SVGC Staff Profiles
At SVGC we’re proud to be a small business formed of experienced, highly qualified people operating on a national platform.
Our team collectively has vast knowledge of strategic planning, public sector decisions, innovative technologies, data science and agile working methodologies. Get to know Julia, our Chief of Staff and Head of Commercial.
Julia has 20 years of experience of commercial and managerial roles across the defence and security sector including senior commercial roles in both Thales and QinetiQ. Her role within SVGC is wide ranging and here she describes more about her day-to-day with SVGC.
1. What are your ‘must haves’ to start the working day?
Earl Grey Tea. If there is no EG tea the day is doomed! I’ve recently started doing Wordle – which is now right up there with the Earl Grey. And, although I have yet to completely fail to get the daily Wordle, it’s a great example of a there always being a new learning experience just waiting for you!
2. What’s your proudest work achievement to date?
Being part of the development and evolution of the business is a real privilege, to share in the SVGC success story so far – especially as we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. Within this, a common challenge for some evolving businesses can be the introduction of huge amounts of process – and we’ve managed to retain our efficient and pragmatic use of them, and not ‘process ourselves out of business’. It’s also really wonderful to see the current recruitment drive that reflects how hard the team have worked to deliver on current projects whilst also being named on a number of significant new frameworks in the last two years.
Oh, and of course, another source of pride is retaining my very serious job title of ‘Director of Fun’!
3. What do you love most about what you do?
That every day really is different – I’m not ‘just’ a project manager, or responsible for business development, there is so much that my role entails – as described below.
4. What does your typical working day look like?
My role is so large and varied that ‘typical’ isn’t the best word. I am one of the directors of the company and the commercial manager for the business; and, I also look after HR, training, recruitment and insurance. Sometimes I’ll be working on contract management and negotiation, another hour and I’ll be considering personnel development and recruitment, and then perhaps grappling with some insurance issue or dealing with financial governance.
In a nutshell, I ensure all the bills are paid, the staff are happy, our customers are delighted and the chickens are fed.
5. When you hit a wall workwise, what do you do to help overcome the hurdle?
I go and make tea (can you see a theme here?!) If it is really bad, I might go for a little shuffle – my code for going for a run – around the village that I live in, as that can help enormously.
