Dext appoints Young and Wood to UK leadership team

Dext has appointed Sendi Young as UK and Ireland General Manager and Sam Wood as Product Domain Expert, expanding its UK leadership team.

Young will lead the business in the UK and Ireland. Wood joins from HMRC to help shape product direction in areas including e-invoicing and Making Tax Digital. The appointments come as accounting software providers respond to changes in tax reporting rules and the growing use of artificial intelligence in bookkeeping and finance administration.

Wood's move is notable because he worked on the UK's tax modernisation programme inside government before joining a software supplier serving accounting firms and bookkeepers. At HMRC, he spent nearly seven years on the wider tax transformation agenda before moving to the Making Tax Digital programme in 2021.

There, he worked with tax agents and software developers, including Dext, on policy and design for the mandate. He later led taxpayer readiness ahead of the launch of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, which brought millions of sole traders and landlords into digital record-keeping and quarterly reporting.

Before joining government, Wood had already used Dext in practice. He is an ICAEW-qualified accountant and previously led the rollout of cloud software, including Dext, at Blu Sky Chartered Accountants before becoming the firm's Innovations Director.

Chief Executive Officer Sabby Gill linked the hires to wider changes in the market.

"AI, MTD for Income Tax and e-invoicing are changing what UK accountants, bookkeepers and businesses need from their software. But our focus stays the same: keeping people in control while AI takes on the repetitive admin, giving them time back to spend on higher-value work. That's exactly why we've brought Sendi and Sam onto the team. Sendi brings two decades of experience building and scaling commercial organisations across payments and fintech, from Mastercard to Ripple and Modulr. Sam has helped shape Making Tax Digital from inside the government, and he's used Dext himself as a practising accountant," Gill said.

Commercial brief

Young brings about 20 years of experience in financial technology and payments. Most recently, she was interim Chief Commercial Officer at Modulr, where she led the commercial organisation during a period of change.

Earlier in her career, she spent three years as Managing Director for UK and Europe at Ripple and five years at Mastercard, where she worked with banks and financial technology firms in payments and data. She is also an independent non-executive director of Fnality UK and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

At Dext, her initial priorities will include helping accounting practices navigate Making Tax Digital and the increasing use of newer products such as Payments and AI Assist. She will also focus on helping existing customers get more value from the platform and expanding adoption among accounting and bookkeeping firms.

Young highlighted the importance of the sector Dext serves.

"Accountants and bookkeepers are the finance team behind much of the UK and Ireland's small-business economy, and Dext has built an incredibly strong position by helping them spend less time on manual work and more time adding value for their clients. With AI, Making Tax Digital and e-invoicing changing the profession, there is a real opportunity to make their work simpler, faster and more valuable. I'm delighted to be joining a team with such a strong product and such loyal customers. My first priority is to listen to our customers, partners and team, and then work together to build the next phase of Dext's growth," Young said.

Product focus

Wood's appointment gives Dext someone with both policy and practice experience as software companies adapt to a more digital tax system. His remit includes bringing the views of tax agents and software developers into product decisions.

He will work on the company's roadmap across areas including e-invoicing, Making Tax Digital and the broader shift towards a more automated, real-time tax environment in the UK. Those issues are becoming more important for accountants and bookkeepers as reporting obligations change and clients seek more up-to-date financial information.

Dext has built its business around automating bookkeeping tasks such as extracting data from receipts, invoices and bank statements, and connecting those records with accounting systems. It says it works with more than 12,000 accounting and bookkeeping firms and 700,000 businesses worldwide, processing more than 350 million documents each year.

Dext has been part of IRIS Software Group since 2024. The latest appointments suggest it wants deeper commercial leadership in its home market while strengthening product expertise around tax digitisation and invoicing reform.

Wood said his experience as both a user of the software and a former HMRC official shaped his decision to join.

"I've used Dext since my days at Blu Sky, so I've seen first-hand what it does for a firm's day-to-day work. That's actually part of why this move feels right. Having spent the last few years helping shape Making Tax Digital from inside the government, I'm excited to bring that perspective into how Dext's products evolve, especially with MTD for Income Tax live and e-invoicing on the way. I want to hear directly from agents and businesses about what would make the biggest difference to them. That's where I'm starting," Wood said.