I am responsible for working across the complex, multi-agency system of the border to design and implement policy that improves the end-to-end experience of traders and achieves overarching government objectives around security and standards.I have led a major review into how to improve import checks on goods, which has resulted in:- new governance to break silos between policy departments and 11 border agencies- reform to local authority checks to improve user experience and increase consistency- commitment from border agencies to publish performance information and to digitalise processesI have overseen an innovative approach which ensured detailed understanding of the frontline and the priorities of decision makers:- I embedded three civil servants into three ports, where they spent 10 weeks on location seeing government processes first hand.- I set up a ‘Steering Group’ where our minister, permanent secretary and a non-executive director met multiple times to hone the policy during the review.- I had the review designated an ‘exemplar’ of modernisation and reform and shared our story in a ‘Toolkit’, commended by Alex Chisholm and shared with over 20,000 civil servants.I have also secured changes to air freight policy, simplifying processes while protecting security. This has made Heathrow, and other UK airports, more competitive with European equivalents. I am continuing to progress this working closely with partners across government: engaging, listening, and finding solutions to push the issue forward.

I worked to ensure the border was ready for the end of the Brexit transition period, drafting high-quality materials for ministers and committees, including a Cabinet paper on the strategic priorities for the border. The decision on this set the direction for the directorate’s work.My work then focused on the Northern Ireland Protocol, a politically-sensitive area where policy changed multiple times. I navigated this and oversaw the production of guidance for industry on how the Protocol would operate, enabling them to prepare for post-Brexit changes and continue trading.I recognised the need for processes to make the identification, evaluation and communication around Protocol issues more systematic as there had been confusion across the multiple teams working on these issues. I directed my team to focus on this, utilising our policy expertise to create and run a process that provided clarity on the issues and their ownership. We used the resulting product to brief our minister.

I delivered cross-cutting interventions to improve Brexit implementation. This required strategic thinking, relationship building with multiple teams, and the ability to quickly solve problems in a constantly changing environment.My work included:- organising nine stocktakes to review and address the biggest no-deal risks. This required coordination across the Cabinet Secretary (who chaired), attending Permanent Secretaries, No.10, HMT, and multiple other teams and departments. I engaged widely, prepared briefings, and ensured strong coordination of the entire process.- implementing recommendations from a review of the first phase of EU exit work. I instituted a forum for working level leads to identify policy solutions, discuss progress, ensuring that action plans were in place and the approach was consistent across government. For example, we agreed a cross-government approach to Brexit helplines.

- I standardised finance processes across government, achieving spending efficiencies.- I established shared service KPIs and rolled these out to every government department, facilitating performance monitoring and improvement.- I led the design and implementation of a framework for measuring our strategy, which covered over half a million users across all main government departments. From this I created a dashboard that enabled informed decisions about strategy implementation.

I oversaw the finances of seven academic departments, leading on financial planning and strategy, monitoring and forecasting, and process improvement. Core to this role was clearly communicating financial information and advice to departmental leads and appraising project proposals and policy options.

I took on management of an underperforming Financial Services team of ten people and implemented changes to modernise the established, inefficient ways of working. I redesigned processes and the structure of the team to create more ownership and interaction with the team's customers. I improved the culture through encouraging training and development, celebrating success, and tackling individual performance issues. The team's productivity and morale improved.

My role was broad and the requirements changed according to organisational priorities. Highlights included:- presenting a weekly report to the Trust's executives and senior managers that analysed how we could achieve savings.- project managing the upgrade of the Trust's finance system.- creating an analysis of pay which summarised over 200 element into nine clear categories and could be run at the click of a button, allowing the trust to properly understand pay expenditure for the first time.I was responsible for financial governance: maintaining the scheme of budget holders, providing training to budget holders, and advising the Director of Finance on changes to Standing Financial Instructions.

I was responsible for reviewing and documenting financial operating procedures at the Trust, advising of changes to address risk or increase efficiency.

I performed finance and process audits across a range of clients in the education, health, local government and housing sectors. I managed the audit of several clients and had responsibility for training and coaching junior members of the audit teams.During this job, I qualified as an accountant. I passed fifteen exams first-time and qualified as an Associate Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales.

I taught English as a foreign language to children, teenagers and adults at a range of levels, from beginner to advanced. My students included national managers of a multinational company, lab workers, and children and teenagers. I received excellent feedback on my teaching.

I was elected to this position through a cross-campus ballot with over 3,500 votes cast, taking position on the Union Executive Committee and the Trustee Board, and representing over 20,000 students to the University. The Union had an £11m turnover and was recognised as the best in the country by the National Union of Students.Examples of my work included:- leading on projects to create an overarching commercial strategy and a new visual identity for the Union- making the student committee budgeting system more flexible by introducing a half-year review;- participating in the design of a £6m project to re-develop the Union building; and- instigating a programme which attracted high-profile speakers to the Union, including David Blunkett and Alastair Campbell.