From leading CRM teams at major retailers to helping some of the world’s biggest brands unlock the commercial potential of AI, Catherine Frame has built her career by combining hands-on retail experience with a deep understanding of technology. Now Director of Retail Solutions at UiPath, she specialises in helping retailers turn AI into measurable commercial outcomes.

In this edition of Commerce Voices: Women in Commerce, Catherine reflects on her career journey, the leadership lessons that have shaped her, why women should champion one another, and how agentic AI is transforming retail.

Tell us about your role and career journey so far.

I am Director of Retail Solutions at UiPath – leading the positioning, go-to-market strategy, and commercial growth of UiPath’s retail AI products, while working directly with some of the world’s most recognisable retailers to help them get real value from the technology. 

Before joining Peak (now UiPath), I was on the other side of the table entirely, leading the CRM team at Footasylum, where I was actually a Peak customer. That experience of being a retailer and understanding the commercial pressures trading teams face day to day, turned out to be one of the most valuable things I brought with me when I made the move. 

I joined Peak in 2021 as a Customer Success Manager and built from there by saying yes to every opportunity. That took me through customer intelligence, where I deepened my understanding of how data drives trading decisions. I then moved into product marketing, where I learned to translate complex technology into something retailers could understand and act on. From there, I progressed into the Marketing Director role, where I led and drove Peak’s marketing function globally. 

When Peak was acquired by UiPath in 2025, that transition brought me into a global enterprise and opened the door to the role I had been building towards without knowing it. Retail is where I found my niche. It is fast, commercial, and full of people who care deeply about the customer and it is being transformed in ways I find genuinely exciting to be part of. 

What achievement are you most proud of?

Leading a team through a major acquisition and delivering the strongest marketing results in the company’s history – at the same time. I oversaw over 100 press hits, 16 international events, 400+ assets, and three major agentic AI product launches, all while the business was going through one of its most complex structural changes. 

Today, I lead the retail function, connecting UiPath’s technology to retailers across a global enterprise and helping them understand not just what the products do, but what they make possible commercially. That work is still in its early chapters. Watch this space because my next proudest achievement is very much in progress. 

What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned during your career?

That mistakes handled in the open make teams stronger – and that hiding them does the opposite. Early in my career I accidentally deleted an entire database. I was terrified, so I spent two days fixing it alone in silence. When I finally told my manager – quickly adding “but it’s okay, I’ve fixed it”, he did not reprimand

me for the error. He asked why I had done it on my own. He told me a team exists to support you through fixing mistakes, not to judge you for making them. 

That conversation changed everything about how I lead my team. I have zero tolerance for cultures where people hide problems out of fear. Psychological safety – the genuine belief that you can raise your hand when something goes wrong – is one of the most commercially valuable things a leader can build. I learned that the hard way, very early. I have never forgotten it. 

Have you faced any challenges as a woman in the industry?

Honestly, the biggest challenge I have faced has not always come from where people might expect. Some of the most exceptional support in my career has come from men – managers, peers, and colleagues who backed me, advocated for me, and gave me opportunities without hesitation. 

The more uncomfortable truth is that the challenge I have noticed most is a lack of women genuinely championing other women. Not universally, I have had brilliant female allies too. But there is a pattern in this industry, and in others, where women can fall into seeing each other as competition rather than as allies. It is understandable, especially when there are few seats at the table, scarcity thinking sets in. But it is also something we have to be honest about if we want to change it. 

The women who have shaped this industry have not done it by protecting their position. They have done it by bringing others with them. That is the standard I try to hold myself to and the shift I would most like to see become the norm. 

What advice would you give to women looking to build a career in commerce or technology?

Say yes before you feel ready. The version of you that waits until you feel fully prepared will wait a very long time. The version that backs herself and figures it out along the way will build something remarkable. 

Do not wait for a linear path to appear. Mine went through customer success, product strategy, product marketing, and commercial leadership before I became a director. None of it was planned. All of it was useful. Every role taught me something the next one needed. 

Find people who will say your name in rooms you are not in yet – and when you get into those rooms, do the same for others. The women I have seen stall in their careers are often the ones who were talented but invisible. Visibility is not vanity. It is a valuable strategy. And finally, do not let your starting point become your ceiling. I came from a working class background with no blueprint. I intend to reach C-suite level and tell my children I did it. That ambition is allowed. Yours is too. 

Who has inspired or influenced your career?

The people who have influenced me most have not been famous names or keynote speakers. They have been the individuals I have worked alongside and for throughout my career – managers who backed me before I had earned it on paper, colleagues who challenged my thinking, and customers who trusted me enough to let me into their world properly.

Early in my career someone gave me an opportunity I did not feel ready for and did not make a big deal of it. That act of quiet confidence in me shaped how I think about developing others more than any leadership book ever has. Later, the retailers I worked with directly – understanding the real commercial pressures they faced, the decisions they wrestled with, the pace they operated at – influenced how I approach my work every single day. 

I have also been shaped by the people I manage. Seeing someone grow in confidence, step into a role they were not sure they could handle, and then excel keeps me motivated. Leadership is a two way street. The people around you influence who you become as much as you influence them. 

What excites you most about the future of commerce?

We are moving from AI that informs decisions to AI that makes them. That shift is going to change everything about how retail operates. The next era is agentic commerce: technology that does not just surface an insight and wait for a human to act, but takes autonomous action within guardrails the business sets and trusts. the decisions that consume enormous amounts of retailer time and energy, handled at a speed and scale no human team can match. 

But what excites me just as much is what is happening on the consumer side. The way people discover and search for products is changing fundamentally – from typed keywords to conversational queries, visual search, and AI-powered recommendations that meet the customer where they are rather than waiting for them to come looking. Retailers who understand that shift and respond to it will build relationships with customers that feel genuinely personal. Those who do not will find themselves increasingly invisible. 

The convergence of those two things – agentic operations on the inside, radically changing customer behaviour on the outside – is what makes this such a fascinating moment to be working in retail technology. The retailers who thrive will be the ones who move fast, stay curious, and are willing to fundamentally rethink how they operate. 

What’s one thing you’d like to see change in the industry?

The industry has come a long way in recognising that diverse talent and non-linear career paths bring real commercial value, but there is still more to do. Commerce and technology are evolving faster than almost any other sector, and the people best placed to drive that evolution are not always coming through the traditional routes. I would like to see more businesses actively creating pathways for people who have built their expertise differently – whether that is through cross-functional moves, unconventional backgrounds, or simply a willingness to learn fast in roles they were not quite ready for. 

The most effective teams I have been part of have always been the ones where different perspectives were genuinely valued. That does not happen by accident. It takes intentional hiring, intentional development, and leaders who are willing to back people before they have ticked every box. The industry that does that consistently will be the one that attracts the best talent and builds the most interesting things. 

Quick Fire

Coffee or tea? Tea always!

Most-used app? Vinted – love a bargain!

Favourite AI tool?  Claude – we’re very much best friends at this point.

A brand you admire? SharkNinja – random but their products are so innovative and they are exceptional at reading customer demand. 

A woman in business everyone should follow?

Aimee Smale – young women doing exceptionally exciting things. 

One word to describe the future of commerce? Limitless