Q: How long have you worked at AEM?
SA: I’ve been at AEM a year and 9 months now. I started my career at Atkins, within their oil and gas team. I then moved to rotary power, which is a hydraulic pumps and motors manufacturer. I then moved into design consultation with Royal RHC, so that was primarily shipbuilding, defence, lodge, and heavy industry type stuff – and then I joined AEM.
Q: Can you tell us a bit more about your role?
SA: My role is multi-faceted, so in the Lead Mechanical Engineer role, I am fortunate enough to oversee the mechanical engineering and design department, their day-to-day activities and processes, and the software requirements needed by that team to operate successfully. I thoroughly enjoy each of these elements within my role.
Within my HDSRM300 Project Lead role, I am responsible for leading that project from a technical and customer point of view, which is a really great responsibility to have at AEM.
Q: How have you moved so quickly from being an engineer to leading a team of engineers?
SA: So, when I joined, we had a chief engineer working above me, and there were a number of engineers in that team which grew quite quickly. Within that, we needed a more tiered management structure, and I think it’s my eye for detail and process management that allowed me to step into that role. AEM picked this up very quickly and provided me with an environment to excel further.
I had a very close working relationship with the chief engineer at the time, having worked with him previously, so we were able to work between ourselves to delegate technical or more process-driven aspects of the role between us.
Q: What do you like about your job?
SA: The best thing for me about working at AEM is the culture, and I think that culture is one of those things that is really spoken about these days as a buzzword. It’s a nice thing to put on big banners et cetera. But at AEM, we truly do have that culture all the way through to the CEO, that we’re all here to try and make better products and make the world greener. That is what drives me to become a better person within the organisation.
Q: What excites you about working at AEM?
SA: What really excites me is that I feel that we are making a difference. The world as a whole is facing a fairly monumental challenge with climate change et cetera, and within AEM I believe that we are really tackling that problem.
We have a product that fits into a very popular market at the moment with the electrification of the automotive industry.
At AEM, we don’t use those at all, so we’ve taken this push to tackle climate change. We’ve gone beyond getting rid of internal combustion engines, and we’ve recognised that rare earth magnets are a problem in the way that they are mined and processed – so we don’t need them within our products. Every individual at AEM recognises this as an ultimate objective, and we do our absolute best to deliver this green technology.
Q: What is the biggest challenge facing PEMD at the moment?
SA: There’s a very large challenge in the world with the supply chain and within power electronics, motors, and drives, we are seeing this across the board. The supply chain is very constrained. We see this problem at AEM, but we are taking steps toward getting rid of rare earth magnets, through the use of our technology.
Q: Why do you think that Engineers and PhD students should work for AEM?
SA: I think we’re a company that is built on innovation. We are not doing stuff because it’s easy, we’re not doing stuff to make money – we are really trying to push boundaries and for me, I know engineers and people that have done PhDs (a number of people working here have PhDs) – that fits very well. We’re not looking for people that can solely keep cogs moving. We really want to push boundaries and hopefully that appeals to those with that inclination.
Q: What’s the culture like at AEM? What’s it like to be a part of the team?
SA: Particularly within design and engineering, we’re a particularly young team. That comes with pros and cons as obviously there are challenges as a very young team, but there’s a very visible enthusiasm every day. People are here because they really want to make a difference.
We are all united around that same goal of making a difference and doing what we can as individuals to contribute to a more global effort to combat climate change. I think that is really tangible throughout the business.
Q: How would you describe AEM to someone who is potentially interested in working here?
SA: Fast-paced, challenging, but immensely rewarding. The team at AEM are like no other, and everyone feels comfortable working with each other in such a welcoming and exemplary environment.
Q: What sort of opportunities does AEM have for growth and progression?
SA: We are at an exciting period of growth at AEM, as we make the transition from a start-up to an SME, and as a result of that, we are growing very quickly. That has in turn led to a lot of scope for people within the business to step up and advance their careers and almost shape their career around their interests and their goals. Supporting the growth and aspirations of the individuals that have got us to where we are today is a top priority for AEM.