“Leading by example” as a woman in military defence engineering

At 32, Flavia Popescu CMgr FCMI is already one of the youngest women in the UK to hold four fellowships from professional bodies representing several disciplines. 

“It was important to push for these fellowships because, above that, there is nowhere higher you can go,” says Flavia, who is our Chartered Manager of the Week. “I had the knowledge, the drive and the ambition. It’s about reaching the top.”

Since 2014, Flavia has worked extensively across STEM industries, including oil and gas, nuclear and defence. She has held management roles at organisations such as Babcock International Group, Defra, the Environment Agency, Foster Wheeler, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Thames Water.

Taking the long-term view

In her first job in oil and gas as an engineering technical assistant in 2014, Flavia was responsible for overseeing a significant £7.7bn project while working with a large team of up to 700 people. 

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At Thames Water, she helped reduce portfolio expenditure by 40% by improving tendering and procurement processes and implementing GDPR rules. At the MOD, she managed and supported large and complex engineering projects across the land, air and maritime domains (she hasn’t yet worked in space, but is keen to do so). She also implemented a benefits management function for one of the MOD’s largest digitisation projects, worth £2.5bn.