What makes Nanoco special is the capacity the business has for learning. Our people don’t get pigeonholed into one role, we can move around projects and teams and build our knowledge and experience. This is really refreshing and helps us to be an innovative company that we are.
How would you describe your role?
I manage an R&D team here at Nanoco and my role is part of the senior management team. The team is diverse; it’s a mixture of materials scientists and PhD chemists. I also manage the analytical and QC team, which is the team which provides our in-house QC service.
What is your favourite part of your job?
Seeing the material in a successful application. My team and I solve challenges and make improvements, then seeing these to completion makes me really proud. I think there is a real benefit in being a small-to-medium sized organisation that R&D teams get to see the end to end process.
Working with different people is also really enjoyable, as we have a diverse workforce. Everyone brings something different to the team.
What is the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Being flexible and responding to change. We have a lot of projects going on at any one time and they change rapidly. You need to be able to adapt quickly, this is the nature of the industry we work in! It can be challenging but it is also what makes the work exciting.
How has your career progressed since you have been working here?
I have been at Nanoco for 12 years, I joined as a senior scientist, I had completed a post doc and I had previously been working at Sharp electronics. I later became a section head, and then my work expanded as we moved into different application areas, and I took on more leadership responsibilities.
What do you think makes Nanoco a great place to work?
What makes Nanoco special is the capacity the business has for learning. Our people don’t get pigeonholed into one role, we can move around projects and teams and build our knowledge and experience. This is really refreshing and helps us to be an innovative company that we are.
Where do you see your role going in future?
I am very happy in my current role, I like that I get to manage a team whilst balancing this with being hands on with some of the technology. My role has grown with the business, when I joined the organisation 12 years ago we only had around 8 staff members, since then we have grown rapidly and I hope to grow my role further as we further expand.
