Tamanna Haque, the regional winner of this year’s #WeAreTechWomen #TechWoman100 awards, and a remarkable woman within the technology and STEM sector. Tamanna is a Lead Data Scientist at Jaguar Land Rover, based in central Manchester, one of Jaguar Land Rover’s technology hubs. She helps to lead a team of data scientists to improve products and customer experiences by leveraging the connected car and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Find out more about Jaguar Land Rover’s Technology Hubs and exciting career opportunities, click here for more information.
Q: What projects are you working on?
I was recently promoted to technical specialist, as a Lead Data Scientist, working within Product Engineering. My role involves using the connected car and AI to make our products and customer experiences better, whilst leading within our wide data science team too. I’m particularly interested and active in enabling a more electric and modern luxury future from the use of vehicle data.
As well as delivering autonomously, I act as a technical lead on numerous other projects, by leading, reviewing and sharing best practice.
Q: Are you involved in any other projects / networks? If so, please describe what they are and what your contributions are.
I’ve led outside the team by mentoring female apprentices with a tactical approach, working with them on original project ideas with many value streams.
More recently I founded a ‘Women in AI’ group at Jaguar Land Rover which provides female members (business-wide and of various levels of seniority) with technical and soft-skill development opportunities in a challenging, male-dominated field. Over the past 12 months, founding and making this network an ongoing success has been an achievement, bringing a sense of empowerment and belonging to its women and hopefully helping to attract and retain female talent within this advanced field at Jaguar Land Rover.
Additionally, I was chosen for a new (voluntary) role within Jaguar Land Rover’s Women in Engineering committee as its Analytics Lead, helping committee chairs and executive sponsors to become better informed in their decision-making towards improved gender diversity.
I’ve done a lot of work externally which has promoted my skillset and those of my audiences. I’ve delivered numerous talks to industry professionals, students, and women’s leadership and diversity groups, with the goal of promoting inclusion within AI and automotive. The other angle to my talks involves following your passions and dreams- for me, this was the Jaguar brand and has been since childhood. Externally I have also been a guest lecturer at a leading UK university this year, and I’m supporting multiple students (who are also on placement with Jaguar Land Rover) with their final-year, industry-based projects.
Q: What do you like about working here?
My journey with Jaguar Land Rover started long before I was employed by the company! Since I was nine years old, I’ve been passionate about the Jaguar brand, writing about them, attending previews, going to experience days! I was a fan-turned-customer at 22, hands on with their product, and up to date with the company news.
So to be working for Jaguar Land Rover now is what dreams are made of; I feel at one with our customers and their experiences, and I’m personally committed towards our products and customers. It’s pushed me to find new limits in myself to serve better, and I’m grateful that Jaguar Land Rover supports me with my growth. I’m particularly excited to be playing my part towards the reimagination of Jaguar as an all-electric luxury brand.
Q: What are your career aspirations? How do you get support from your management / department to help achieve your learning & development goal?
I started as a senior data scientist here, it was a new role and a new team with lots of opportunities, but I also created them. Expectations were only a small part of what I was doing, but this has been recognised with the promotion recently. I’m grateful to be working at a place where hard work and commitment is recognised and rewarded.
Q: Describe your team / department, and what makes it stand out from our competition?
I work in the data science team within Product Engineering. The data science team in Manchester originated with myself and one of my teammates – it’s since grown a lot (cross-sites and countries) and developed into a high-performing, advanced data science team.
What makes us stand out is the nature of our work – we mostly use vehicle data, which is different to a lot of other commercial businesses or teams who’ll focus more on transactional or web data. The data we use lends itself to some pretty interesting projects, and a general futuristic feel here.
Q: Tell us some interesting facts about yourself
- To put it simply- I love Jaguar!
- I’m a born and bred Mancunian, so I was excited to learn when Jaguar Land Rover opened an office here. It opened the possibility of working for a globally recognised company, of great value to me, without having to relocate and leave my family and friends. I enjoy meeting colleagues at the Manchester office and socialising with my team in Manchester- it’s a vibrant area for work and after hours.
Q: What hints and tips can you share with the potential candidates who are going through the application / interview process?
Don’t be afraid to be authentic! I’ve had to grow in confidence to be my authentic self, and it makes connecting with people around you easier.
