About
Engineer who likes working at the intersection of hardware and software.
Professional Interests
I like working on things that are hard and that bridge disciplines.
The work I enjoy most is probably best described as ‘data-driven engineering’—to half pinch the title of Steven Brunton’s book, Data Driven Science and Engineering.
This typically means combining mechanical engineering with software development and/or data analysis and reporting, and has largely been in the context of F1 vehicle dynamics and powertrain development, but I’ve also had great experiences building DSP and financial modelling tech.
I like thermofluids, dynamics, optimisation, control, data visualisation—that sort of thing. I also enjoy things like cloud architecture and database design, and get fairly worked up about how work is approached, how problems are tackled, how information is shared etc.
Employment History
There’s a detailed job history on my LinkedIn and outlined my CV, but I’ve had the pleasure of working on some very cool projects with some very sharp people.
The short version is:
- 2021 - Current: Anneal, Founder
- 2021 - 2022: Quant Insight, Part-Time Consultant
- 2019 - 2021: Quant Insight, Lead Developer / Back-End Engineer
- 2019 - 2019: B-Secur, Senior Algorithm Engineer
- 2017 - 2019: Force India/Racing Point F1†: Vehicle Science Engineer
- 2016 - 2017: Force India/Racing Point F1†: Junior Strategy & Performance Engineer
- 2014 - 2016: Mercedes AMG HPP, Mechanical Engineer, Graduate
- 2012 - 2013: Mercedes AMG HPP, Performance Development Engineer, Intern
†Now Aston Martin F1
Academic Stuff
I studied Mechanical Engineering at QUB. I received a first class honours degree, and was awarded an Institution of Mechanical Engineers prize for work on battery management systems.
You can read the associated report here. Contains the word ‘batter’ instead of ‘battery’ many times.
Personal Interests
Motorsport
Cars and bikes are very close to my heart, especially small displacement two strokes.
At the risk of sounding like a sad bastard, I’ve had a copy of A. Graham Bell’s Two Stroke Performance Tuning since I was about 12 or 13, and followed just about every form of motorsport at some point or other—though I’m really more attracted to the notion of a well resourced, highly competitive engineering contest than I am to motorsport as an example what we normally mean by ‘sport’.
In the late 2000s, I did an incredibly average job on the Irish club racing circuit, almost invariably finishing 6th. Though relatively quick in the wet, I eventually realised I was going to be more use doing sums than I was dragging elbows.
For someone who owns a light up mechanical keyboard, I’m also relatively practical, having built and maintained bikes and cars since I was a teenager, and since discovered that working with wood is good fun.
Credit: Joe Fox
Music
I’m a big fan of electronic music. Largely unguided fiddling with synthesizers and drum machines gave rise to my interest in signal processing, and that experience was incredibly helpful in more than one actual job I’ve had.
One track of mine has been pressed by Fundamental, but it’s been a long time since I fired up Ableton or twiddled a filter.
Contact
Some of my social media profiles are linked in the footer, but you can also e-mail me directly at [email protected].