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Moving from problem-solving to people-leading can be daunting for engineers looking to step into management roles – but it shouldn’t be. “I think having an engineering background is an asset,” says Vibishna Balagopal, head of electronics at Thales UK. “It’s a powerful tool that you can apply to solve real-world problems.” 

An electronics engineer by trade, Balagopal today leads a group of more than 50 electronics engineers focusing on optronics systems for defence applications. She says her progression into leadership roles was ultimately ‘very straightforward’ – yet one hurdle may have loomed larger than expected over the horizon. Towards the end of 2019, Balagopal had worked her way up to the ranks of VP of systems integration and hardware at LumiraDX, a provider of medical devices. Three months in, Covid-19 hit, and the demands of the role understandably ramped up. “It was a big step up for me, but I think the management, everyone were very supportive,” says Balagopal. “They were confident in my abilities.” 

Fast forward to April this year, and Balagopal, who is speaking at the upcoming Microelectronics UK event in September, was the recipient of a Highly Commended recognition at the Women Leaders in Electronics Awards. Balagopal noted that she was ‘especially proud to represent Thales on this international platform’, and says that the award was both a celebration of what Thales does day-to-day, as well as her personal journey. “It reinforced the value of the hard work and effort I’ve put in so far, and also it widened my network as well,” she notes. 

Thales’ UK operations covers all of the company’s primary business sectors, from aerospace and defence, to space, to digital security. The go-to word is innovation, a value ‘built into the very core of [the] business’, as the company puts it, which extends to Thales’ research capability.  

Across all sectors in which Thales operates, the radar must always be set to chart emerging threats. For digital security, Thales published in May its most recent Data Threat Report, polling more than 3,100 IT and security professionals. The verdict? Organisations across industry are having to weigh up how much they embrace generative AI. Nearly 70% of those polled viewed the rapid pace of AI development, particularly in genAI, as the leading security concern related to its adoption. 

One of the sessions in which Balogopal is speaking at Microelectronics UK focuses on how industry leaders can prepare for the next wave of technologies – and as she puts it, AI is ‘everywhere.’ “You can see how it changed the software industry; all the code generation, it’s all automated, but when it comes to hardware, I think the potential is at the doorstep,” Balagopal explains, referring to automation in areas such as chip and circuit design, and fault detection and process optimisation. “You just have to unlock it. 

“There is a lot of potential, and I don’t think it’s fully tapped into yet,” Balagopal adds. “That is key in terms of making sure the future generation is equipped with the AI thinking in terms of hardware.” 

AI represents both an opportunity and a threat for defence and aerospace. A report from Strategy& argues that, by 2030, AI technologies will be an ‘indispensable force multiplier’ in defence, playing a crucial role in how organisations manage resources, make decisions, and execute missions. Yet there are ‘significant’ risks alongside it; not least from a legal and ethical perspective. 

Balagopal notes defence has to explore AI judiciously, yet she notes the importance of proactive management in this regard. “Defence and aerospace industries are highly classified [and] secure environments, so there is a lot of nervousness about opening up the AI opportunity,” she says. “So I think we need more investment along how we can safely open up the potential. 

“Within my team, we have a very structured skills and talent management approach, so on an annual basis we ask where the team is sitting today in terms of their skills,” adds Balagopal. “But I’m also conscious the skills are, not confined, [but] maybe mapped to the existing job needs, not for the future job needs. So that is something I’m doing proactively to expand the radar.” 

For women in STEM, the challenges in pushing against the glass ceiling remain. UNESCO found that, during 2018 to 2023, women made up only 35% of STEM graduates. In the workplace, US government figures show that in 2022, 26% of women worked in STEM, up just one percentage point from the start of the millennium. Combine this with the traditional barriers to management and it is a potent mix.  

What does Balagopal recommend, therefore? “I think it’s important to have sponsors, mentors at an early stage,” she notes. “Okay, you’re a small cog in the big machine, but it’s important to see what the big machine is doing. 

“It’s also important that you upskill your team,” Balagopal adds, “because technology is exploding. [From an] industry or from an academic perspective, I don’t think we’re fully prepared to meet the challenge. So we need more investment in terms of training, and changing the ways of thinking, to prepare ourselves for the future.” 

Balagopal is also speaking at Microelectronics UK around ensuring a continuous pipeline of talent in the industry. The future, she says, will be multi-disciplinary – “no hardware, no software, everything blends” – and again, proactivity is the bedrock of her advice. 

“I think this is where we need more relationships with academia and industry, and also across sectors as well,” she adds. “Because microelectronics’ problem is, if you take defence, or aerospace, or medical, the problem remains the same. We have to break the silos in terms of our thinking, and we have to allow more collaboration.” 

Inevitably, some of that talent will want to gravitate towards management and leadership – and Balagopal again asserts the benefit of having the engineering background. “It’s problem solving at the end of the day,” she says. “I think people would say leaders are born, but I would say leaders are developed over time. You have to have the mindset, and the can-do attitude that would allow you to grow. 

“Engineering opens up a lot of opportunities. Personally, the reason I’m here today is because of engineering.”