Behind the scenes at Mott MacDonald: a commercial manager’s journey
In this Q&A, we chat with Julia, a Commercial Manager at Mott MacDonald, about her career journey, her experience at the company, and the support she’s received along the way.
20th Feb 2025
Life at Mott MacDonald is all about tackling real-world challenges, driving innovation, and making a tangible impact through engineering, management, and development consultancy. But what’s it really like to work there?
In this Q&A, we sit down with Julia, a Commercial Manager at Mott MacDonald, to hear about her career journey, what it’s like working at the company, and how she’s been supported in her role. She’ll share insights into the culture, career progression opportunities, and what makes Mott MacDonald a great place to work.Hi Julia, please can you tell us a bit about your career journey so far and what led you to Mott MacDonald?
I’ve had a really mixed career so far! After my law degree, I worked for four-and-a-half years in legal publishing. I then spent two-and-a-half years at Westminster Abbey as a PA/editor before moving up to Scotland and working as an executive assistant in a private school. That job wasn’t for me, so I applied for a programme office coordinator job very close to home, which just so happened to be with Mott MacDonald. I moved into a project coordinator role before being promoted to Assistant Project Manager. And then, through mentoring, an excellent development opportunity came up for me in commercial management, which is where I am now. I started off supporting the team mainly on the contract and governance side, then was lucky to secure a promotion after a few months and have now grown to offer all-round commercial management. This includes working with our bid teams, advising and supporting live projects, looking at project financials, and ensuring compliance with contracts and business procedures.
I initially joined Motts purely because the job was so conveniently located, right next to my son’s nursery! The role looked interesting enough, though, and I’m really glad I took that opportunity, as I really enjoy and appreciate the person-centred culture we have.What do you do at Mott MacDonald?
I am a commercial manager in our Energy unit, principally looking after our defence and civil nuclear business. I help us realise our strong commercial capability and provide contractual support to ensure projects and bids run smoothly. This includes negotiations, advising project managers and project principals on terms and securing management buy-in through internal governance. I am based in our Glasgow office in Scotland, but mostly work from home or from my local military coworking hub.
Besides the ‘day job’, I am also the Families Lead on our Armed Forces Steering Committee. As a military spouse, I have first-hand experience of the challenges Forces families face in managing home life and also developing a successful career. This is heavily contingent on having the right support and understanding in place from colleagues and the business as a whole. My job is to represent military family members’ views and put forward ideas of how we can shape the employee experience to suit the particular needs of this group of people, including advocating for greater understanding of the unique situations we find ourselves in from time to time. From securing sponsorship for military family events such as the Celebrating Forces Families Awards to helping a military spouse colleague secure an extended sabbatical so he could go out with his wife to her posting in the Falklands, it’s a really rewarding role.You’re a military spouse—how has that experience shaped your career?
Initially, it had a detrimental effect - all of a sudden, I found myself moving from London to Scotland, taking a 30% pay cut and a job that was more convenient than it was fulfilling, and believing that my career would always need to play second fiddle around my partner’s military service. I regard joining Mott MacDonald as my lucky break - although I initially joined as a programme office coordinator, it was really interesting being in the midst of a busy infrastructure programme and seeing how the various projects interfaced. That has since led to greater things career-wise, but also a definite uptick in my self-confidence, and a realisation that as a military spouse, I, too, can have a meaningful career.
There are so many military spouses and partners who are still in the frame of mind that I was in back then - that they either need to give up work altogether or that they need to work in low-paid, perhaps term-time only jobs. It works for some, but not for others. I am really passionate about showing what is possible in terms of balancing a busy home life with three small children and having a successful career in my own right.What transferable skills from your experience as a military spouse have been most valuable in your current role?
I think the hallmark of being a military family member is being resilient and adaptable - we just crack on when our partners are away on duty or deployment. I’m not afraid of hard work and I take on challenges rather than shying away from them - just as military life can throw curveballs at you, if an issue arises at work, I try and find a solution, however deep I need to delve into creative resourcefulness. Being responsible for my three children and taking on the lion’s share of parenting, I have no choice but to be organised - that definitely filters through to my work, as I manage multiple workstreams at once, many of which are time-sensitive. One of my colleagues described me in three words as someone who ‘gets stuff done’ - that is definitely an attitude that has come from being a military family member, too.
Knowing a number of other military families and the situations they deal with has definitely made me more empathetic - I actually find this a really useful skill in my role, particularly in contractual negotiations, where my ability to think about things from the other party’s point of view helps formulate arguments as to why we should agree (or not!) to a proposal or, indeed, come to a compromise. It also helps when balancing the needs of Mott MacDonald as a business against the risks of signing up to particular terms or bidding for certain work.How would you describe the culture at Mott MacDonald?
Brilliant - person-centric, supportive, and with a family-like atmosphere. I have found senior management very approachable - there is no Devil Wears Prada-style outer office to battle through first. Those with more or different experiences always seem to have time to impart wisdom, and I try to make sure I am the same for my colleagues. There is no ‘rank snobbery’ - whether working with our talented apprentices and graduates or the executive board, we work as equals in pursuit of excellence, with mutual respect for our areas of expertise.How does the company support its employees in terms of career development and growth?
This is almost worth an article in its own right! The different disciplines each have their own technical development roadmaps and resources, and we also have access to internal and external learning programmes. Training budgets are really generous if there is a particular course or chartership programme we want to pursue; I don’t think I have been knocked back from anything I’ve wanted to do in that regard. We also have an internal mentoring network, which I have used both as mentor and mentee. I have found it a really open place where I can articulate my career development ideas without fear of sounding over-ambitious, and if there is a particular area of knowledge I want to tap into, it’s as easy as finding the right person in our internal directory and contacting them.What has been your proudest achievement?
Giving birth to my son at home, unexpectedly completely alone and a little ahead of schedule – my husband was stationed in Dunfermline at the time and raced home to the west coast, but he was literally two minutes too late. I was very lucky to have had positive experiences and no ill effects for all three of my children’s births, and it is the greatest privilege now to see them achieve and grow.What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced in your role, and how have you overcome them?
Time pressure is one of the biggest challenges - bids have deadlines that simply have to be met, so if lots of bids are on at the same time, having an ability to prioritise and work flexibly is extremely useful.
Commercial management was virtually completely new to me when I got pulled into it, and initially I found myself with a hefty dose of imposter syndrome, having got to grips with the various aspects of my role quite quickly but being really new to the team and leading negotiations with client staff who were more senior. For me, the way around that has been to think like a lawyer, making sure my reasoning and knowledge are sound so that if I’m challenged on a particular issue, I can be confident of my approach, and also to trust others when they tell me I’m capable of doing something - that is quite hard to get one’s head around, but it does motivate me to work things out for myself and ultimately grow my career.
Aside from the work itself, managing being mum to my three young children with a full-time role certainly has its challenges. Thankfully, I have flexible working arrangements in place: I am nominally assigned to my nearest office, but generally work either from home or from the local military coworking hub, which means I’m on hand if any issues arise with the children.
It’s good to be trusted to do the right thing for me when it comes to work-life balance. My work is very much output-focused; flexible working enables me to meet the needs of the business whilst also making sure I am there for my children.What advice would you give to someone considering a career in commercial management?
If you like money, knowing everyone’s professional business and enjoy the thought of being the business equivalent of a Swiss Army knife, commercial management might be for you!
Commercial management happens across all businesses, but it’s particularly great to be working in engineering, where your inputs directly enable teams to solve clients’ problems, whether creating infrastructure, advising on carbon reduction initiatives or creating safe environments. It is well worth considering as a career if you have a problem-solving mindset, enjoy adapting to ever-changing situations, and enjoy working in teams.
From my perspective, it has definitely helped to have had some prior experience working in project management - this knowledge filters into making commercial decisions as to what terms and conditions we should or should not accept, and also enables smooth working with my project-based colleagues. Even as a programme office coordinator, I got familiar with much of the technical language and acronyms, which helps when working with bid and project teams; looking back, I do appreciate having been able to build my knowledge from the ground up rather than launching straight into commercial management.
You can learn more about building a career at Mott MacDonald and the opportunities available, by visit their profile and exploring their open roles.