Chris Hawkins, technical manager, Tessella

I took a physics PhD with a molecular biology bias, then carried on to postdoctoral research. These relied very much on IT and I decided that I wanted to continue with my interests in science and technology but in a commercial context.

Virtual reality and motion tracking work

My employer provides IT consultancy and services to science and engineering organisations. I’ve worked on projects for sectors such as fast moving consumer goods, nuclear, defence, pharmaceuticals, and oil and gas.

I started as a C++ developer working on the visualisation of large datasets, moved on to virtual reality work (eg motion tracking and eye tracking) and then progressed to using motion tracking to understand human behaviour. For example, I helped to develop technology to allow dentists to view their patients’ tooth brushing in 3D.

My job as a technical manager

I’m now the technical manager for my company’s Warrington and Burton branches. I’m responsible for the 33 technical staff on these sites, with six staff reporting directly to me.

I support my staff in managing their projects, ensure that they are trained to meet business needs and encourage their career development. I work with technical managers at other sites to consider improvements to the way the company works and chair an internal knowledge management taskforce. I’m closely involved in our relationships with clients, ensuring that our processes are well oiled and include good feedback loops to continually improve our services. Sometimes it can be a challenge to persuade colleagues or clients to change their ways of working but it’s very satisfying when I succeed.

Training

Training has a high priority here – we receive 20 days each per year. For me this has included technical training, project management and soft skills. I’ve taken qualifications in object-orientated programming and project management via the Open University and reached ‘practitioner’ level in the project management methodology Prince2.

Travel – a key part of my job

My role involves quite a lot of travel, largely as day trips. I spend about 60 per cent of my time at my two offices and the rest largely visiting clients.

I work particularly closely with the Radioactive Waste Management Directorate, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Unilever, which can involve trips to Cumbria, Oxfordshire, the Wirral, Sussex or the Netherlands. One of my more unusual outings was to central France to visit an underground lab that was being studied for its potential for a nuclear repository. I also occasionally go abroad for conferences.

With so many separate responsibilities I need to be well organised and delegate to my team appropriately.

Improving life in India – a highlight of my career

A highlight of my working life was working on a project to improve the dissemination of information to people in rural India, for example on health, hygiene and maths skills. The project team was shortlisted for the Stockholm Challenge and British Computer Society awards, which was quite an achievement.