Ninjeri ‘Nin’ Pandit was once described by Dominic Cummings as one of “the brilliant women around the table” who would have done the job of prime minister “10 times better” than Boris Johnson.
This was high praise from a man who is thought to have navigated Johnson’s route to Downing Street before the pair spectacularly fell out.
In October, when prime minster Sir Keir Starmer’s then chief of staff Sue Gray resigned, Pandit was one of the people bought into Starmer’s inner circle to bring stability to the government which had been rocked by rows over his acceptance of lavish gifts and hospitality.
Gray was replaced by Morgan McSweeney, who was Starmer's chief adviser and masterminded Labour’s general election campaign. There were two new deputy chiefs of staff in Vidhya Alakeson and Jill Cuthbertson whilst Pandit was appointed the prime minister’s principal private secretary.
One of the so-called “golden triangle” of senior civil service roles alongside the cabinet secretary and the monarch's private secretary, Pandit will provide a key link with other departments, as well as the Palace.
At the time of her appointment, Matt Clifford, the prime minister’s adviser on AI opportunities said Pandit was “extremely smart and effective - and really gets AI and tech. Excited to see this appointment”.
Pandit was previously director of the Downing Street policy unit and, prior to that, led the No10 delivery unit's health and social care team.
She is only the second woman to hold the position of head of the prime minister’s private office, following Elizabeth Perelman, who worked with former prime minister Rishi Sunak.
Throughout her career, the 39-year-old has advocated for women to be hired in leadership roles.
She told the Guardian in 2015, “Unfortunately, women have not yet reached all echelons of senior management, executive teams or IT departments. I hope to be part of the cohort that changes that.”
Pandit started working in technology in the NHS at the age of 24. At the time she said she could “count on one finger the number of women in my organisation’s IT department’s senior management team”.
“Regardless of whether you’re a tween dreaming of changing the world one hit song at a time, or a starry eyed 24-year old entering the workforce or returning to work after maternity leave, we all need a role model. Someone that we can identify with, someone who looks like us, who inspires us, who is paving the way for us and most importantly, who is accessible to us,” she said.
Pandit led the development of the UK's first electronic health and care records. And then served as chief of staff and lead policy advisor to NHS England's chief executive at the time Simon Stevens (now Lord Stevens).
During her time at the NHS, Pandit saw an organisation that evolved into one “surrounded by a new wave of pioneering women embracing the technology sphere.”
She revealed these women moved beyond a traditional, purely systems and technically driven approach to IT, to an approach that is grounded in the impact technology can have on people’s lives.
“It’s an approach that is focused on understanding the problems that need to be solved in detail and identifying, with end users, what solutions can be identified,” she told the Guardian.
“This wave is passionate about fundamentally improving the experience and lives of people first and foremost and drawing upon the technology as the means for this transformation.
“The women leading this are not from the same cookie-cutter and don’t embody the stereotypical IT crowd disposition. These women are accessible and demonstrate that a career in technology does not need to start in a garage with a mainframe.”
Having graduated with a science degree and followed it up with a master’s in social psychology, Pandit admitted that she hadn’t initially considered a career in the technology sector and was instead focused on a policy-based role.
However, once she started working on implementing electronic personal health records for mental health service users which then led a collaboration to promote information transparency across London, she saw the impact she could have in the technology sector.
“It was clear that I would be able to follow in the footsteps of women who have challenged, fought and stood up for our right to be at the table in a field that is so monopolised by men,” she said.
Pandit hopes the success of female leaders in the NHS can lead to similar progress in other sectors that embrace technology.
She believed it was a collective responsibility to change the workforce statistics and create a representative and diverse workforce.
“I hope that the intersection of humanities with digital and the growing networks of accessible role models will inspire confidence in a greater number of women to enter into the technology sector, at all levels and disciplines,” she added.
