Careers at Bentley Motors

Did you always aspire to be an engineer, or have you had a career pivot?

Gunjan: The automotive world fascinated me from the beginning, but my biggest turning point was as a Formula Student, where I experienced 25 engines roaring at races. This shaped my career direction and eventually led me to my first role as a Race Engineer at Volkswagen Motorsport India.

Niamh: From an early age, I had a great fascination for Motorsports and with maths being one of my favourite subjects, I knew that I wanted to be in engineering.

Lindsey: I’ve always been an engineer, but I don’t know that I ever really aspired to be one. I enjoying thinking about why we, as humans, do certain things or do them a certain way and the built environment plays a huge part in that. As an engineer, I get to help shape the environment around us and I’ve always wanted to do that.

Sina: Engineering really wasn’t on my radar at all when I was younger, I have always loved cars, but I had more stereotypical female career interests. I ended up working in the Fashion Industry in Sales & Marketing but realised it really wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. On a business trip I was more interested in the rental car upgrade we got, than the actual meetings we went to, so I figured, automotive industry it is. In order to get the roles I was interested in, I needed technical background, so I went ahead and got my Master’s degree in Engineering, best decision I have ever made, even when it was daunting pivoting in my late 20s.

What has been a memorable project that you have worked on?

Gunjan: Bentayga is my first project at Bentley, and it’s already very special to me. Being part of such a massive programme has always been on my wish-list.

Niamh: On a three-month placement, I worked on a technical feasibility study my team went from having an idea on a page to having the parts on a demo vehicle. I benchmarked competitors and understood solutions that worked best with our product.

Lindsey: Flying B, hands down! I was the system integrator for the Flying B mascot on the Flying Spur  project. It was really challenging in many ways but so rewarding and fun to be able to tell people that I worked on it. For the launch of the Flying Spur, the business decided that it wanted to redesign the Flying B in line with our centenary. They also wanted it to be deployable to add theatre to the car and that is where my role came in. Previously the Flying B was static and now it needed to move so it could be hidden away if the owner wanted or when they weren’t in the car. I started with a donor Hardware for my Electrical Control Unit (ECU) and created the logic for how it would operate and how it would speak to the car. It was a really challenging project as most of the work wasn’t Bentley’s usual way of working on an ECU and at the end it was an iconic part of the car that everyone could recognise.

Sina: Bentayga EWB is definitely my favourite project I have worked on, not just because I think it is an absolutely brilliant product, but because it represents a real shift in my personal development. I was able to lead aspects of the project rather than just manage them, and the hurdles we had to overcome as a team to make the project happen where immense, so I am all the more proud it made it into our customer’s hands.

What challenges have you faced, and how have you navigated them?

Gunjan: Initially, it was difficult for me as girl in the fast lane, as I feared asking questions would invite harsh criticism. However, having a mechanical background helped with knowing technical terms. I now believe what truly defines you is what new things you can bring to your team. If you are doing something unconventional that you don’t have a reference to follow you have to consciously make a way.

Niamh: I went to an all-girls secondary school in Ireland where neither Engineering nor STEM careers were promoted to students as a viable careers option.  “Engineering, for a Girl?” was a response from the people around me, but I continued to pursue my passions. At university, I joined women in STEM societies which helped me connect with individuals who have had similar experiences and how to cope with the imposter syndrome that I was feeling.  

Lindsey: Working with mechanical and electrical and building strong working relationships that helped deliver the system. Testing was important as well which ranged from rigs beside my desk to real world testing in the alps.

Sina: Challenges have been plentiful and cover different aspects of my career, there are the ones where I needed to facilitate finding technical solutions to problems that seemed impossible to overcome, ones like where I was asked if I was the new intern, as a young female manager when challenging someone, and the ones where I doubted my own abilities. In my opinion it is important to be open to needing support and asking for it, but also being ready to call out problems and standing up for what you believe is right, and most of all trusting yourself. Challenges are just opportunities to develop, even when it is hard in the moment.