Whitespace, a UK company that builds AI for defence and government, has hired former Meta product manager Mike Howard as its chief product officer.

He will set the direction for its products and build the team behind them as the company prepares for its next funding round.

Mike Howard has worked in technology and data for more than 20 years. At Meta, he helped grow an engineering team in London to about 100 people, first working on the technology itself and later leading on product. Earlier in his career, he spent time at Deloitte, analysing data and building financial models.

He joins as Whitespace tries to grow its main product, an AI platform called Collective. The software learns how an organisation works and uses that knowledge to help its staff make decisions more quickly.

So far, much of that work has been in defence. Whitespace says it has contracts with the UK Ministry of Defence and NATO.

Last year, it also agreed to build AI software for the military with Defence Holdings, a listed company. It now wants to sell Collective to government departments, banks and healthcare providers as well.

“If an organisation can make better, faster and smarter decisions than its competitors, or enemies, it wins,” said chief executive and co-founder Paul Jenkinson.

Jenkinson said the company had spent a decade building technology for some of the most demanding settings and now wants to take that experience to customers around the world. Howard, he added, will help it grow both its products and the team that builds them.

The company, which was founded in Belfast in 2015, raised a £10m ($13m) Series A in November 2025 from Beach Equity and White Cloud, UKTN reported at the time. It is now preparing to raise a Series B.

Whitespace calls itself a sovereign AI company, meaning its technology is built and controlled in the UK. Other European defence AI companies include the much larger Helsing.

“AI is closing the distance between idea and execution,” Howard said.