HMRC’s IT Function (CDIO) has a complex mix of employees (both civil servants and a government company), contractors and thirdly party suppliers supporting an organisation with 50 million customers, over 60 thousand staff, collecting £600 billion to fund UK Plc. With over 4,000 people, the CDIO Group is a key part of HMRC, leading the biggest digital transformation in Europe with a cloud first strategy at the forefront of our transformation.Responsible for the leadership of Cloud Development including functions responsible for automation & orchestration, testing, internal application development, and system engineering. Co-ordinating and managing technical expertise needed to set appropriate standards as well as lead on the governance of technical activities.

As HMRC looked to move away from its large outsourcing contract I was given the job of establishing a cloud division and capability within HMRC. The remit was to define, develop, deploy, and run a cloud group that would no longer be dependent on third party suppliers to deliver foundational IT services to the rest of the business, as well as establish a TUPE vehicle for some the technical staff displaced by our contract exit. Alongside that my job was to represent future technology pathways created by the the team, including HMRC’s cloud first policy, essential to the organisation’s UK GOV leadership role in driving business transformation, increased efficiencies, and reduced costs.Leading by example my role was to establish a more progressive and inclusive IT culture that embraced both Agile and DevOps ways of working.

Operating IT teams within the largest outsourcing contract in Europe (and one of the largest in the world) I was responsible for directing and leading day to day operations as well as managing contractual and commercial engagements with our third party suppliers around current performance and future opportunities.

Responsible for the direction, support and development of the IT platforms and support teams (Server, Network and DBA). As a senior member of the department part of my role was sitting on the Strategy Board as well as the Programme Board, both setting the future direction and priorities of business systems and platforms.

I was employed to look after the IT systems (both front and back end) for a small Advertising Agency which consisted of approximately 40 staff.