About
Philosophy, law and engineering, before product ever appeared in a job title.
Hi, I'm Emily.
I'm a product leader with a fairly unconventional background: a philosophy degree, an MA in Human Rights, a law conversion, a coding bootcamp, and five years as a full-stack software engineer, before "product" ever appeared in a job title. The common thread is systems thinking, and it's why I tend to look past the presenting problem for what's actually driving it.
Most recently I was Director of Product at Clinical Partners, a national NHS mental health and neurodevelopmental provider, where I built the product function from scratch. Before that I spent four and a half years at Cera Care, Europe's largest digital-first home healthcare provider, promoted twice. I now work with health and care organisations on an interim and advisory basis, and I'm open to the right permanent role.
I'm neurodivergent, and I'm open about it because I think teams make better decisions when people can say plainly how they work best.
“I hired Emily into her first product management role based on what I thought was untapped potential. It was a bit of a risk, but turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made professionally… I suspect I'll be working for her by then.”
How I work.
What I believe about doing this job well, and where it's come from.
The brief is rarely the real problem.
A few days into Clinical Partners, I took a diagnosis to the leadership team: the "better patient portal" was really a cost-to-serve problem, so I proposed turning DigiFirst into a programme of work and narrowing the quarter I'd inherited around it.
Stopping something is a product skill, and sometimes the most valuable one.
I've recommended stopping a programme heading for four times its budget, a risky AI integration and a market entry, each in writing and with evidence. Not every proposal I've made has been taken up, and I think that's part of the job too.
Clinical safety and regulation are design inputs, not a sign-off at the end.
In my best work, safety and commercial performance improved together, because the constraints shaped the design from the start.
Judgement about technology should be first-hand.
Five years as an engineer still shapes how I lead. At Clinical Partners, product was boxed in by the platform, so I proposed a strangler-fig approach rather than a risky rewrite: new pieces built on or beside the existing system and integrated gradually, so the architecture could move towards microservices without a big bang.
I still build and evaluate AI products myself, in the lab at emilybuilds.ai.
Developing people is the job, not something fitted around it.
Candid hiring, regular crits and progression frameworks people actually use. Thirteen senior hires across two organisations, every offer accepted, and not one I'd take back.
“…she was passionate about determining what support and encouragement each individual needed, and she was incredibly compassionate about personal circumstances and health in a way that made the work environment very human.”
Good decisions need disagreement.
I'd rather be challenged than agreed with, and I've thought that for a long time.
Speaking and community.
- Top 100 Women in Tech, 2018
- Started the Peterborough chapter of Codebar, mentoring under-represented groups into coding
- Co-organiser, DDD Cambridgeshire
- Volunteer coach, Code Club · IamRemarkable facilitator
- Conference, internal and public speaker
“Emily was also an active participant in our Accessibility program, advocating for the needs of all users and improving the approach the organisation took to all users needs.”
VP of Engineering · worked with Emily at Comparethemarket
Outside work.
Making things
I sew (currently tailored trousers), I'm bringing an old punchcard knitting machine back to life, and I 3D-print the odd tomato support.
Reading
Literary fiction that rewards rereading: Ishiguro, Murakami, Ozeki, Atwood, Morrison.
Designing a board game
With my two teenage sons: a hex-tile strategy game somewhere between Catan and Diplomacy. We disagree, productively, about how you win.
Teaching the dog to talk
Teaching Jumble, our cavapoo, to ask for things with talking buttons. Cheese was the first word.