Steven Burton · Leeds
Hello, I’m Steven.
I help organisations make better technology decisions. I do that by combining deep engineering experience, systems thinking, and a pragmatic understanding of people, delivery and quality. I’m Director of Technology at CDS, a consultancy that builds and runs critical digital services.
My career has been a steady widening of scope: tester, quality leader, engineering leader, technology director. The common thread was never the job title — it’s seeing the whole system, asking the right questions early, and helping people make decisions they can stand behind. More about me
If you’d like to talk — about your technology, your teams, or something I’ve written — the best place to find me is LinkedIn.
Evidence of thinking
Writing
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What testing taught me about running technologyThere are years of testing posts behind this site, and they aren’t a time capsule. The habits I rely on running technology now are the ones testing taught me.
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Keeping control when everyone starts using AIOne experienced person watching AI output is easy. A hundred engineers doing it is not. The practices that keep AI-assisted development safe across an organisation, none of them new.
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A year’s work in two monthsAn anonymised consultancy project, delivered end to end with AI in about two months against a nine-to-twelve-month plan. Why experienced people over the top of it were the whole point.
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“AI did that” is not acceptableAI writes about 95% of my code. That only holds up because I still own the output, however it was made. “The AI did it” is not an answer.
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Most technology problems are decision problemsA client came to me wanting to leave AWS to save money. They stayed, cut the bill by about 40%, and it taught me why most technology problems aren’t really technical.
Right now
What I’m focused on
Work
Leading technology at CDS — engineering strategy, delivery, and growing the technical team.
Writing
A new run of essays on making technology decisions and delivering with AI. Start with decision problems.
Thinking about
What has to be in place before a whole organisation can work this way safely. The data and security side is the part I’m still working out.
The route so far
Where I’ve worked
- 2025 – now CDS Director of Technology & Strategy
- 2022 – 2025 Burendo Consultant → Head of Services & Engineering
- 2021 – 2022 Accenture Managing Consultant
- 2017 – 2021 Infinity Works Senior Consultant → Account Lead
- 2009 – 2017 EMIS Tester → Principal Software Engineer in Test