STEPHANIE “STEVE” SHIRLEY

Software Matriarch 
Founder of Freelance Programmers and philanthropist whose female-led, home-based computing transformed tech and opened doors for women in the 1960s

Dame Stephanie “Steve” Shirley broke the rules, then rewrote them.

In 1962, she founded Freelance Programmers, hiring almost exclusively women who worked from home while raising families—decades before flexible work was a thing.

Born in Germany in 1933, she fled the Nazis as a child on the Kindertransport, later building a company that would launch careers like Ann Moffat, who programmed the Concorde’s black box flight recorder. Of the first 300 staff, 297 were women. While the UK centralised the computing industry and tried to push women to the sidelines, Steve proved you could run a tech empire with empathy, generosity, and innovation.

Birth:
1933-2025

Nationality:
British (born in Germany)

Career path:
Joined the UK scientific civil service at 18, working on wave guides, transatlantic telephone cables, and the premium bond computer ERNIE

Founded Freelance Programmers in 1962 with £6 of her own capital, determined to make a software business women would enjoy working in

Became a celebrated philanthropist, donating most of her fortune to autism research and IT education
Honoured with Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (2000) and Companion of Honour (2017)