Candidates for election to management commitee Cross Government Software Engineering Community 2025

Update
Elections for the Cross Government Software Engineering Community Management Committee 2025 closed on Wednesday 13th of August. Results will be announced at the AGM on August 14th 2025, new committee members will take up their roles immediately. Thank you to all who voted and to the candidates for their nominations.

The Cross Government Software Engineering Community is holding elections for the Management Committee. The committee plays a crucial role in guiding the community’s direction, organising events, and fostering collaboration among software engineers across government departments. See our Terms of Reference for more details about the committee’s roles and responsibilities.

Nominations for the committee closed on Thursday 10 July. We received a number of nominations, and the candidates are listed below. Voting will take place during the month of August, with results announced at the AGM August 14th 2025. There are 6 vacancies on the committee, and we have 8 candidates.

Voting Process

Voting will be conducted via an online ballot. As per our Terms of Reference, you will be eligible to vote if you have been an approved member of our email list for at least six weeks prior to the vote. Each eligible member will be sent an email containing a unique voter link, please ensure you check your inbox (and spam folder) for this email. You will be asked to vote by ranking candidates in preference order, the winning candidates will be determined using ranked choice voting.

Candidates for the 2025 Management Committee

The following candidates have been nominated for the 2025 Management Committee:

Candidate	Details
Alex Coleman Active Travel England	When I first joined the civil service over two years ago I felt particularly at sea as a developer in a new agency with limited digital experience. Finding the X-gov community has been a massive support in getting advice about common problems and building a network across government. I’m keen to work with the new management committee to keep the community a vibrant and welcoming place where we run regular events like the January 2025 conference. As part of the organising committee for the 2025 conference I’ve got experience planning events and coordinating volunteers. I’d be grateful for your support to continue building the software community across government and creating more opportunities for us to get together and collaborate to solve our common problems.
Mukti Zavery Technology Developer Ofsted	As a career changer who has recently entered the industry, I bring a fresh perspective, a deep appreciation for the opportunities it offers, and a strong desire to contribute meaningfully to its growth. I believe this gives me a unique lens to understand both the challenges and the potential of our sector. I am passionate about helping shape the industry into the best version of itself—one that is inclusive, forward-thinking, and representative of the diverse voices within it. I want to actively support others navigating their own professional journeys and ensure that all individuals feel seen, heard, and empowered to thrive. Joining the facilitators committee would allow me to help drive positive change, advocate for inclusivity, and represent a broad range of experiences and perspectives. I’m eager to collaborate, share ideas, and help create an environment that supports continuous learning, growth, and belonging for everyone involved.
Shaun Hare Lead Developer - Management at DVSA, GDS Technical Assessor - Jointly responsible for development and test teams, leads the software profession.	Having been a member and facilitator for the community for a number of years (early in 2019, and post reboot ) I would appreciate your support. I am keen to continue to support the group and continue helping the management committee support the developer community. I am especially keen to ensure we champion the community in the open and attract new and diverse talent to help drive responsible development grounded in good practices and principles showing that UK public services can operate very well at scale. I have experience running communities, events and hackathons inside and outside of government. I am willing to help with all tasks required of organising events, workshops and facilitating discussions. I am excited to see how the community can flourish building on our collective successes so far, from virtual events to conferences.
Andy Poole Head of Engineering at the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (Part of MOD). Responsible for software, test and data engineering capability.	I have worked in the Technology arena for most of my professional life which until 2015 was with commercial companies outside the Civil Service. Roles have included Delivery Lead, Test Manager, Environment Manager and Offshore Delivery Lead (Having the opportunity to work in India over a 3-year period) I am one of the facilitators of the cross-government engineering community and am passionate about promoting sharing of knowledge, challenges, and solutions across government. Many of the technical challenges each dept face, are also faced by many others, can we share experience and understanding, solutions and ideas better .
Nayyab Naqvi Principal Technologist for AI DSIT	I am a dynamic multi disciplinary professional with 20+ experience in software development who is keen in advocating our Secure Software Engineering practices and doesn’t hesitate to question, politely challenge and critically analyse our current practice in an opinionated way. I bring insights and experience from 4 different central departments (HO, DHSC/MHRA, CO and DSiT) around our traditional Software Engineering practices and ways of working in the digital space. I am keen to join the management committee to be able to advocate and influence our Engineering Practices for the future ways of working with the proliferation of the AI Tool and Techniques. Assessed as an Expert on the SFIA Skills framework (2022), I am keen on continuous learning, advocating robust practices, compliance and future digital teams with evolving roles and transformed ways we deliver and deploy our digital systems.
Olukayode Esho Technical Lead & Senior Systems Developer United Kingdom Health Security Agency (Department of Health and Social Care)	With over 14 years of experience, I’ve worked as a professional software developer across sectors including banking, digital banking, fintech, and government. My career has included roles in a multinational consulting firm, one of the Big Four (EY), and a Silicon Valley-based SaaS company building grant management solutions. I currently serve as a Technical Lead and Senior Systems Developer at the UK Health Security Agency. While at EY, I led a project automating manual processes using Robotic Process Automation (RPA). This broad background has given me insight into both the high-paced demands of industry and the complexity of delivering impactful, user-centred digital services in government. As a volunteer, I’m currently leading an initiative exploring the use of AI tools — including OpenAI and Gemini — to help break down language barriers in multilingual community settings. I was part of the organising committee for the first Cross UK Government Software Engineering Conference in 2025 and saw the energy and potential that cross-department collaboration can unlock. I believe this community can harness that momentum year-round through events, mentoring, and open sharing of knowledge and tools. If selected, I will support inclusive engagement, promote visibility of good engineering practices across government, and help foster a culture of openness and continuous learning. I’m particularly passionate about supporting emerging developers and inspiring the next generation. I also hope to use this platform to explore how AI can safely and responsibly enhance software development, delivering greater value to government and public services.
Greg Stevenson Lead Developer, GOV.UK One Login, GDS. Formerly Head of Role for Software Engineering & DevOps at UK Home office	I’ve been a software developer for over 15 years, working at all levels across a bunch of UK government departments as a civil servant who has now turned consultant. That’s given me a solid sense of the challenges and quirks of public sector engineering, and shown me just how valuable it is when departments actually collaborate and share what they’ve learned. Over the years, I’ve spent a lot of time building and supporting engineering communities. I’ve run community events, public hackathons, led on recruitment, diversity and outreach, and tried to create spaces where people can connect, swap ideas, and learn from each other. I think that kind of community is vital, especially in government where teams often end up solving the same problems in isolation - even within a single department, let alone cross-government. I care a lot about making engineering a bit less siloed and a lot more open, collaborative and welcoming. I see the management committee as a great way to keep that kind of culture going, and I’d love to be part of shaping it.
David Heath Head of Engineering Enablement, GDS	I’ve been a hands on developer for ~25 years, 13 of those at GDS. I helped to found the Cross Government Software Engineering Community in 2019 and along with Andy Poole revived it again after a lull during COVID. I’m passionate about engineering as a public service and keen to see the cross government community continue to thrive. If elected to the committee, I’ll continue to work to grow our impact as a network for practitioners.

The election officer will be Wednesday Moore, Senior Community Manager Engineering Excellence GDS. We encourage all community members to review the candidates’ bios and consider the contributions they can make to the community when casting their votes.

If you have any questions about the election process or the candidates, please contact the current management committee at our shared mailbox.