Careers in Automotive

Danson Michael Joseph is the founder and MD of Danecca who specialise in e-mobility specifically within the EV Battery market.

Danson spoke with Eddy about his career starting in South Africa where he studied Electrical Engineering and Electric Machines to PhD level, he moved to the UK joining National Grid before joining Jaguar Landrover where he was Power Supply Energy Storage Manager working on the battery for the Jaguar I-Pace before founding Danecca in 2018.

Andrew Rostron is the newly appointed Head of Business Development at JRM Group. Andrew talks to Eddy about starting his career in Production Control at Wagon Automotive before moving into Transmission Development initially at Nissan / Jatco and then later at Ricardo. He also worked at Norma Group as Head of Supply Chain Operations, and most recently Prodrive as Head of Business Development (Advanced Technology). He talks about his stakeholder engagement roles within the automotive and technology sector both in UK, Europe and Japan/South Korea.

Robert Townshend is currently a Senior Project Manager Sprint Power Technology. Robert talks to Eddy about starting his career as a Technical Apprentice at GKN Driveline before moving into Development and Project Engineering, he discusses how moving into Business Development roles helped him further his career in the short and long term and the current work he is involved in at Sprint Power Technology.

Robert also discusses his thoughts on where the industry is moving over the next few years, the importance of graduates being able to differentiate themselves from other graduates and the importance of adding value to a business as early as possible.

Lisset Urrutia is currently the Head of Research & Development at SVOLT Energy Technology in Germany where the business are building their European Battery Plant.

Lisset talks through her career that has taken her across the globe from starting in Columbia to working in France, England, China and now Germany, she discusses how she has achieved success in such a short time and her views on women in engineering.

An end of of year round up and a preview of what to expect in 2021

Joe Swindells is currently the Deputy Chief Engineer at Tata Motors who has accelerated his career since graduating 8 years ago.

Joe talks to Eddy about the value of having career goals to work towards, how those goals have changed throughout his career from his time at University to working at Delcam before joining Tata Motors in 2015 where his career really took off.

Joe discusses how the RAF helped prepare him to work under pressure and develop leadership skills and how leading by example as well as using the skills around him, has helped him becoming a successful project leader so early in his career.

Matt Newman is a Supply Chain Manager who has specialised in prototype and concept vehicles working for Start-up and high growth automotive organisations throughout his career.

Matt talks to Eddy about how he entered the automotive industry, originally working within procurement before finding his passion in supply chain. He discusses the many exciting projects he was involved in including Lotus, Tesla, JLR, Emerald, LEVC and most recently ARRVIAL. Matt discusses the value of mentors, how taking risks in his career has helped him and his thoughts on the future of the industry.

David Hudson is currently the Head of Vehicle & Powertrain Engineering for Tata Motors. David talks to Eddy about his career that from starting out at Jaguar Landrover has taken him from the UK to the USA to India and finally back the UK working for prestigious brands including Lotus, JLR, AVL, Ricardo and now Tata.

David also gives his insight of the EV market having been involved in EV & Hyrbrid vehicle projects since 2011 and what needs to change in terms of the general publics perception to help us move towards a zero carbon future.

Matt Windle is currently the Executive Director of Engineering at Lotus. Matt discusses with Eddy how not being scared to make mistakes and taking risks has helped him progress to a senior business leader at Lotus. Matt talks about the importance of hard work and resilience and how communication and honesty are the most important traits of a successful manager.

Matt discusses working with Elon Musk from his time at Tesla, the challenges facing the automotive industry and the future of Lotus at both Hethel and their new Technology Centre at the Wellesbourne Campus of Warwick University.

If you are interested in joining Lotus either through their graduate scheme or as an experienced automotive professional you can find out more information on their careers page via the following link: https://uslot.lotuscars.com/

Dr Colin Herron CBE is currently the MD of Zero Carbon Futures a consultancy involved in the shaping the future of the UK automotive industry.

Colin talks through his career from leaving school with no real direction and joining an automotive company as a Toolmaker that helped him develop a passion for the industry before going to University and joining Nissan where his career really took off.

Colin is involved in the education system helping shape the next generation of automotive engineers and was appointed CBE for services to Business and Renewable Energy in June 2018.