Suzie studied psychology with a view to becoming a child psychologist, but her career-plan changed after her first experience of work after university. She became fascinated by engineering – and has since emphatically proved that it is possible to build a successful career in that sector without a relevant degree. A great way to learn a job is to do it.

Suzie is the managing director of Opus International Products in Leamington Spa. She joined the company, which was formed by her partner in 2013, in 2014, and since last year, after her partner sadly passed away, she has been the sole owner.

A success story in her own right, Suzie is very keen to encourage young women to join her in the world of engineering. Three of her engineers at Opus, including one apprentice, are female.  

“I had thought of becoming a child psychologist, but after university I worked as P.A. to two directors at a plastic injection moulding company and found it fascinating,” she said. “I learnt a lot in that role and got involved in lots of different things. From here, I took my next career step as a buyer for an engineering company, and in 2014, I joined Opus, the company that my partner formed in 2013. Since 2013, we have grown from a two-person business to 33 people working in a 40,000 sq ft facility. In a nutshell, we are a manufacturing company, but what we offer is so much more. We work primarily in automotive with a mix of defence and off-highway customers also. We CNC machine, injection mould, vacuum cast and do quite a lot of complex sub-assemblies.”

That’s quite a range and, as managing director, Suzie co-ordinates everything.

“I don’t profess to be an engineer, but I know a lot about the business and I have learned a lot along the way,” she said. “When we were a smaller company, I got involved in a lot of things, which I absolutely loved. I like to learn, and as I progressed within Opus, I essentially did a project engineer’s role, liaising with customers about their design from concept right through to it being manufactured, so everything I know about engineering has been learned through doing it as opposed to going to university.

“I think like an engineer. It’s the way my mind works - very methodical and process-driven.”

In a sector which has been historically male-dominated, and to a large degree remains so, Suzie’s success is evidence that there is no reason at all why that should continue to be the case. Balance is the key, she believes.

“As a company, we encourage females to consider engineering as a career. When Daisy, our apprentice, first approached us and said she would like to become an apprentice, it was a case of great – how can we support this and make it happen?

“We will always employ the right person for each role, and sometimes that will be a male, but it’s a question of balance. Men and women behave differently and think differently. Everything about them is different, and when you have a good mix, it brings that balance and changes the conversation and the perspective for the better.

“That balance is still not right in many places. I’ve been to a technical review with a customer where I was asked, ‘You do know this is an engineering meeting?’ I go to all sorts of events and am often greeted with ‘You run the company? Really?’

“Daisy is the only female on her course at college, so that is a challenge, but she’s doing brilliantly. I think, unfortunately, you do need a certain type of character to not be intimidated in what is still a primarily male environment. Young females need to know that an engineering career is absolutely there for them to pursue if they want to, and the earlier that message gets to them, from schools and careers advisors, the better.

“Any business, not just engineering, is better for a good gender balance, in my opinion. I have been to project reviews where I am the only female, and there is banging on the table and ‘this is the way we’re going to do it’ and it’s all very adversarial. There are other ways to get your point across. In our project reviews, it’s ‘well, what about this?’ and ‘what do you think?’ It’s collaborative and constructive, that’s a much better way forward.

“Don’t get me wrong, if a decision needs to be made, it will be made, and there are people in place to make it, some male and some female, but that balance helps. Above all, it’s about the right person for the job.”

Achieving a better gender balance in engineering is a long-term mission: a matter of redirecting the flow of centuries of history. But Suzie and our other interviews in Warwickshire Women in Engineering series are doing all they can to stimulate movement in the right direction.  

“Not long ago I went to a seminar about gender inequality in metals and engineering,” she said. “One of the speakers said if you ask AI for a “strong leader of a manufacturing company”, it gives you a white male in a power suit. AI tell us that because of everything it picks up from people interacting with it, born from centuries of our society being designed around men”.