HOPIUM : Department Manager - Performance Engineering

Hopium is a Fuel Cell Technology based start-up with the original vision to design and deliver a Hydrogen Systems platform for luxury vehicles. I joined as Vehicle Architect to rapidly transition and create the Performance Department, ensuring the role of Head of Unit with key achievements :

Responsibilities:

• To Manage the Department Budget (1,85M€ in 2023) : Recruitment, Team Structure, Facilities & Test Equipment

  • Recruitment of 5 senior engineers, induction / Layoff of 4 individuals during redundancy plan

  • Creation of team structure, staffing plan, job descriptions, team perimeter and responsibilities

  • Identification of priorities and budget attribution along the programme plan (estimates, quotes, calculation)

  • Participation in the business strategy, company structure, tools and platform deployment (smartsheet, click-up, 3Dx)

• To Define and Follow Performance Targets for the Fuel Cell & Vehicle (KPI, Planning, Spec)

  • Definition of technical and programme targets (Fuel Cell power output, drive cycles, weight distribution, etc)

  • Creation of verification and validation plans

  • Definition of procedure and acceptance criteria (correlated with attributes targets and end-product use cases)

• To Motivate & Challenge 15 experienced engineers in areas of Product Validation, Simulation, Test

  • Enhance communication with individuals in remote, work office or test facilities (Teams, Zoom, short meeting, maximising written reporting for updates and oral conversation for clarity and feedbacks)

  • Delegate, monitor and best practices on weekly basis (action plans, issues and escalation, successes)

  • Management of skills, conflicts and roadblocks

• To Design and Develop the architecture and systems of vehicle thermal management and cabin comfort

  • Benchmarking of state-of-the-art architectures (Tesla, Lucid, Rivian, Mercedes, etc)

  • Functional analysis and uses cases definition, identification of applicable automotive standards

  • Definition of requirements and specifications, identification of potential suppliers and associated costs of development

  • Volume and packaging allocation, steering of architecture reviews

McLaren Automotive : Senior Powertrain Project Lead

I joined a fast growing team in Powertrain Engineering, initially focused on delivering all Powertrain Engine Cooling, HVAC, Fuel & Exhaust Systems of the McLaren Elva. Main objectives were to identify development strategies to carry-over components and systems into a new programme. During the development of Elva, I also engineered the thermal management systems of McLaren Speedtail and Artura), bringing 3 programmes from strategic phase to series production in 3 years whilst McLaren business plan BP24 was to bring 24 new models into market by 2024.

Some Responsibilities and key achievements include :

Responsibilities:

• To Create & Deliver Product Design and Development Plans for 50+ complete thermal systems (HVAC, Engine cooling, Fuels, Exhaust)

  • Product development within milestones and gateways workframe

  • V&V strategy, architecture reviews, virtual and physical build reviews,

  • Build to print and build to specifications, Design to Manufacture, and application of PPAP process.

• To Deliver end-to-end product validation process for 3 vehicle programs (Elva, Speedtail, Artura)

  • Verification and validation test plan : more than 50 components DV testing, 15 vehicle tests, 8 certifications

  • Participation in test campaign as subject matter expert, and assessment of progress and results with thermal simulation engineers, vehicle architects and chief engineer : hot temperature testing in Spain, Homologation for Emissions

  • Reporting and communication to stakeholder at all level : programme team, project team, design studio, chief engineering, testing team : milestones and Engineering Releases (more than 80 processes)

• Task Force leadership, during high hurts and problem resolution

  • Application of tools and techniques such as 8D or DMAIC

  • Lessons learnt identification and prevent recurrence plan, Writing of new standards and avoidance plans

  • Drive dedicated teams of engineers and experts and monitor weekly or daily action plans

Jaguar Land Rover : Fuels & Cooling Lead Engineer

Willingness to immerse myself in an English-speaking country while integrating the automotive industry, I use my knowledge in complex systems development (DFMEA, DVP, Release Process) within the Powertrain Fuels & Cooling teams of JLR to create and deliver commodities / projects for the Evoque, E-Pace and Discover Sport MY2018-2020 programs :

Responsibilities:

• Manage the development of fuel and engine cooling systems following an APQP approach and establishing Right-First Time and On-Time Delivery KPIs on 30+ commodities (fuel tank, injection, filling, heat exchangers, Coolers, piping, pumps and sensors).

• Execution of the sizing, modeling, simulation, production, verification and validation stages for components, systems and vehicles (sign-offs)

  by coordinating and functionally managing the teams and trades (design, suppliers, quality, purchasing, prototype, manufacturing engineering, etc).

• Federate and motivate the team / Management of their evolution

  • Staffing, Induction & Coordination of 6 project engineers,

  • Driving teams & projects to program targets (weight, budget, attributes), whilst supporting technical orientations & trade-offs.

• Continuous Improvement process & methodology:

  • Internal reporting on business opportunities, risks identified, competitors assessment,

  • Ensure the level of excellence of work package deployment, global training plan based on skill matrix, External contracting agence coordination,

  • Identifying and implementing methods of global improvement.

Airbus Helicopters : System Design Responsible

Responsibilities:

• Participate in all stages of Product Development (Pre-Study, Product Design, Validation, In-Series) of 4 helicopter programmes (H175, Tiger, H160, H135 in Germany) as Project Engineer for Fuel Systems

• Design and engineer components and systems within a vehicle architecture (Fuel tanks, pumps, valves, tubing) from functional analysis to technical solution identification, identifying carry-over opportunities, new product introduction and new advanced technologies with incumbent suppliers

• Management of suppliers for Validation process (DV, and PV testing), quality assurance and type certificates with the authorities

• Writing of specifications, BoM structure, internal test equipment lists and procedures. Assessment of results and curves

• Engineering release process for more than 20 commodities, retrofit and mission equipment specificities