Anna Brailsford

“Through Code First Girls, Anna is changing women's lives while driving broader industry diversity"

Part of the Tech Women Celebration 50, a curated list of some of the most inspirational women working at all levels of tech

Anna Brailsford MBE is CEO and Co-Founder of Code First Girls. She was formerly Commercial Director of LinkedIn Learning and LinkedIn and is an adviser to HM Treasury's Women in Finance Charter. She was recently appointed to the Government Skills Council by DBIST (formerly DSIT) and the Women in Tech Taskforce. Anna has been awarded an MBE for services to women's equality and coding.

Tell us about the nominee's biggest achievement to date

Women make up just 22% of the UK tech workforce. As CEO of social enterprise Code First Girls (CFG), Anna is actively changing that statistic. Under her leadership, CFG has delivered 300,000 free tech education opportunities for women across 110 countries, backed by more than 160 leading employers, including NatWest, IBM and GCHQ.

Appointed CEO in 2019, Anna pioneered a gender-intentional model in which education is always free for women. The learner journey typically starts with self-paced online courses in coding fundamentals. Easily accessed through the CFG website, these courses offer an invaluable introduction for anyone looking to start or return to a career in tech.

From there, women progress to application-only, four- to five-month advanced programmes tied directly to real jobs. Designed to fit around work and family life, these remote courses combine self-paced learning, evening instructor-led sessions, individual assessments and group projects. Demand is huge, with programmes up to 5,000% oversubscribed.

Through CFG, Anna is changing women's lives while driving broader industry diversity. Tech consultancy Capgemini alone has hired more than 100 graduates through the partnership, with over 30 set for promotion this year.

What is the most significant challenge the nominee has overcome?

With women making up only 20% of computer science students, the traditional talent pipeline for tech roles is fundamentally broken. Anna is systematically debunking the myth that tech careers are only for computer science graduates or people from certain backgrounds.

Today, more than half of CFG's community are career switchers, including former nurses, teachers and lawyers. Anna recognises that these women bring a powerful "domain edge", combining transferable skills such as problem-solving and communication with new technical knowledge. This has proved invaluable for partners such as dunnhumby, which hired former GPs and health practitioners into technical roles to strengthen its health and life sciences work.

Beyond gender diversity, 69% of CFG learners are from underrepresented ethnicities, more than a third are from lower socio-economic backgrounds and 16% identify as neurodivergent.

Through CFG's partnership with GCHQ, Anna and her team have created more than 19,000 learning opportunities for female technologists. More than one-third of participants identify as neurodivergent, giving GCHQ direct access to exceptional talent often overlooked in traditional recruitment.

Tell us something about the nominee people would find surprising

People are often surprised to learn that, before moving into edtech and becoming CEO of Code First Girls, Anna qualified as a barrister. The analytical rigour and advocacy skills she gained in law now support her work on the UK Government's DBIST (formerly DSIT) Women in Tech Taskforce, where she works to dismantle systemic barriers for women in technology.

Her leadership style is equally compelling. Despite heading a rapidly scaling, Series B-funded company, Anna operates on the principle that "no voice is too small". She intentionally flattens the hierarchy, encouraging everyone in the company to contribute. This collaborative culture directly drives product innovation, including the recent development of a custom AI agent to answer community questions faster.

Following an employee workshop, the team also launched the CFG ambassador programme. Starting a new career in tech and entering a male-dominated field can be intimidating. Ambassadors promote Code First Girls by sharing their experiences and practical insights through social media, events and peer networking. Around one-third of community members now sign up for CFG programmes after engaging with ambassador-generated content.