What's your job about?
Rohde & Schwarz Australia delivers mission-critical solutions installed onboard surface and sub-surface naval vessels, and deployed into commercial airports / control centres, defence air bases, military training ranges, oil and gas platforms, and mobile systems – a huge range of applications! While our key expertise lies in fully integrated secure communication systems, we also deliver complete mission systems with our partners and subcontractors.
I am responsible for overseeing projects and programs delivering aerospace systems across Australia, New Zealand, and the broader Asia-Pacific region. I have a team of project managers and support staff and am lucky to have access to a group of engineers and technical officers who have an astounding degree of knowledge and experience.
In a typical week, I work with the project management team to ensure projects are moving in the right direction, plan and manage my own projects/programs, work with Sales to deliver proposals, put forward strategies to grow the business, report into R&S senior leadership, and provide inputs into other functions such as Service, HR, Finance, Governance, Operations and Marketing.
Our engineers get to work on a whole range of activities across the entire system engineering life cycle including conception and requirements definition, design, realisation, integration, verification, acceptance and support. They liaise with our customers, end-users, subcontractors and suppliers and are involved in design reviews, workshops, integration, testing and site installation activities. They have access to a breadth of experience that is really hard to find these days!
What's your background?
I was born in Argentina, where my parents spent four years after emigrating from Taiwan. I stepped off a plane at Brisbane Airport 18 months of age, and have since proudly called Australia home.
I did the usual twelve years of school, playing football, rugby union and cricket along the way. I had a packed schedule – most nights and weekends I’d be training or competing for Judo, Jiu-jitsu, or Aikido. After completing my school years, I went on to university and graduated from UQ with a Bachelor of Mechatronic Engineering, receiving First Class Honours and The University Medal. I’ve also completed a Master of Systems Engineering (UNSW) and a Diploma in Project Management (UNE).
I started my career in building automation, where I engineered control systems for office buildings, data centres and hospitals. After working on the largest hospital project in Australia at the time, I wanted to deliver larger and more complex systems in projects where engineering rigour was of crucial importance. I moved to Sydney and worked on military air traffic management systems, flight simulators, avionics and a large R&D program.
I got a tap on the shoulder to join Rohde & Schwarz as a Project Manager about three years ago and was impressed by the potential I saw so I didn’t think twice. The company has shown a lot of faith in my abilities, and I have recently been promoted to Head of Programs for Air Traffic Control / Air Defence.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Of course! With the right attitude, desire to learn, resources and effort I believe that anyone can learn to do almost any job. However, I have always had the opinion that having a solid technical foundation is an important ingredient to being a good project manager. When leading teams, soft skills become essential and team members should be empowered with the right responsibilities and resources to deliver, rather than micromanaged.
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love my job as I get to work on complex engineering projects with cutting-edge technology across both civil and military domains. Sometimes we have to do the hard yards, but the best part of my job is without a doubt when the team hits a huge milestone – whether that is winning a bid, completing detailed design, or commissioning a system on site – we can all share in that success, knowing that we have all worked together to achieve something big.
What are the limitations of your job?
My role is multi-faceted and requires my attention to be split across many different areas of the business, multiple projects, and different stakeholders... many of whom have their own sense of urgency.
I have to remind myself that I can’t do everything at once, and I need to prioritise across many tasks, manage expectations and even let things slide a little if they aren’t important in the big scheme of things. Luckily, I know that I can rely on my team to step up when needed.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...