there. Could we bring the skills we needed around the organisation, that matched our plans to grow? We thought we could. Our due diligence suggested that we could. We’re actually ahead of target now with our growth in Leeds. We brought 250 new people into the organisation since the start of 2015, to add to the 80 or so that were already here.

“Now we’re approaching about 450 people who work at Sky’s digital office in Leeds. The majority of people we have hired have been from that one-hour commute radius – they are highly skilled people.

“Some are educated in Leeds, some have been educated elsewhere, and have come back to Leeds. We’re also seeing people relocating to Leeds to be part of this story.”

According to Mr Grest, Sky’s operation in Leeds is making waves beyond Yorkshire.

After initially setting out to win over hearts and minds in the local community, Sky is finding that its message “has seeped out across the UK and into Europe”.

He added: “So we’re seeing a significant number of candidates getting into contact with us who want to be part of the success in Leeds.”

He acquired a love of computers long before he had to plan a career path.

He added: “I remember getting my first computer for my ninth birthday. It set me on that track. Since the age of nine, I’ve probably interacted with a computer in some form every day.” He still gets excited about creating something new.

He said: “As I’ve moved forward with my career, that’s the thing that really gets me out of bed – the ability to build some new stuff and now, and with what we’re doing in Leeds, we’ve taken that to a really big level.

“For the first time, Sky in Leeds took on a graduate apprentice intake. We’ve now seen them graduate from the Sky academy and actually move into their first real roles. It’s my intention to keep that going.

“What we see from the grads, and people of that age coming through, is the huge energy and hunger and a complete lack of fear.”

A technology veteran, his CV includes a stint as head of development at NHS Choices (Capita) where he was responsible for technical delivery of all change on the NHS flagship website.

“That was during the period when the swine flu bug hit – we had to significantly scale out that platform... We trebled the visitors per day during that period. That’s where I’m in my element really.”

He said he loves being faced with a challenge that poses a tough question. He said: “How can we get a group of people together... and work towards a common goal and actually deliver something?

“It’s really important to me that Sky plays an important part in the community in Leeds,

“Every two or three weeks Sky will hold a community technology meet-up where we invite people in from the local community and we’ll talk about a particular topic. We get the chance to share ideas. It’s really important to me the staff at Sky get the chance to speak to people and our peers from other businesses. We can learn from them.”

Mr Grest would love to see some of the skilled people who work for him go on to become entrepreneurs in their own right, creating a truly virtuous business circle.

Title: Director of Digital Platforms at Sky

Date of birth: December 24, 1974

Education: Did two years of a Software Engineering university course then dropped out to join a tech start-up (Plusnet in Sheffield)

First job: Delivering newspapers at 5am every morning from the age of 12

Favourite film: Los Cronocrímenes

Last book read: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

Favourite holiday destination: USA (I’ve visited 47 of the 50 states; each one an adventure)

Thing you are most proud of? Pride comes before a fall!