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Headshot of Steven Burton, Director of Technology & Strategy

Steven Burton

Director of Technology & Strategy · he/him

Steven leads technology strategy across CDS. Steven's career has run from hands-on engineering and test automation, through technical, delivery and account leadership, to director level, and the technical thread has stayed throughout. What Steven values most is building the teams, capabilities and organisational structures that outlast any single project, with quality and people kept at the centre.

In Steven's words

I've been interested in computing ever since I was a kid, building my first PC in my bedroom. As I've progressed in my career, I've found I love influencing and guiding technical decisions. Building software that is user-centred is a big passion of mine: the tech choices we make should always have the user journey in mind, and that's something that guides me.

Outside of work, I have a young daughter who I adore spending time with. I'm into martial arts, long rides on my motorbike, and keeping fit.

What Steven leads

  • Technology strategy at board level, driven through the target operating model, including the design and rollout of the practices (Engineering, Product Delivery and QA) and the Service Management team
  • Enterprise AI adoption across the business, deploying Claude and Claude Code company-wide with the governance, security controls and measurement to make adoption real
  • The internal platforms and AI infrastructure CDS runs on, including the integrations that connect our knowledge, skills and ways of working into our tooling
  • Senior client-facing work on major public sector procurements, and how CDS structures senior roles on national-scale accounts
  • The career path framework and job descriptions across technical disciplines, and senior engineering recruitment

Background

Before CDS, Steven was Head of Services & Engineering and then Head of Delivery at Burendo, and held senior consulting and account leadership roles at Accenture and Infinity Works, with clients including the DWP, ASDA and Hermes. Steven started out in test engineering and automation, and has since led delivery, technical and account teams across many industries and technology stacks.

Strengths

Technology strategy · engineering leadership · enterprise AI adoption · commercial and account leadership · coaching and developing people

Qualifications

Professional Agile Leadership I (PAL I) · ISEB Certified Tester, Foundation Level · BSc Computer Science, University of Brighton

Get in touch

Steven is Director of Technology & Strategy at CDS. Reach Steven at steven.burton@cds.co.uk, connect on LinkedIn, or read more at stevenburton.tech.