Sarah joined Hawthorn from the BBC, where she was editor of the Today programme. Previously, she edited the London Evening Standard, the first woman to edit The Sunday Telegraph and deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph.

She chaired the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council in 2021 and was reappointed for 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. She is a Trustee of the Science Museum, Bletchley Park and the John Innes Centre and serves on the boards of Channel 4, the Berkeley Group and Walpole. She is an ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education, an Associate at the Imperial War Museum, and a Trustee of both the Quintessentially Foundation and On the Record, a memorial to journalists killed while covering conflicts. She is a former Trustee of Index on Censorship.