Politicized through the debates about the war history of Kurt Waldheim, Schieder joined the Young Socialists. He served as vice president of the International Union of Socialist Youth from 1994 to 1997, from 1997 to 1999 as president of the Young European Socialists, as district councilor of Penzing and as a member of the Wiener Landtag und Gemeinderat. Since 2002 Schieder chairs the SPÖ Penzing, as successor of his father Peter Schieder. And since 2005 he has also been a member of the party leadership of the SPÖ Vienna.
Member of the Austrian Parliament, 2006–2019
In the 2006 national elections, Schieder became a member of the National Council. In parliament, he served as his group's spokesperson on foreign policy. From 10 January 2007 he also served as international secretary of the SPÖ federal organisations. On 1 July 2008 Schieder was appointed state secretary in the Federal Chancellery in the government of Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, succeeding Heidrun Silhavy. As state secretary he was responsible for the public service. After the first cabinet of Chancellor Werner Faymann was appointed in 2. December 2008, he also became state secretary in the Ministry of Finance. On 28 October 2013 Schieder was elected parliamentary leader of the SPÖ in the National Council by the parliamentary club of his party; he succeeded Josef Cap who had held this position for 12 years. He resigned in 2017 and instead chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In addition to his parliamentary work, he was a member of the Austrian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe from 2014 until 2019. Within the Assembly, he served on the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights. Since June 2016 Schieder has been serving as one of the deputy chairmen of the Social Democratic Party of Austria.
Member of the European Parliament, 2019–present
Since becoming a Member of the European Parliament in the 2019 elections, Schieder has been serving on the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In 2020, he also joined the Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union. In addition to his committee assignments, Schieder is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights and of the URBAN Intergroup.
Schieder has one son with fellow SPÖ politician Sonja Wehsely. In his private life schieder is involved as functionary at the SK Rapid Wien and as president of the FV Austria XIII. He is inspired hiker, health athlete, and long-term member of the Austrian Friends of Nature.
