Greater Oxford Area
Dynamic Engineering Leader with over 22 years’ experience driving complex, high-hazard facilities in fusion energy, cryogenics, hydrogen systems (MAST-U, JET, CERN and ZeroAvia). Recognised for delivering large-scale projects end-to-end, consistently enabling scientific objectives. Core Skills:Operations Management | Project Leadership | Hydrogen; Cryogenic Systems | Vacuum Technologies | Safety; Regulatory Compliance | Stakeholder Engagement Career history: My career in engineering started in the semiconductor industry, learning fundamentals of being a vacuum technician and operations and maintenance engineering. I moved to Geneva in Switzerland to deliver the LHC in the hunt for the Higgs boson. I was responsible for laboratory studies across a wide range of vacuum hardware. Studies include: Fischer Mommsen pumping speed measurements of NEG products, sputter ion pumps, turbo molecular pumps with a variety of gas species, outgassing measurements and analysis of materials. My final year at CERN saw me systematically qualify each long straight sector of the LHC, the following operations campaign discovered the Higgs, mission accomplished! I relocated to the UK to contribute to the worlds energy crisis, in Nuclear Fusion. I developed Tritium compatible turbo molecular pumps, Tritium transfer lines and injection modules for the JET DTE-2 campaigns, in parallel led the delivery of the MAST-U fusion reactor to operation where upon completion, Prince William initiated the first low energy plasma. A change in career path took me to the space industry, leading a team in delivering 2 large cryogenic / thermal vacuum test facilities (each 5m x 6m) for the testing of large space craft and space instrumentation featuring vacuum, heating and cryogenics and an impressive data acquisition and control system to be the flagship TVAC testing facilities in the UK. Upon delivery and successful testing of the first €150M payloads, I discovered a need to contribute further to the climate crisis with ZeroAvia, whose goal for zero emission aviation was incredibly exciting to significantly contribute to the reduction of global emissions. Utilising leadership skills and technical knowledge in vacuum, cryogenics and hydrogen gas delivery systems, I am now leading the Hydrogen Management Systems Department for ZeroAvia, accelerating arrival of clean aviation developing cryogenic hydrogen projects including aircraft fuel systems & ground infrastructure including large cryogenic hydrogen refuelling vehicles.
Leading the HMS department overseeing gaseous and cryogenic liquid hydrogen projects for the safe, efficient storage and supply of Hydrogen to fuel cell systems aboard aircraft Deputising for managing director
Developing zero emission propulsion systems for aviation Leading design through certification for high pressure gaseous hydrogen systems and cryogenic liquid hydrogen system development for certification
Leading the production group which comprises supply chain, manufacturing procurement managers, stores management, and a team of highly skilled assembly, integration and test technicians for space flight hardware and supporting ground based systems. Deriving the scope and development of the groups activities, and ensuring the group aligns to departmental objectives and to the organisational objectives.
Delivering thermal vacuum test facilities for space craft and instrumentation Leading an engineering team from the requirements stage through to design, procurement, build, commissioning. Sub-systems of TVAC test facilities include Rough and high vacuum systems Liquid Nitrogen Cryogenic cooling systems Thermal/cryogenic Shrouds Data Acquisition and Control systems Vacuum vessel and seismic damping systems
Responsible for Vacuum projects across site for JET and MAST-U, senior vacuum engineer advising vessel conditioning and Project managing the delivery of Tokamak services for MAST-U including Vacuum pumping system, Hydrogen gas fuelling & Glow Discharge Cleaning (GDC) systems, compressed air, chilled water circuits, Poloidal Field (PF) water circuits, CCTV, bake systems: thermal management systems, auxiliary heating system, divertor heating systems
Vacuum engineer developing future projects for the JET Tokamak and providing Vacuum consultancy for the MAST-U project JET - Over seeing and driving Tritium projects for upcoming DTE-2 campaign - Developing Tritium compatible pumping technologies in partnership with suppliers (scroll pumps, turbo pumps) - Tritium supply design and considerations including purge system for secondary containments, electrical isolation from machine potential, containments to comply with design codes (e.g. ASME B31.3) MAST-U - Vacuum Envelope Containment Officer - Design, procurement, installation, commissioning vacuum system and gas delivery for MAST-U - Vacuum consultancy Other - Assisting Special Techniques groups with vacuum tests - material degassing and residual gas analysis of components - training apprentices in vacuum technologies where possible
My move to CERN for 5 years expanded my skill set and saw me take a more leadership role, creating and executing procedures for interventions on the Large Hadron Collider, upgrading the LHC at technical stops and shutdowns, designing report templates, creating work dose planning preparation for work in radioactive environments, limiting exposure through optimised working and preparation. I have also been responsible for laboratory studies across a wide range of vacuum hardware and am very familiar with the full repertoire of vacuum equipment. Studies include Fischer Mommsen test dome pumping speed measurements of NEG products, sputter ion pumps, turbo molecular pumps with a variety of gas species, degassing measurements and analysis of materials, degassing and vacuum validation of new chambers for the experiments of CERN (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb, ALICE). I assisted in the design and study of two new concepts of sputter ion pumps: ATLAS NEG coated aluminium annular ion pump, and an ion pump of my design featuring an integrated NEG cartridge. My final year at CERN saw me systematically qualify each sector of the 27km LHC after mechanical upgrade followed by bake out and NEG activation. The LHC is now operating at higher performance and with great success. See my projects for more detailed information on my latest project and the impact they have at CERN. http://jobs.web.cern.ch/people/testimonials/john