Nicky Stewart

Commercial Director

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“I think there’s a nature vs nurture argument with why women do not join careers in STEM ”

I have over 20 years of experience in the civil service, all in IT facing roles. I started on the helpdesk, and went through the majority of ITIL, before moving into a central facing/parliamentary role. I looked after the development of the annual business planning for what was the Information Technology Services Agency.

In the year 2000, I worked on a huge outsourcing exercise involving the TUPE of over 2000 developers to EDS. This gave me a thorough grounding in strategic sourcing, and the issues associated with large PFI deals. I then moved to Cabinet Office, eventually leading the commercial workstrand of the G-Cloud programme. Our main contribution was the concept that is now the G-Cloud framework agreement. I left government in 2011, and contracted for a few months before becoming one of UKCloud’s first employees.

My average day at UKCloud varies. When working from our Farnborough office I get in around 8:30, it’s here where I try to get all urgent issues sorted and deal with contracts and queries. I also spend quite a lot of time in London, at meetings and events to influence government policy that could impact UKCloud and its market. Sometimes I also spend time with customers. So, my average day is typically quite varied, and busy. I am also getting UKCloud ready for GDPR

I think there’s a nature vs nurture argument with why women do not join careers in STEM. In my time at school, it was expected that women would generally go into softer careers, so that’s what most women did. Due to this, I think that the technology workplace became very male-dominated which doesn’t appeal to many women. Even today, women – well known known as being better at multi-tasking than men, will often choose a career away from the often quite grey-looking STEM workplace as they have so many available options.

As a woman in STEM, I have faced challenges. In my past, I think when organising people, in order to make things happen, it was easy to be pigeon holed as a glorified secretary. I had to be selective about what I did as to not be perceived as somebody else’s bag person. I think also, you have to be careful how you present yourself.

I think the workplace generally is improving for women. Over the last 15 years there have been general improvements, such as improved maternity leave and flexible working. Still today though, some organisations are behind the curve with a culture that regards these improvements as a “women’s privilege”. Thankfully UKCloud aren’t one of them.

Catriona McGill

Service Delivery Manager

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What is your background?

I have been working in IT since the start of 2012, initially I started out in technical support roles with a customer focus. I really enjoyed working closely with customers and that is why I was driven to move towards a role that had customers at the forefront. Therefore, I decided to join UKCloud in customer support back in 2016.

What brought you to UKCloud?

There were several reasons I joined UKCloud. Firstly, I wanted a customer facing role. Secondly, one of my friends told me it was a wonderful place due to the work environment and potential career progression on offer. It hasn’t disappointed yet, since joining I have moved to a customer success manager role and more recently and customer delivery manager position. There is always plenty to learn and plenty of progression opportunities available at UKCloud.

What work are you excited about?

In my new role as cloud delivery manager I am really looking forward to developing the role further and ultimately delivering a great customer experience to our existing customers. Ultimately this role allows me to work closer with the customers and I’m excited to see what we can do together.

What does your day-to-day look like?

My day revolves around our customers, being both reactive and proactive. It could be contacting them regarding a query, ticket raised or being more proactive about our new products or features we are delivering. A big piece is making sure customers get the most out of our products and features but as well as that is performing service reviews with our customers

What is your ambition for you and the team?

To ensure customers feel confident in what UKCloud is delivering, making sure we reach out and are proactive in developing stronger working relationships with the customers we are supporting.

Amanda Mahoney

Change Manager

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Before UKCloud, I worked for over 18 years in the Electronic & IT industry. After graduating from College, I went into the workplace as a Personal Assistant and was extremely happy for a good number of years. However, with the IT industry evolving at a very fast pace I realised quickly that my focus had to change to keep up with my colleagues and peers around me. I saw an opportunity to move into (ITSM) IT Service Management which at first was scary and at times very much out of my comfort zone, however with the support of additional on-the-job training and further education outside of the workplace I was fortunate enough to move into a number of key customer facing roles within ITSM primarily for global blue-chip companies.

My average day at UKCloud can vary – I am an early morning person, so I like to get into the office whilst it is quiet, and I can deal with any Change related activity that has taken place overnight and review the previous days Changes in readiness for a new and exciting day. I am responsible for the ownership and implementation of the ITIL based Change Management Process. Every day I will work collaboratively with key stakeholders across the Customer Service and Technical teams to ensure that the business adheres to the detail of the process. I will also chair the weekly Change Advisory Board meetings to provide appropriate governance and ensure expected standards are maintained.

It is my perception that the workplace is slowly improving for women in STEM, however this has been a long time coming, as many women in my position over the years have chosen career paths outside of STEM due to the lack of encouragement and sponsorship from the wider Senior Management teams. When I left college, I wasn’t given the encouragement or direction to go into what I see now as male dominated roles. It was assumed that I and the women around me would venture into roles such as office administration or retail opportunities. This perception stayed with me for a good 10+ years and really has only changed within the last five years where I have seen more women entering the workplace in roles which was previously dominated by the male workforce.

It has been very tough for me as a woman in STEM. For the last 10 years, I have had to work hard and put in a lot of extra hours so that I could stand out from the crowd and compete with the males that outnumbered me. There have been times I have worked in isolation without any direct leadership, I feel that’s why many women walk away from these type of roles as there is often very little sponsorship or encouragement to succeed.

Since joining UKCloud I have seen a huge shift in the way the work force is recruited. There are more opportunities internally and encouragement from senior management for women to move into STEM roles. I feel this must continue as there is a lot of untapped potential outside of STEM that are missing out on opportunities.

Over the years I have worked for many companies but since joining UKCloud I have found it to be a very unique experience. I absolutely love getting up in the morning and going to work; my colleagues and peers make a huge difference to my day as they make it fun and exciting and not forgetting the continued support and encouragement to succeed every day.

I would recommend UKCloud to any woman considering a career in STEM.

Abigail Boyton

Software Analyst

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In terms of my background, I had little knowledge of programming until Year 10 of school, where I had to do a week’s worth of work experience. With little prior interest, I spent this week of experience at a small games company. I was testing games, which I really enjoyed, and then one day I saw someone working on code – from then I was hooked.

I carried on doing work experience at tech companies where I could, and then for my year of industry I worked my placement at UKCloud. It was interesting throughout, and I enjoyed working for a service company that really benefits the customer. After receiving a 1^st in my degree from Ashton University, I came back to UKCloud to work as a software engineer

One of the things that I like about working at UKCloud is that you don’t really have an average day. As a programmer, I get to solve unique problems every day, and rarely solve the same problem twice. My role involves working on various projects daily with my team, and attending regular programming meetings. UKCloud is full of really nice people, and a offers friendly culture, making my average day highly enjoyable

I am very happy as a programmer, but I know a lot of women don’t really get involved with a career in STEM. I guess it’s not something that is seen as a ‘girly’ thing to do. There’s an idea of your stereotypical programmer, and this stereotype doesn’t really involve women. For me personally, I didn’t know about programming until I was 16. Across careers and university courses in STEM, there is a complete lack of women. Nobody has looked down on me for being a female programmer, but I am still only one of the few there are.

From what I see, the workplace for women in STEM is getting a lot better, though I have only been within the industry for the past few years. The initiatives to get women into STEM are helping things improve, I think teaching programming at primary school will really help in my area, and I hope women become more involved with careers in STEM.

Are you looking to join a company that is dedicated to supporting women in STEM? If so, visit our careers page and see if there is an opportunity for you to join our team.

Lisa Anderson

Client Director

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With nearly 15 years with sales and client management experience, Lisa is an expert in supporting customers. Lisa is a highly motivated and tenacious sales and health informatics professional. She collaborates with senior level NHS professionals to find innovative solutions to meet evolving market. requirements.

Nicola Bradshaw

Client Director

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Nicola has first hand experience of the defence sector with 11 years experience as Senior Intelligence Manager where she was a liaison to combat operations with information regarding tactical situational awareness on real time effects and security countermeasures for deployed forces. She also has 2 years experience working in the Defence Trade Office, where she was responsible for the introduction and promotion of British companies to members of the Department of Defense (DoD) to encourage British trade in the US defence sector.

Anna Steed

Client Director

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Anna has 10 years in sales, including managing public sector accounts at Vodafone, supporting customers with SaaS, cloud and AI solutions.