Claire Gillespie

Digital Economy Skills Planning Manager, Skills Development Scotland

Claire has worked in the skills sector for over 20 years and within digital technology skills since 2014 when Skills Development Scotland launched the first Skills Investment Plan for the tech sector. The overarching aim is to support employers to fill the 13,000 digital technology jobs in Scotland each year.

Claire works closely with Scottish Government, and her team is currently a delivery partner for Scottish Governments Digital Start Fund, the Digital Economy Units digital skills programme, and the Safer Communities Cyber Resilience Skills Action Plan.

To deliver on these actions, Claire leads a small team who works with technology employers to influence digital skills education, and where appropriate to develop additional interventions in response to employer need. Projects which the team have led the development of include CodeClan, Digital Xtra which supports coding clubs for young people, and Discover Cyber Careers which streams live cyber lessons into schools.

Claire is Law graduate of the University of Strathclyde and has a Degree in Business and Entrepreneurship Studies from the University of West of Scotland.