Career Path(s):

- Design

- Engineering, Science & Technology

- Regulations

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​Describe your usual work environment:

 

Office space (with a door!).

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Please provide a brief description of your job:​

 

Eve has a fast-paced start-up culture. That means that your role is not limited by a job title.  Sometimes I feel like a MacGyver [title character and the protagonist in the TV series]. On a typical week, I'll use my human factors expertise (a field that applies knowledge of people's behaviours and decision-making to the design of technologies and jobs) to develop concepts and design requirements for future software, automation, and airspace procedures.

 

I'll also write business development plans and develop proposals for new markets. Sometimes, I work with marketing and user experience experts to create usability research and stakeholder engagement plans so that we better understand the end users of our products as well as those people who may be affected by UAM operations in their cities.

 

Finally, I'll use my air traffic management knowledge to tailor the design of traffic management ecosystems that can support high-tempo electric air taxi operations at scale while being careful not to overburden ATC's [Air Traffic Control's] workload.

 

​What made you decide to pursue your chosen career path?​

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I started my career in industrial design and became fascinated with the complex systems in which people use (or misuse) products. I was particularly interested in complex and safety-critical environments.

 

I love the aviation industry because there is always so much to learn, and it is always innovating. That constant change requires you to challenge assumptions about how things work today.

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​What are the three key skills that are required for your job?​

 

Adaptable communications skills, seeing the interdependencies between design and human performance, flexibility.

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What would you say is the biggest misconception about your job?​

 

As Urban Air Mobility (UAM) evolves towards autonomous systems, there is the assumption that human error will disappear, human factors will be less relevant, and autonomous aircraft will simply be safer. That's so NOT TRUE!

 

Rather, as systems have more automation, human factors will be more critical in system design. Changes in automation will drive new and different behaviours, roles, and risks in people. So the safety risks will change, but they definitely won't disappear.

 

​What advice would you give to a school student who is interested in pursuing a career similar to yours?​

 

Go for it! Aviation is an international industry that's constantly changing so consider it a passport to constantly grow and travel around the world.

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​If you could change one thing about the world what would it be?​

 

Can't we just get along?