Caroline began her career in 1998 on the Civil Service graduate entry scheme and spent her early career doing a variety of international security roles both in the UK and overseas. Caroline gained her CIPD fellowship in 2018. She has been a school governor at a local maintained secondary school for seven years, where she sits on the: finance, premises and staffing committee; care, guidance and support committee; and teaching and learning committee. She also chairs the headteacher performance management panel and is the careers link governor. As a job share from 2011, they spent the next five years leading work to modernise Armed Forces terms and conditions and wellbeing support, including the housing estate. In 2018, they moved to the Department for Education where they led work to improve teacher recruitment, retention and development, including: leading the Every Lesson Shapes a Life Marketing Campaign; developing teacher and school facing IT and digital services (Apply, Teaching Vacancy Service) and transforming teacher CPD (introducing the Early Career Framework and reforming and expanding the provision of National Professional Qualifications).