Management & Leadership
Laboratory Management & Leadership
My career has progressed from engineering apprentice and technician to senior engineer, laboratory manager and director. My management experience covers laboratory operations, team development, accreditation and test facility planning.
Career
Career progression
QinetiQ Aberporth
Engineering ApprenticeElectronic engineering apprenticeship at a weapons proving range in West Wales, with training across radar, telemetry and mechanical departments.
Powerlink
Specialist Electronic EngineerBoard-level fault-finding, repair and tuning of high-power RF amplifiers.
Airbus Defence & Space
EMC EngineerEMC testing of satellite and ground station equipment, payload emissions and susceptibility investigations in Europe and India, and a year monitoring five thermal vacuum chambers on night shifts.
Element Materials Technology
Technician → Engineer → Senior Engineer → Laboratory Operations ManagerEleven years in a commercial EMC, environmental and lightning laboratory, progressing from testing to laboratory management. Responsibilities included UKAS-accredited testing to military, aerospace and commercial standards, scheduling, staff development, safety, accreditation and customer delivery.
Airbus Defence & Space
EMC Specialist EngineerSpacecraft payload analysis, Python tool development and test programme planning, drawing on more than ten years of test experience.
Mangata Networks
Director of Spacecraft TestLed the design of a spacecraft build-and-test facility covering EMC chambers, antenna ranges, thermal vacuum and vibration, with a small multidisciplinary team.
Leonardo
Lead EMC Engineer (with a spell as Aerospace & Defence Business Manager at Eurofins E&E in 2025)Leading EMC laboratory operations and technical direction for radar and combat air programmes. Responsibilities include line management, laboratory capability development and expansion of UKAS-accredited scope to DO-160G within twelve months.
Management experience
Operations, teams and accreditation
Reducing test turnaround by approximately 50%
At Element, we reduced commercial test turnaround by approximately half through improvements to forecasting, cross-training, laboratory layout and software tools.
Forecasting improved workload planning. Cross-training reduced dependence on individual engineers. 5S and layout improvements made cables, adapters and fixtures easier to locate. Templates, checklists and scripts reduced repetitive work in setup and reporting.
Leading multidisciplinary teams
At Mangata, I led a small team covering EMC, antenna measurement, thermal vacuum and mechanical testing while planning a satellite test facility. At Leonardo, I line-manage engineers supporting large defence programmes.
I set clear requirements, deadlines, acceptance criteria and dependencies, then give engineers responsibility for selecting and developing the method.
I also manage changing requirements and programme priorities so the team can maintain a stable work plan.
Accreditation and quality management
I have managed laboratory accreditation in a commercial setting and expanded the accredited scope at Leonardo to include DO-160G within twelve months. My responsibilities also include internal audits.
Effective quality management requires traceable calibration, controlled methods, documented measurement uncertainty and retrievable records. The accredited scope also determines which tests the laboratory can offer as accredited services.
I maintain these controls as part of routine laboratory operations, with audit findings used to identify and resolve gaps.
Team development
Team skill coverage matrix
Use the matrix to record competence, identify skills that depend on one person and plan cross-training. Click a cell to change the competence level. Changes are saved in your browser.