Kao Data has added four strategic partners to its Critical Careers initiative, expanding the women in digital infrastructure programme into its second year.

AVK, Eversheds Sutherland, JLL and Mace Construct have joined founding strategic partner CBRE Data Centre Solutions in backing the scheme through 2026 and 2027. Spa Communications has also come on board as media partner.

Launched by the data centre operator to raise the profile of women working across digital infrastructure, Critical Careers has since developed into a broader platform spanning engineering, operations, sustainability, law, finance, real estate and executive leadership.

The enlarged partner group will support a wider programme of activity, including two new podcast seasons aimed at broadening the initiative’s reach across the sector.

In its first year, Critical Careers featured contributions from 30 women at 28 companies across six continents for its first book. A supporting digital platform generated more than 1.5 million impressions on LinkedIn.

The first podcast season also recorded thousands of downloads and delivered a conversion rate four times higher than the Spotify average. Its audience was 68 per cent female across the UK, US and continental Europe.

Industry reach

The programme reflects a wider push in the data centre market to address representation and recruitment as operators, suppliers and advisers compete for talent. As demand grows for skills in engineering, construction, operations and specialist support functions, digital infrastructure groups have increasingly sought to widen the pool of candidates entering the industry.

Critical Careers has positioned itself as a shared industry effort rather than a single-company campaign. According to Kao Data, the platform now brings together competing operators, hyperscalers, neoclouds and supply chain businesses around a common aim.

Lizzy McDowell, director of marketing at Kao Data and co-founder of Critical Careers, said the initiative’s role had grown well beyond its original scope.

“Critical Careers began as a genuine celebration of women in digital infrastructure, and the response across the industry made it clear that the work had a role to play well beyond any single organisation. Having CBRE Data Centre Solutions, AVK, Eversheds Sutherland, JLL and Mace Construct as strategic partners provides us with the endorsement needed to expand the Critical Careers mission, who it reaches, how it shapes the industry’s future and the lasting impact we can have,” McDowell said.

Visibility and hiring

The initiative has already influenced recruitment, with women moving into digital infrastructure roles after engaging with its content. That points to an effort to use storytelling and career visibility to attract applicants who may not otherwise have considered the sector.

Joyce Wady, creative director of Critical Careers, said visibility remains central to that approach.

“Through the conversations I’ve had with women across the Critical Careers books and podcast, one thing has become very clear. Access to this industry does not start with a job description, it starts with visibility. When you can see what careers in digital infrastructure actually look like, including the roles, journeys and people behind them, it becomes much easier to imagine yourself within it.

What we are doing with Critical Careers is turning that visibility into belief. By opening up how careers really take shape, we are challenging outdated perceptions and showing that women belong in this industry and are already building long-term, successful careers within it. The more visible these stories become, the more realistic and achievable that future is for others coming through,” Wady said.

The addition of legal, property, construction and technical service groups to the partner roster also underlines how data centre recruitment extends beyond core engineering and operations roles. As campuses expand and projects become more complex, companies across the supply chain are seeking workers in disciplines ranging from development and real estate to compliance and project delivery.

For Kao Data, the broader coalition gives Critical Careers backing from several parts of that ecosystem at a time when the digital infrastructure industry is under pressure to show it can attract a more diverse workforce. The initiative’s first-year audience figures and the addition of five backers suggest that message is gaining wider support across the sector.

Stagecoach has announced one new express route, and changes to three buses ahead of the summer.

Starting from May 31, residents can expect changes to service 10, 12, and 13 in the city, as well as a new express route.

The bus company has introduced service 9, a new clockwise express route.

The bus will be running every 30 minutes serving East Oxford.

Starting from Speedwell Street, it will provide connections to St Clement’s Street, Headington Road, the John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, The Slade, Hollow Way and Cowley Road before terminating back at Speedwell Street.

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Meanwhile service 10 will become an anti‑clockwise express route, running every 30 minutes.

Starting from Speedwell Street, it will provide connections to Cowley Road, Hollow Way, the Slade, Headington, the John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington Road, and St Clement’s Street before terminating back at Speedwell Street.

Service 12 will run every 30 minutes from Speedwell Street to Horspath Road, via Cowley Road, Templars Square and Hollow Way.

Service 13 will run every 30 minutes from Speedwell Street to Barns Road, via St Clement’s Street, Headington Road, the John Radcliffe Hospital and Headington, Wood Farm, Hollow Way, and Templars Square, terminating at Kersington Crescent.

Some morning and evening services will also serve Blackbird Leys, for customers commuting to the John Radcliffe Hospital.

Intuitive Machines is set to acquire Goonhilly, subject to UK regulatory approval, leaving the Cornwall-based company as a UK entity under US ownership.

The deal also includes Goonhilly USA, known as COMSAT, and would add 44 antennas to Intuitive Machines’ existing network. The combined business would continue to run Goonhilly’s operations from Cornwall while linking them with COMSAT’s teleport sites in Connecticut and California.

Goonhilly has built its business around lunar and deep space communications, a niche drawing growing attention as government agencies and private operators increase activity beyond Earth orbit. It says it has supported more than 20 missions since entering the commercial market for these services in 2021, including work for NASA, the European Space Agency, ispace and Intuitive Machines.

Its role in Intuitive Machines’ recent lunar missions appears to have helped underpin the transaction. In 2024 and 2025, Goonhilly supported the US group’s IM-1 and IM-2 missions, giving the two companies an established operational relationship before the takeover agreement.

The move gives Intuitive Machines a direct presence in the UK space sector and adds a ground station business with experience in communications for spacecraft operating beyond geostationary orbit. Alongside deep space links, Goonhilly and COMSAT also provide satellite ground station services and radio frequency-based space domain awareness work for security-focused customers.

Growing demand

The transaction comes as operators across the space sector seek more ground infrastructure to maintain contact with spacecraft over greater distances and for longer missions. Deep space communications networks remain a specialised part of the market, but they are becoming more important as lunar missions increase and more companies pursue sustained operations around and on the Moon.

For the UK, the deal keeps one of the country’s better-known space assets in Cornwall while placing it within a larger US group. The business would retain its UK status after the acquisition rather than moving operations overseas.

That point was central to the reaction from ministers. “Goonhilly Earth Station is a uniquely British success story, and this acquisition by Intuitive Machines, subject to regulatory approval, is a testament to the world-class capabilities it has built right here in Cornwall, where it will remain.

Combining Goonhilly’s expertise in lunar and deep space communications with Intuitive Machines’ global reach and resources has the potential to bring new investment, new jobs and new opportunities for the UK space sector,” said Liz Lloyd, UK space minister.

Management reaction

Goonhilly’s leadership described the transaction as the next stage in a long-standing partnership between the two businesses. “Having worked closely with Intuitive Machines for many years, we’re delighted to be taking this transformative step in our relationship,” said Kenn Herskind, executive chairman of Goonhilly. “Both our companies are playing an increasingly important commercial role in the future of space exploration and utilisation – we’re excited to shape that reality together.”

For Intuitive Machines, the purchase broadens the ground segment of its business as spacecraft operators seek more integrated support. “Customers rely on resilient connectivity and communication as they establish a Moon base and deep space environments,” said Steve Altemus, co-founder and chief executive of Intuitive Machines. “Goonhilly provided deep ground station and communications expertise and technological prowess during our IM-1 and IM-2 missions and also proven on missions for NASA, ESA, and many other leaders. Together with COMSAT’s secure teleport infrastructure, brings critical strength to the space-to-ground network our customers depend on to operate their spacecraft.”

Cornwall base

Goonhilly is focused on maintaining continuity for existing customers during the ownership change. That matters because ground station services are part of operational mission support, and interruptions can affect command, control and data handling for spacecraft operators.

The business traces its identity to the historic Goonhilly Earth Station site in Cornwall, long associated with satellite communications in the UK. In recent years, it has repositioned itself around newer space markets, including lunar communications and tracking services for missions beyond standard commercial satellite orbits.

The proposed takeover reflects a wider industry trend as operators seek to combine spacecraft, network and ground assets under common ownership. For Intuitive Machines, buying Goonhilly and COMSAT would extend that model with infrastructure in both the UK and the US, and deepen its reach into commercial, civil and security-related communications work.

Upon completion, Goonhilly will continue operating from Cornwall and will keep working closely with the COMSAT teleports in Connecticut and California.