Made It! How one Sheffield design engineer is making a difference at Magtec

And Magtec in Sheffield, where she is a design engineer, met her other requirements: work that helps, not harms, the environment, small enough that every employee is critical - but growing fast - and in her beloved Sheffield.

The fact that 20 per cent of the workforce are women is the icing.

Magtec makes electric powertrains so diesel buses and trucks can go green. It has 93 staff and 23 vacancies.

Sian, aged 31, said: “The best thing is how varied it is. I could be analysing data, the next day designing components and then I could be out there testing vehicles.

“I also like being able to make a difference. Everyone in Magtec is critical to getting things done. It also gives me the chance to work on green technology. That’s one of the main things I wanted to do with my career.”

But it could have been so different. Because she was good at maths, teachers suggested a job in finance or teaching.

At university she met people studying engineering and knew it was for her.

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“I wanted to apply all this knowledge to the real world.”

She worked at Rotherham ‘laundry tech’ company Xeros and helped create its world-beating XFiltra which catches the thousands of tiny plastic fibres that come off clothes in the wash.

Today her job is to develop new components that are smaller and lighter and give an electric vehicle more range.

Magtec also makes batteries and software so it offers a full replacement system.

And although not put off by a male-dominated environment, Sian believes more women make a company more welcoming to women, boosting its recruitment chances at a time when the sector is crying out for staff.

She is looking forward to one day running her own team of engineers and doing varied projects.

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And Sheffield suits her.

“I love the city, it’s got a nice atmosphere, good outdoor scene and even better pubs.”

There are about 350 vehicles worldwide fitted with Magtec systems.

Managing director Andrew Gilligan believes 2020 will be when the firm takes off.

Bosses are in talks with the Welsh government about retro-fitting 600 refuse trucks, “numerous” city councils, rolling stock company Angel Trains and Swedish start-up Volta Trucks. An electric bin lorry is on trial on the streets of Sheffield.

In September, Coun Mark Jones, cabinet member for climate change, said: “There is no reason why our entire bin wagon fleet shouldn’t be electric.”

Mr Gilligan said: “It’s down to a lot of hard work by the team. There are 93 staff now and we have 23 vacancies. I think we will be double that and have tripled turnover by the end of next year.”

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