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Welcome to CDS

The bit we couldn't fit on the card.

Starting somewhere new is disorienting, however good the place turns out to be. So before your first day, and before the welcome pack and the logins arrive, some of the people you'll be working with wanted to say hello properly and in their own words.

We're really glad you're joining us.

A message from our board and practice leads

The video runs for just over six minutes. Captions are on by default, and there's a full transcript at the end of this page.

Who you'll meet

In the order they appear:

Where to go next

None of this is required reading before you start. Have a look now if you're curious, or leave it for your first week.

  • What we do, if you want a sense of the work and the clients before you walk in
  • Our values, which are the ones we actually use when a decision is hard
  • Life at CDS, for the honest version of what working here is like
  • Our practices, for how Engineering, Product Delivery and QA work at CDS

If anything here raises a question, ask whoever has been in touch about your start date. Asking early is normal here.

Transcript

The video opens with a few seconds of titles: a short comedy film clip captioned "ONE OF US! ONE OF US!", then a title card reading "Here is a message from our team". Each person then speaks in turn.

Alex Coates

Hi, I'm Alex. I am the Managing Director of CDS. I have been with CDS for eight and a half years. I think the role probably describes itself, so I do have a broad responsibility, mostly the commercial success of the organisation, along with strategy, people, culture and working with a senior leadership team to make us a successful business.

What do I enjoy about CDS? For me personally it's probably the diversity of the work that we do. We do some really interesting and special work that really does matter to people on the receiving end of the solutions that we're building, and I don't think you can really say that all too often.

What can people come to me for and about? Pretty much anything. I do say this quite regularly on our huddle stand-ups, but if I had an office with a door, my door would always be open. Because I have more of a commercial and client background, I am typically very hands-on with our clients. I've got good relationships with the vast majority of our customers. I would like to think that I can help out with all sorts of things. If something's gone wrong, quite often I get involved at that point, but equally if there's a pitch, there's some new work that needs to be done, we have to think differently about commercials, we want to do something new and different that we've not done before, we need investment or ideas; all of these things are the types of things that people typically come to me for. So yeah, my door is always open.

Stephanie Spence and Sukhjinder Manak

Stephanie: Hi, I'm Steph.

Sukhjinder: And I'm Sukhi. We're the co-Practice Leads for testing.

Stephanie: The best part of my job is the support network of people we have around us.

Sukhjinder: For me, it's the range of projects that you get to be involved in. It really keeps the job so interesting.

Stephanie: You can come to me for any support queries around the QA practice, the monthly meetings, and how we set and work towards standards.

Sukhjinder: And to me for anything around test strategy, how we're involved in projects, and how we're using AI in testing.

Chris Whitehall

Hello, I'm Chris, Head of Sales and Marketing, and I've been here for about five years now. The thing I enjoy most, the reason I joined actually, is the people, who are a pretty good bunch!

Please feel free to come and have a chat with me at any time if you have a question about how to speak to someone about something that we do, or solve a problem that they have, or position something effectively, or to influence, or just generally questions about what we do and why, or just being pointed in the right direction. I'm happy to help and I look forward to working with you.

Steven Burton

Hello, I'm Steven, so I am Technology and Strategy Director. What do I like most about CDS? It's probably the projects that we do. We do a lot of work with the government, a lot of work where we're making a natural difference in the things that we do and the outcomes that we have, and it makes you feel good about what you're doing, so that's a really important part of it.

Anything you can come to me for is anything around technology, anything around the practices, and around what we do, the services and propositions that we have. That's all things that kind of fall under my remit, but you can come to me for anything. I'm always open for a chat, always open for ideas about ways we can move forward with things as well. So yeah, just say hello, and welcome to CDS.

Lucy Preston

Hi, I'm Lucy Preston, Practice Lead for Product Delivery and Principal Delivery Lead. The thing I like most about CDS is the people, especially the team I work with day to day. We work on some really impactful projects which support national policing infrastructure in England and Wales.

You can come and talk to me about delivery, and what good delivery looks like at CDS, and what it means to be a good consultant in the delivery space. You can also talk to me about anything related to the product delivery practice and what we're doing within the practice. Welcome to CDS.

Helen Vale

Hi, I'm Helen. I'm Delivery Director here at CDS. I joined the team at the start of 2026. Things I love about CDS include the autonomy that we have within the teams and within clients. We work in high impact areas and we have flexibility in a framework within our teams, so that you've got that flexibility to move things forward, make improvements, and just come together as a team to do the best thing for our clients and really drive those outcomes.

I am here for anybody in the company, whether you're new or not, but you can specifically come to me for informational conversations regarding our existing clients. Work that we're doing in client, regardless of the nature of that, is within my remit, so feel free to come to me. I am open for improvement ideas, just general chat and information. My door is open, my calendar is open. Welcome to CDS.

Jason Barron

Hi. Jason Barron, Engineering Practice Lead at CDS. What do I like most about CDS? I think I will have to say the people. Great bunch of people! Thoroughly enjoy working with everyone here.

What can you talk to me about? Anything engineering, whether that's Appian, .NET development, any kind of development, or the cloud team.

Jennie Read

Hi, I'm Jennie, Head of Operations at CDS. The best thing about CDS for me is definitely the people. There are some genuinely brilliant people here and there's always someone willing to help.

You can come to me or any of us in the ops team for anything around HR, recruitment, IT or business operations, or if you have a question and you're not quite sure who to ask. We're always your first point of call. Welcome to CDS, and I'm looking forward to having you here.