The people behind the technology

Every day, people around the world rely on RELX technology - often without seeing the expertise that makes it possible.

They trust that the information they need will be there when they need it. That applications will respond quickly during critical moments. That AI will deliver accurate answers. That digital experiences will be intuitive, reliable and secure.

Those outcomes don't happen by accident.

More than 12,000 technologists, over half of whom are software engineers, work at RELX, continually refining products, experimenting with emerging technologies and solving problems to make life easier for customers. Their work is often invisible, but its impact is felt by customers every day.

We recently spoke to some of these people to reveal their experiences of working in technology at such an exciting moment in time. Although they work in different RELX businesses, use different technologies and support different customers, their stories reveal something they all have in common: a commitment to solving real problems and delivering meaningful value.

Turning ideas into solutions

Enodi Audu's journey into software engineering has taken her from Nigeria, through early-stage startups in the US, and now to the UK-based AI Research team of aviation analytics business Cirium, part of Risk. That variety of experience has shaped how she approaches solving problems - always with the end user in mind. Currently her primary focus is on developing an AI-enabled tool to produce customer-ready, working prototypes in days rather than months. By accelerating experimentation, teams can validate ideas more quickly, gather feedback earlier and bring better solutions to customers faster.

Listening to users is central to that process. After hearing requests for better visibility of changes made to prototypes, Enodi helped develop a version history feature that allows users to track changes, compare different versions, restore earlier work and identify who made specific updates.

"After deploying these changes, we observed a noticeable boost in users' confidence when using the tool."

One moment still stands out. After demonstrating the tool to a user, he later told Enodi's manager that he had finally "seen the light." Turning a sceptical user into an enthusiastic advocate, Enodi says, felt like a significant win for the whole team.

That experience reinforced something she sees every day: successful technology isn't just about building new capabilities - it's about giving people the confidence to explore ideas, learn quickly and improve continuously.

The impact extends well beyond her own team.

"My work helps product managers, UX designers, and solution consultants get prototypes in front of customers quickly - solving real customer problems faster, delivering clear value for them, and driving revenue growth for Cirium."

"I’m not just building an AI-enabled tool - I’m helping create the next generation of solutions that will drive growth at RELX and influence the way we work."

Building trust through reliability

Customers rarely think about engineering when an application works perfectly - and Jaikishore Balasubramanian hopes they never have to. Most users will never know the work he's done - and that's exactly the point. Behind every smooth transaction is careful testing, thoughtful analysis and countless decisions that ensure systems remain fast, reliable and resilient when people need them most.

As a Performance Test Engineer for Risk, based in Chennai, Jaikishore spends his days ensuring government applications continue performing reliably under heavy demand. Away from work, he's an enthusiastic cricketer who enjoys the challenge of reading the game, anticipating what might happen next and looking for any small opprtunities others might miss. It's a mindset that carries naturally into his work, where identifying potential performance issues before users ever experience them is all part of the job.

One project challenged Jaikishore and his team to answer what sounds like a simple question: how much cloud capacity does an application really need? More computing power can improve performance, but beyond a certain point it simply adds cost without delivering meaningful benefits. Through multiple rounds of testing, analysis and collaboration with colleagues, Jaikishore helped identify the sweet spot - ensuring the application remained fast and reliable without overprovisioning resources.

"Customers may never see the performance testing behind the scenes, but they absolutely feel the difference - in quicker responses, smoother experiences, and greater confidence in the systems they rely on every day."

Jaikishore also sees innovation as an opportunity to improve the way teams work. By exploring AI-powered testing tools, automating repetitive tasks and experimenting with new approaches, he's helping colleagues spend less time on manual processes and more time solving meaningful problems.

"Technology and innovation aren't just about shiny new tools - they're about making life easier for teams and building systems that work better for everyone."

For Jaikishore, that's what performance engineering is ultimately about.

"I'm not just writing code or analysing data - I'm protecting trust. Behind every smooth transaction is careful testing, smart decisions, and a lot of work to make systems people rely on feel effortless."

Enodi Audu

Jaikishore Balasubramanian

Shayla Carter

Hiral Gajjar

Graeme Sacks

Making AI more effective

When Shayla Carter joined RELX just weeks after graduating from university, she expected it would take time before she was contributing to products used by real customers. Instead, she quickly found herself working on backend systems at Elsevier that play an important role in improving the quality of AI itself.

Although customers never see the databases and application logic she develops, they benefit from the improvements they enable. One of Shayla's first major projects involved redesigning an ageing data export system after listening carefully to feedback from users. The result was a simpler, more flexible solution that provides richer information today while making it easier to add new capabilities in the future.

For Shayla, every technical improvement contributes towards a much bigger objective.

"The product I work on right now helps us make more accurate AI tools. An AI tool is only as good as its responses, and our product allows subject matter experts to test and give feedback on our AI tools, to ensure they give the best responses possible."

Whether she's improving security, fixing bugs, increasing performance or developing new features, she sees every contribution as helping create better outcomes for customers.

"Everything I work on is in service of that end, and every little bit of effort counts."

For Shayla, one of the moments she'll remember most wasn't writing the code - it was waiting after the product launched. After months of development and weeks of testing, there was still that nagging feeling that something might have been missed. Instead, the release went exactly as hoped: no crashes, no unexpected bugs, just a product working exactly as it should.

"I’m not just writing code - I’m contributing to a system, helping my squad to improve our product, and helping others through the products we create."

Helping professionals work smarter

For Hiral Gajjar, technology is most valuable when it helps customers spend less time searching for information and more time acting on it.

Having begun her software engineering career in India's fintech sector before joining RELX in London in 2021, Hiral now helps Legal develop an AI platform that allows tax professionals to quickly find reliable answers from large volumes of complex information. Her role combines software engineering with close collaboration across product and engineering teams, ensuring that every feature is grounded in a clear understanding of what customers need and how they work.

One project that stands out involved transforming an experimental workflow capability into a production-ready feature within an ambitious timeframe. The work demanded close collaboration, rapid problem-solving and a willingness to adapt as new challenges emerged.

"It started as a prototype, but we had to make it production-ready in a very short time. It wasn't straightforward, especially because the timeline was tight and deployment was also challenging. But we worked through the problems and were able to get it into a much better and more stable state."

Alongside developing customer-facing features, Hiral is also experimenting with AI coding tools to improve productivity while maintaining the quality and reliability customers expect.

"The main idea is to see how AI can help me write good quality code faster, with less manual effort, while still making sure the final code is reliable and ready for production."

For Hiral, learning is continuous - not only in developing technical expertise, but also in building stronger partnerships with colleagues and taking greater ownership of delivering solutions that make a real difference for customers.

"I’m not just writing code - I’m helping build AI tools that make complex information easier to understand and faster to use."

Helping teams deliver better experiences

For Graeme Sacks, creating great technology starts with creating the right environment for the people building it.

Based in Richmond, UK, Graeme has spent much of his career at RX, returning after a brief spell elsewhere convinced that the grass wasn't greener after all. Today, as an Engineering Manager, he leads the teams responsible for the systems that power registration and ecommerce across RX events. Some days are spent supporting and coaching his team, others are focused on architecture and design, and occasionally he still enjoys getting hands-on to build a proof of concept himself.

One area where that hands-on experience has proved valuable is AI. Recognising that teams were experimenting with AI in different ways, Graeme and his colleagues developed a prototype centralised AI platform to help engineers work more productively. Early results have been encouraging, and the platform is now being expanded to support a wider group across the programme.

For customers, the impact is often felt much earlier in their journey than they might realise. Registration is usually the first interaction people have with an RX event, so Graeme's team is continually looking for ways to make that experience simpler and more useful. One upcoming enhancement will allow customers to purchase selected add-on products as part of registration, creating a more convenient and personalised experience from the very beginning.

As technology evolves, Graeme is equally focused on helping his team evolve with it, so for him, the achievement he's proudest of isn't a technical feature.

"I’m most proud of how I’ve helped develop the team and retained our talent. As I’ve grown into my role, I’ve made mistakes, learned from them and discovered what works best to encourage a team that’s motivated, supported and that delivers great work."

Having never imagined himself moving into management when he first joined RX, Graeme now sees leadership as the place where he can make the biggest difference - not just for the people in his team, but ultimately for the customers they serve.

"I’m not just managing a team, I’m focused on ensuring our programme is delivering the best possible outcomes for RX and our customers."

One mindset, many technologies

Although these five technologists work in different businesses, their stories reveal remarkable similarities.

Every one of them is embracing emerging technologies - not simply because they're new, but because they help remove repetitive work, improve quality and create more time to focus on what matters most: delivering better outcomes for customers.

The people behind every product

Customers never see the code reviews, the performance testing, the database changes, the deployment pipelines or the countless conversations that shape every new feature. They don't see the experimentation with AI coding tools or the collaboration between engineers, product managers, designers and customer-facing teams that happens long before a product reaches their screen.

What they do experience is confidence, in applications that respond quickly when they matter most, AI that delivers more accurate answers, products that are intuitive to use, information that is easier to find. In short, technology they can trust.

Behind every one of those experiences are people like Enodi, Jaikishore, Shayla, Hiral and Graeme - along with thousands of other technologists across RELX who bring curiosity, collaboration and continuous learning to work every day.

Different RELX businesses. Different technologies. Different customers - But one shared purpose: To build products that solve real problems, create lasting value and help customers make better decisions every day.