Rachel Singleton has served in the Royal Navy for more than 20 years, 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 in the role of 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 undertook a three-year tour at the Embassy in Washington DC facilitating dialogue on Artificial Intelligence between the UK and US Defence departments before returning to Navy Headquarters as Head of Digital Development and SRO of the Naval Strike Network programme.

In June 2023, Rachel 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.

At home, Rachel is outnumbered by her husband and two sons. Any spare time is spent reading, making music or
hiking.