Meet Paul, a Directer at Capgemini and a true innovator who loves working with clients and seeing large builds coming together. In this interview, Paul offers a glimpse into his work day, his advice to those pursuing a engineering and design career, and what his loves about the job.

Walk us through a typical workday at Capgemini. What are the key tasks and projects you focus on?

First thing I do when I wake up is to check my emails and any messages I may have received overnight from my international clients. I also double check my calendar to remind myself of any key meetings. This allows me to plan out my day and prioritise any urgent tasks before I head into the office.

Once I arrive in the office, I respond to emails and timebox my tasks for the day around my meetings.

I usually manage 5-8 projects at a time depending on project complexity and how busy we are. Whilst I have experience developing products for a wide range of industries, my main focus is in MedTech.

We often present work to clients, which is exciting, as it is an opportunity for us to show off our design skills and increase their interest in the project.

Between meetings I will be strategizing next steps for projects and liaising with designers to check on project progress, brainstorm new ideas, offer design guidance and ensure all the work we are doing remains compliant.

I am also fortunate to be involved in new business development, where I get to meet a wide range of people with different backgrounds, and see novel technology coming out of research institutions.

At the end of the day I will check my schedule for the evening and next day, ensuring I am aware of any evening or early morning meetings with international clients.

What advice would you give to someone considering a career as a Development Director?

Firstly, it is good to have a solid understanding of design and engineering processes, which means designing products for some time. This will help you learn how to make things, and also how to overcome unforeseen challenges.

Second, you need to have empathy for your clients. You must be able to see things from the client’s perspective and manage situations accordingly. 

Lastly, communication is key in everything you do. Highlight successes, but also raise any issues promptly. R&D is not a perfect process and you need to be able to guide clients through it with confidence and care. 

What excites you most about being a your role? What challenges keep you engaged? What do you envision for the future?

There are two things that I absolutely love about my job. Firstly, seeing large prototype builds coming together. Nothing beats seeing months of hard work coming together into a physical reality. 

Second, when we have meetings with the client where we share new ideas or design work together and everyone is super excited. The energy can be almost electric between us and the Client! 

In terms of challenges, I enjoy large, complex projects with multiple sub-systems to manage.

Can you share your career journey to your role? What key experiences shaped your expertise and led you to Capgemini? What were you doing before? How has your experience been transitioning to Capgemini after the acquisition?

Following a degree in Product Design, I worked in a number of industrial design consultancies in the UK and Australia before settling at Design + Industry for over 6 years. Being client focused and having a technical background is what’s helped shaped my career to date. Capgemini acquired Design + Industry last year and the transition process has been relatively smooth from my perspective, with no major surprises, and I am looking forward to the next chapter with Capgemini.

How does your work at Capgemini contribute to achieving the mission of ‘Get The Future You Want,’ both for yourself and our clients?

My work focuses on developing medical technology research into commercial realities. I am fortunate to work with novel technologies born out of universities and startups and contribute to their development into products that improve people’s lives. We are constantly seeing new ideas and approaches that will improve the world of tomorrow.

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