Expertise in cutting-edge materials has been worth its weight in gold for award-winning McLaren engineer Ella Podmore

The Institution of Engineering and Technology recently named Ella Podmore as its Young Woman Engineer of the Year, choosing the McLaren Fault Analysis Engineer from a long list of hugely talented candidates. And as the first-class honours graduate adds her award to McLaren’s trophy cabinet, the irony of its considerable weight is not lost on her, given that Ella spends many hours analysing the materials that make McLaren’s supercars so light.

Brought up near Oxford, Ella credits her natural curiosity – and a dad obsessed with ‘tinkering’ – for laying the early foundations of her career. ‘I was always a ‘why’ child, and my dad would love taking things apart, everything from the washing machine to cars,’ Ella remembers. ‘He’d pass things to me and my two brothers to look at, which I think instilled quite a logical thought process.’

At school, Ella was drawn to the STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), and focused on becoming an engineer during her A-levels, much like her siblings. But while they became automotive mechanical engineers, Ella’s passion lay in materials.‘Even though I had that mentality of wanting to fix things and contribute to industry, I loved chemistry and I wanted to apply that in a particular way, where I was looking at atoms under the microscope – big things on a minute level.’

During 2016, in the third year of a Materials Engineering course at The University of Manchester, Ella secured an internship with McLaren, first as Quality Process Engineer, later Project Engineer. As well as her academic abilities, Ella believes her experience as president of the university netball team appealed to her recruiters. ‘They asked how I managed those athletes, and kept picking up on teamwork, leadership and communication,’ she recalls. ‘That’s been key at McLaren because I’ve had to lead technical reviews and communicate with other engineering departments.’

Ella returned to university to complete her thesis on the corrosion susceptibility of aluminium, with a guarantee of a full-time role at McLaren if she cleared two hurdles.

‘I had to get a first in my thesis and provide solutions for McLaren from my work on it,’ she remembers. Ella passed with flying colours, and in September 2018 she joined McLaren full-time as the company’s first ever Materials Engineer.

Ella has already made a big impact at McLaren. Her work has influenced aluminium surface treatment, and she’s worked extensively with McLaren Special Operations, ensuring bespoke customer requests such as 24-carat gold coatings adhere to strict production quality standards. A particularly proud achievement, she recalls, was her contribution to the flexible rear aileron of the Speedtail.‘I was involved in the early stages of that design,’ she says, ‘looking at how we could achieve the optimum carbon fibre lay-up to get flexibility with rigidity. It was an automotive engineering first, so that was pretty cool.’

In September 2020, Ella was promoted to her current Fault Analysis Engineer role, where she examines prototype components that have been stressed to the limit and beyond during McLaren’s rigorous test programmes.

‘McLaren has been a great place to work. When I first arrived as a 19-year-old girl I thought I’d have to toughen up, be a really masculine version of myself and dress a certain way, but I quickly realised that I can be myself.’ she grins. ‘I think it’s really important to share that message.’

She has embraced her role as McLaren Automotive’s lead STEM ambassador, appearing on Blue Peter, representing McLaren at Goodwood and giving school presentations. ‘There aren’t many female role models in the industry, and I think there are stereotypes we grow up with that make us feel we shouldn’t be doing this,’ she says. ‘But McLaren has a fantastic STEM group. I love the McLaren brand and I’m so proud to work here.

I wanted to showcase to other girls that there are some really cool jobs out there for them. Just in the four years I’ve been at McLaren, there are far more women taking up STEM roles here. We’ve still got a long way to go, but I’ve definitely seen improvements.’

One day, Ella hopes to welcome her own female engineering intern to McLaren – and maybe that’ll mean another Young Woman Engineer of the Year trophy for the cabinet.