Commodore Rachel Singleton

Head Defence AI Center Royal Navy

Rachel Singleton joined the Royal Navy in 2002 from the Royal Naval Reserve following a short career as a civilian software engineer. Joining as an Information Systems specialist, she spent her junior officer sea time onboard carriers ARK ROYAL and ILLUSTRIOUS, deploying to the Northern Arabian Gulf in support of Operation TELIC. Following an in-Service MSc in Information Systems at Shrivenham, Rachel spent a rewarding assignment embedded within the UK Permanent Joint HQ supporting deployed Information Systems worldwide during a busy period of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. On promotion to Lieutenant Commander, Rachel served in personnel related assignments in the Navy’s Business Information Systems team and as the Military Assistant to the 2* Chief Executive of the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency. Returning to Navy Command Headquarters she joined the Navy Information Warfare staff as the desk officer for Cyber and Space and enjoyed the broad portfolio and the opportunity to shape the Navy’s early Cyber strategy. Following her sub-unit command and sea charge assignment as Weapon Engineer Officer onboard Type 45 destroyers DIAMOND and DARING she undertook Advanced Command and Staff Course alongside the associated MA in Defence Studies. On promotion to Commander, Rachel spent two years supporting business and deployed information systems at Defence Digital in Corsham before moving to Washington DC as the Embassy lead for Maritime C4ISR and Artificial Intelligence. Rachel has recently returned to the UK to take over a broad portfolio as Head of Digital and C5ISR Development at Navy HQ on promotion to Captain. At home Rachel is outnumbered by her husband and two sons. Any spare time is spent reading, making music or hiking.