Rachel Singleton joined the Royal Navy in 2002 from the Royal Naval Reserve, following a short career as a software engineer in the telecommunications sector. Her operational experience includes time onboard aircraft carriers ARK ROYAL and ILLUSTRIOUS, two short tours in Afghanistan and a tour as Weapon Engineer Officer of Type 45 destroyer HMS DARING. Her non-operational roles have spanned capability development, IT service management, cyber and Defence Engagement and she recently spent a rewarding two years leading on Artificial Intelligence at the British Defence Staff in Washington DC, before returning to Navy Headquarters as head of Digital Development and SRO of the Naval Strike Network programme.

Rachel has recently joined Defence Digital as Head of the Defence Artificial Intelligence Centre and is responsible for setting the conditions for the widespread exploitation of Artificial Intelligence within Defence, championing the appropriate and informed use of AI, ensuring the enablers are in place such as tooling, platforms and data, and sponsoring specific innovation projects, identifying crucial problem sets and developing AI models to address them.

Rachel is a graduate of Birmingham University where she studied Mathematics and Philosophy and has also undertaken an in-Service MSc in Information Systems at Cranfield University, and the Defence Academy’s Advanced Command and Staff Course alongside the associated MA in Defence Studies from Kings College London.