I founded this online retailer of standing desks from the ground up, using my own capital, and grew the business to a turnover of approximately £1.5M with an EBITDA of £400K. I designed and implemented the website, integrating it with all back-end business systems, and built an operations team to manage the company’s day-to-day activities. To expand my business capabilities, I established in-house manufacturing capacity and learned CNC machine programming. Operating in the fast-paced, highly competitive e-commerce space allowed me to gain deep expertise in the implementation of interconnected data systems, software modules, and apps.

I established and led the autonomous UK division of this Dutch engineering group, growing it from zero revenue to approximately £4M per annum with earnings of around £1M per annum. I designed and implemented the business systems and built an operations team to manage the company’s day-to-day activities. We achieved ISO9001 and TS16949 quality certifications, and net assets increased from zero to £4.5 million. The company operated globally, and my role spanned diverse responsibilities, including working closely with manufacturing partners in China, managing clients in the USA, attending shareholder meetings in the Netherlands, and providing design and industrialization consultancy in France with EDF. With a broad product range, including magnetic systems, injection moulding, die-casting, and CNC-machined products, I gained extensive experience in product design and industrialization, particularly in material selection and tool design.

In this global role at a magnetics manufacturing company, I focused primarily on North America and Europe, increasing turnover from £10M to £16M within three years by fully utilizing factory capacity. I spearheaded the development of new marketing materials, launched a new website, and expanded the company’s export efforts into the EU. I managed key global clients, including Ford, GM, and Bosch, and reported directly to the CEO of Wilshaw PLC, the company’s beneficial owner. This was a demanding role, involving extensive face-to-face client interaction and international travel. I was responsible for negotiating frame contracts with major automotive clients and driving new business development with companies such as Motorola. In addition to leading a team of direct reports, much of my work required forming and managing cross-functional teams from across the organization.

As Product Manager for the DC motor range at a Swiss precision manufacturing company with a turnover of CHF 600M, I initially started in applications engineering before being promoted to product management after 18 months. My core responsibility was managing the product portfolio and launching new products within the DC range based on market demand. However, the role was highly diverse, involving detailed cost and margin analysis, pricing strategy, overseeing product industrialization and manufacturing, and addressing quality control issues. Product Managers typically led cross-functional teams within the organization to resolve challenges and implement new product launches. These teams also extended to the customer-facing subsidiary companies. As part of my role, I conducted client visits as needed, particularly in the UK, France, and Germany. Internally, all my work was conducted in French. I reported directly to the CFO.