After graduating, she worked as an ODI Fellow for the Botswana Ministry of Works. She then joined the Overseas Development Administration, which was then an agency of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). She was seconded to be head of the development office of the UN Mission in Somalia 1993–94. She studied at Cranfield School of Management 1995–96 for a MBA degree. She continued with the Overseas Development Administration when it became part of the Department for International Development (DFID) in 1997. She was seconded to the Cabinet Office as deputy director of the Prime Minister's strategy unit 2001–05, then was head of DFID's International Division Advisory Department 2005–06, head of DFID in Sudan 2006–09, and director, human rights and international, at the Ministry of Justice 2009–12. She then joined the FCO and was the UK's senior civilian representative to the NATO operation in southern Afghanistan 2012–13.