This young engineer was hooked when she saw a helicopter at an airshow and wondered, ‘how does that work?’ Now, as a Rolls Royce apprentice she has worked on the TP400 engine. As she broadens her horizons to other fields, it is still the practical problem solving of engineering that grabs her. Meet Alexia Williams, winner of the Mary George Memorial Prize for Apprentices

Who I am

My name is Alexia Williams, and I am a Through Life Technical Lead at Rolls Royce Plc.

What inspired you to get into engineering?

It started when I was age 13 to 14 - my parents took me to an airshow and I saw a helicopter floating about. I was a bit confused about how it worked, and that piqued my interest. From there, I looked into aerospace in a bit more detail and found out about apprenticeships. I started at Rolls-Royce in 2018 on an Aerospace Engineering Degree Apprenticeship.

How did you get to where you are now?

I did a four-year degree apprenticeship in Aerospace Engineering and got an NVQ level four and level two in practical engineering skills. Next, I became a Lifecycle Engineer, and within about a month of starting that, I began a master's apprenticeship. That was in Through Life System Sustainment at Cranfield University.

The master's is all about how to manage an engineering services business for products from start to end of life, focusing on the engineering aspects, as well as looking into the business and supply chain elements behind it. As well as this, I started a new role in August, which is a Through Life Technical Lead.

I'm enjoying my journey so far. I've completed the apprenticeship, where I did seven different placements across the business. I then became a Lifecycle Engineer on the TP-400 engine, which powers the Airbus A400M. After that, I moved into my Through Life Technical Lead role, and now, I'm no longer in aerospace; instead, I'm looking at the naval side of things.

What difference can this kind of an award make to women engineers?

The IET's YWE Awards celebrate and show that women can be engineers and be successful within the industry. Especially when such a small proportion of engineers are women, these awards recognise that no matter what discipline we're in or where we're working, we can still be achieving and making a real difference in the world.

What can the IET and wider society do to get more women into the sector?

For me, it's showing what engineering is. You could be an engineer that works in the beauty industry or all the way through to buildings, to healthcare, to planes. Engineering is such a broad term; it covers so many different things and goes into everything around us, including every single item. Getting children to understand that from a very young age and helping parents not put stereotypes about what an engineer is for children is the best way to go about it.

What do you think wider society can do to improve matters?

It's difficult because I think no matter how hard you try, there's always going to be stereotypes around certain roles. For example, people always see firefighters as men. From a very young age, through TV and cartoons, we're exposed to seeing predominantly men carrying out certain roles, and we need to switch that up and show that anyone can be anything.

What are you working on at the moment, and why is it important?

What I'm working on at the moment can't be shared because of its status within defence. But I can talk about what I've been doing up to my current role, which is working on the TP400 engine.

My role was focusing on the maintenance, repair and overhaul of the engine to improve our inspection capability. When the engine comes into us, it's a question of how quick can we get it back out of our shop to the customer.

I was looking at bringing in new tooling, creating new ways in which we could do inspections of certain elements of the engine, speeding that up, and hopefully bringing our inspection and turnaround times drastically down to meet the customers' requirements. We did a whole range of things, including having things 3D printed to do validation trials.

What's next in your career?

I have an idea of where I want to go, and for me, it's a case of trying to get as much visibility of Rolls-Royce as a business. For me, it's important to get a taste of all the different areas of engineering we cover, from aerospace through to naval through to power systems through to space, finding what clicks for me and what I find really enjoyable. Then I want to follow an engineering leadership role within that.

Where do you see yourself in the next decade or so?

To be Head of Services for defence is my aim. It would mean I'm the highest person who's the main point of contact for the customer and for any of our products that are currently in service within defence.

What kind of breakthroughs would you like to see in your field?

One of the things in development I'd like to see is hypersonic travel. I'd like to see us actually be able to achieve hypersonic travel. There are also so many improvements going on in the IT and digital space, and to actually see that being used to its full potential within Rolls-Royce would be great.

What do you hope to achieve in your career?

Having led on something that has been a real success, that I'm truly proud of, and being financially happy once I get to retirement is a bonus.

What is the best part of working in your area of engineering?

The best bit is that every day is different - there's something new that's happened or gone wrong that needs resolving. For me, it's the element of not knowing but also the fun of that. I like surprise, but not too much of a surprise; it's just enough that keeps you interested in it and occupied.

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The IET hosted the IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards at Savoy Place on December 9 2024, celebrating some of the best young talent in engineering.