Ruby Parker is a spymaster at MI-7.
In the cloak and dagger world that Parker inhabits, most people still believe that the two British intelligence agencies, MI5 for internal security and MI-6 for external intel gathering, are still separate but in reality, they all work under the same umbrella and Parker is one of the holders of that instrument.
This has to be considered phenomenal because in the Intelligence community, the top positions across the board have been routinely controlled by white men. She is a black woman. Further remarkable is that most in authority got there by way of knowing someone or having helped someone at the right time in the right way and as a result got a seat at the table. She got there because she was gutsy and tough and had enough successes that some man could not steal credit for that people had to notice her.
She is not alone, though. She is known "in some quarters as the Red Maiden". According to Parker, MI-7 is made up of a number of 'levels'. The White Maiden operates what the public sees as MI-5 and MI-6. Under her are the Red, Blue, Grey, and Black Maidens. Although that sounds like they are all female, she points out it is a title, not a denotation of sex. The part of the Red Maiden, in this case Parker, in the whole process is to "disrupt despotic and protect democratic regimes".
Parker is in her mid to late 50's. She runs the show with the same way she dresses - plain, functional, and stylish on to a point. She is a bit heavier than she was in her younger days as a field agent and would not pretend to be a physically able as she once was but what she has lost in agility, she more than makes up for in experience.