Schnauder graduated in Economics and completed the university course in Journalism at the Institute for Journalism in Vienna. After a trainee programme at Girozentrale, he started as an intern at the daily newspaper Der Standard in 1992, which subsequently hired him as an editor. After a short stint at Die Presse – among other things as Brussels correspondent – he returned to Der Standard in 2007, where he served as head of economics until his move to Der Pragmaticus in 2021.