‘I’ve been extremely fortunate over the past 17½ years here to have experienced a wide variety of roles and responsibilities – this is one of the benefits of working in a large and diverse organisation as it affords you opportunities to learn a broad spectrum of skills which all shape you and your career. We may not always know where our strengths lie until we are challenged in new ways – which means your career path can take unexpected turns as you, the business and the global environment evolve. However, I have felt in control and supported in all my key career decisions to date through open discussions with line managers, mentors and colleagues.’
Certainly, going back to the start of my career I could never have foreseen where I am now – leading the Power Electronics team – responsible for traction inverters, control SW and DCDC converters on all our electrified vehicles. As electrification is now at the heart of all our products going forwards, the team is growing, skills and experience to deliver world class products and support the migration to an electrified future. Having started out visualising fuel injector spray patterns at Ford it’s a huge leap in a relatively short period of time!
As part of the electrified propulsion system team, we have a significant part to play in positively impacting society and the environment. One of the main concerns as people migrate to electric propulsion is “range anxiety” – not having enough energy to complete a journey. Our part in this is to produce the most efficient power conversion systems available so that as much of the stored battery energy is converted to forward propulsion as possible and we make our vehicles go even further on a single charge. This includes adaptive software strategies, the latest power electronics technologies, and the most efficient packaging solutions to produce the optimum drive system.
First and foremost, work must excite you – and delivering tangible and accessible solutions to a global customer base is extremely rewarding. The challenges we face are always changing so you are always learning – not just about the subjects you are working on, but also with the approaches taken to resolve the issues and deliver the solutions. Above all else though, it’s working with new talent coming into the department/company and seeing them grow and develop. While I still get a feeling of immense pride seeing our products driving around – especially the ones I’ve played a key part in delivering – what really matters is helping to shape the careers of those around me and seeing them progress in the company.’
To find out more about the opportunities in Electrification go to Find a Job on our careersite.
