Cressida is a Software Development Manager in the Amazon Cambridge Development Center. She considers the group of engineers she works with like a family. “Everyone here is proactive, full of ideas and fun to work with,” Cressida explains. “The company ethos really favors fun, talented team players and encourages people to learn and grow every day.”

She manages a small team that gets to work on exciting new products. They also get the opportunity to develop their own product ideas. “It’s hard to imagine that working anywhere else would give projects of the same potential scope – we really are trying to change the world here, not just sell books,” says Cressida.

Their day job is writing embedded software algorithms for products, but they keep learning new things as well. In the past couple of years, Cressida and her team have worked in a Fulfillment Centre, visited the London fashion studio and started to learn about product design, user interface, prototype building, robotics and more. “There’s definitely a part of me that loves being ‘in’ on secret projects before they make it to the market, and having a chance to shape them and make them into magical products is a great thing to be paid to do!” she adds.

When she is not at work, you can find Cressida designing and making her own stained glass windows. She also confesses that she loves biking: “I’m a complete sucker for Silly Commuting Racing http://www.itsnotarace.org/” Commuters to Amazon Cambridge Development Center, you are warned! Cressida can get quite competitive about not being overtaken. “I probably should consider not racing other commuters in high heels though!” she laughs.