Hester Somsen was born on 15 March 1972 in Apeldoorn (Netherlands).

She studied political science, specialising in international relations, at the University of Amsterdam.

Hester Somsen joined the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1997.

Between 1997 and 2002, she initially worked on issues relating to the former Yugoslavia, followed by a posting as Second Secretary at the Dutch Embassy in Hungary.

On her return to the Netherlands, she worked directly with the Secretary General of the Ministry and then spent a year in the European Integration Directorate.

In 2006, she was transferred to the Dutch Embassy in Tanzania, where she focussed on political and cultural affairs.

After her return to the Netherlands in 2009, she initially took on a coordinating role in the Crisis Management and Peace Operations Section of the Security Policy Directorate and then became Section Head.

In this capacity, she dealt with all aspects of the missions in which the Netherlands participated during this period, including those in Urusgan and Kunduz in Afghanistan,
Operation Unified Protector and the anti-piracy missions off the coast of Somalia.

In 2013, she was appointed Ambassador to Lebanon, where she served until November 2016.

These years were characterised by the refugee crisis and the instability in the country associated with the Syrian crisis.
Her work as ambassador focused on the areas of humanitarian aid and stabilisation, improving economic opportunities and political deadlock in the country.

In September 2016, she was appointed Head of the Security Policy Directorate at the Head Office in The Hague.
In this role, she was responsible for the formulation and implementation of Dutch policy in the areas of counter-terrorism, cyber security, hybrid threats, NATO, EU, OSCE,
peacekeeping, non-proliferation and arms control.

In October 2020, she moved to the Ministry of Justice as Deputy National Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism and Security (NCTV) and Head of the Cyber Security and Foreign Threats Directorate.

NCTV is responsible for strategically connecting all relevant security actors, reducing national security risks and managing national crises.

In this role, Somsen oversaw the publication of the Dutch cyber security strategy and the security strategy for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, among other things.

She was responsible for drafting and implementing rules and regulations, providing support in relation to cyber security and critical infrastructure and drafting general guidelines for the National Cyber Security Centre.

In close cooperation with other ministries and stakeholders, it worked on measures to combat foreign influence, including raising awareness and drafting guidelines,
support for stakeholders and cooperation with international partners.

Since October 2024, she has been accredited as Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Germany.

Hester Somsen lives with her husband, dentist Bard van Cruijsen.