People and culture

Before joining UKGI, I led on L&D functions across both the private and public sectors, most recently at University College London and the NHS. I wanted to continue to work within the public sector, and UKGI offered an excellent opportunity to enhance my understanding of government and support a diverse group of people working on complex projects.

At UKGI I lead on the Learning and Development Strategy, which supports UKGI’s objectives and our People Plan. I collaborate with stakeholders across UKGI to understand what development our people need, and any skills gaps we may have as an organisation. I then work with colleagues to create a variety of initiatives to address these training needs. This includes specific development frameworks, which we now have in place for our Corporate Governance and Corporate Finance colleagues, as well as leadership or board-readiness development programmes.  Another key area of my role is talent development, where I lead on the design and delivery of our career pathways. The pathways highlight what you can do at each grade at UKGI to either perform well in your role, become an expert in your existing role, make a lateral move or progress upwards, signposting associated competencies and development opportunities to support this.

My work is very rewarding. I really value working with everyone at UKGI and discussing their individual development needs and career aspirations in their dedicated career conversations. UKGI’s values align closely with mine, which further adds to the appeal of working here.

In my time at UKGI I have also had the opportunity to complete my MSc in Education Leadership through the degree apprenticeship route, which has been funded and supported by UKGI and allowed me to continue to develop within my role and positively impact my work.

Prior to joining UKGI I worked at an international law firm focusing on corporate real estate work. I wanted to broaden my horizons and build on my existing skillset to work on varied, complex matters that create value for society, so UKGI’s position at the crossroads of the public and private sectors seemed like a good fit. I was also drawn by UKGI’s focus on continuous improvement both for individual staff and for the organisation as a whole, as well as its commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Since I joined I have expanded my expertise significantly, advising colleagues on a wide array of legal issues across the finance, media, transport and property sectors as well as on Compliance-related matters. The mix of advisory, transactional and contentious work has further developed my stakeholder management, communication and problem-solving skills, and I have enjoyed the collaborative and outcome-focused culture at UKGI which enables us to leverage our diversity of thought and come up with the best (and often innovative) solutions.

No two days are quite alike at UKGI and I have found my time here so far to be stimulating and rewarding. I feel respected for my contribution, supported to meet my development needs, and empowered to bring my whole self to work.

My background is in accountancy and I wanted to increase the variety of work that I would be undertaking in my day-to-day role. UKGI provides the platform for me to be involved across different workstreams, each requiring a different skillset, and many of the projects are high profile, such as the UK Infrastructure Bank, which was a motivating factor for me!

In my prior role I analysed financial (and non-financial) information through a professionally sceptic lens. This is valuable for my financial governance work at UKGI where I monitor and challenge asset performance against agreed its business plan and help promote an effective reporting process.

UKGI emphasises the importance of setting personal career goals and line managers are happy to have honest discussions about where I see my future so that they can help get me there. I learn from working with colleagues with a wide range of backgrounds across investment banking, law, accountancy and the civil service, from dealing with high profile stakeholders in high pressure environments, and from attending a broad range of training and development courses including specific corporate finance development and broader public sector/civil service learning. As a result I was recently promoted to Assistant Director grade through our formal promotion process.

UKGI had been on my radar as the next career move for a couple of years before the perfect opportunity presented itself. I knew that after 16 years in the city I had the right commercial negotiation skills and inter-personal communication skills to be successful, and I wanted the opportunity to work on projects that are high profile and have national importance. Since joining I have been on a variety of training courses around working in Whitehall and understanding ministerial life, which provided some crucial insights to complement my private sector skills and experience.

The people I work with are open minded, collaborative and full of energy. They care about the impact of their work and are committed to putting their skills to good use. I’m proud of the work I now do, providing sound advice to HM Treasury and protecting taxpayers’ money.

Before working at UKGI I gained specialist expertise at the New South Wales Treasury in Sydney, Australia, where I spent six years managing complex government transactions, particularly public sector asset sales and mergers and acquisitions.

I therefore came into UKGI with a good understanding of best practice public sector transaction governance, but UKGI enabled me to refine my existing skills, offering me ample learning and development opportunities to upskill where necessary, whilst also giving me invaluable experiences in utilising these skills in an environment where I am managing multiple stakeholders across the highest levels of Ministerial Cabinet, arms-length body senior management, the career public service and private sector corporate advisory.

UKGI provides a great platform to enable a future career in corporate finance, policy and governance, through its excellent learning and development programme and by actively encouraging its staff to get involved in a range of projects as well as corporate activities that will give them the opportunity to develop a range of skillsets and deal with a wide array of stakeholders.

UKGI has provided me with invaluable opportunities to learn from some of the most experienced minds working in the public sector.