Jade Denby is Head of Digital PR at Marketing Signals, a search and AI marketing agency, with over 15 years’ experience delivering high-impact PR strategies for blue-chip and e-commerce brands.
She specialises in search-first digital PR, data-driven link building, and embedding AI into media workflows, and regularly shares insights on outreach tactics and industry trends.
I spent eight years at a media agency, working long hours and facing a heavy commute.
For a long time, it worked for me. Until it didn’t.
After lockdown, the push to return to the office grew, and most days felt like a step backwards from everything we had just learned about working flexibly. When my son turned two, I sat down and did the honest maths: the commute, the childcare costs, and the hours away from home I would never get back. Looking ahead to when he would start school, the trade-off simply stopped making sense.
So I left and moved to a remote-first role, and it completely reshaped how I saw my future in tech.
A better way to measure success
Today, I am Head of Digital PR at Marketing Signals, leading a team of four remotely on a four-day week.
The biggest shift wasn’t just having every other Friday and Monday off, although that is a massive change. It was being judged on output rather than presenteeism. In an office-first culture, sitting at a desk can easily be mistaken for commitment; you stay late, you are seen, and that visibility gets rewarded. But remote-first working strips that away. The evaluation becomes far simpler: did you deliver great work, and did you support your team?
At Marketing Signals, that flexibility goes well beyond working from a spare room. It means true location independence, the ability to work from anywhere, whether that’s a different city, a quiet café, or even abroad or from a staycation, and setting hours around our real lives and peak productivity times. As long as client needs are met and communication is strong, we own our schedules, and that level of autonomy has been absolutely transformative.
This culture shift is the only reason why I’m still in this industry. It’s allowed me to push my career forward while being present at home for my son. Neither has had to come at the expense of the other.
Why this matters for women in tech
I know I’m not alone, too. Many women reach a point where the cost of a rigid, office-based role outweighs the benefit, particularly when family care comes into play. Too often, the default option presented to us is to step back, take a junior role, or leave the industry altogether.
Remote-first working offers a real alternative. It allows you to keep building your skills, lead teams, and stay ambitious without sacrificing your life outside of work.
If you’re weighing up your options, here’s what helped me make the leap into a remote role and why this culture shift ultimately helped me thrive as a woman in tech:
- Do the honest maths – Look at the true cost of your current routine. Add up the money, time, energy, and moments you lose to a commute. Seeing the trade-off on paper makes your decision much clearer.
- Ask how success is measured – In interviews, ask how performance is actually assessed. Is it based on output, or hours logged online? The answer will tell you everything about the company culture. Ask if you can work flexibly around your energy levels or location, or if remote still means fixed 9-to-5 desk tracking.
- Refuse to see flexibility as a step down – Working remotely or doing a four-day week is not a compromise. When done right, it gives you the space to excel at work and thrive at home.
For me, remote-first culture is not a perk, nor is it a compromise. It’s the reason I’m still in this industry, still ambitious, still growing my skills, and still leading a team.
