Employee Spotlight: Zoe Clark
Written bySpire Global
At Spire Global, there are so many talented people who provide such amazing talents to our efforts. Here, we showcase a piece of Spire’s pioneering story through the eyes of one.
What is your role at Spire and how long have you been with the company?
Zoe Clark, Satellite Lead AIT Technician – Glasgow location
What drew you to Spire originally?
I was very young when I started. I was 16 when I started in the apprenticeship program here at Spire. I had no idea what a satellite really was and when I was introduced with the opportunity of working within engineering, it was something that I had always seen myself doing.
How has Spire changed since?
It has changed massively. From starting in a clean room with 4/5 benches and satellites with 30 HDC cables in them, to now where we have 10 benches in our own cleanroom with over 14 satellites at a time of all different versions. Watching the company grow into all its different sectors and watch each of them get better all the time is pretty awesome to be a part of.
What motivates you to wake up and go to work?
Knowing that every day isn’t going to be the same. In manufacturing, there is always something new to learn and always something new that will get thrown at you, so no day is ever boring. The sense of achievement we get from taking satellites from kit boxes to fully assembled FMs and shipping them off for launch is definitely a motivator for me.
What has been your favorite project so far?
I would have to say the new 4.x version of our satellite. I was on this project from start to finish so being able to take it from talks of “this is what we want to do”, to “this is how we are going to do it” and bringing that to the finish was a great sense of achievement.
What’s something most people don’t know about you?
Hm, that’s a difficult one. I was taught how to say the alphabet backward before I knew how to forwards and to this day I still struggle to say it the correct way.
Another would be my age. Because I am a Lead Technician and have been with the company for 4 years, most people assume I am in my late 20’s or early 30’s. They are usually surprised to learn I am 20 years old.
If you could ask our CEO Peter one thing, what would it be?
I want to know the story of how he came up with the idea for Spire. How did he sit one night and go, “I’m going to create a company and this is exactly how I’m going to do it”?
What are your three most overused words/phrases?
- My brains not working
- Why is this satellite not working?
- Is it time to lay on the floor yet?
What advice would you give to new hires?
Always be open-minded and get to know the people around you. It’s the people in Spire that make the company.
If you could switch your job with anyone else within Spire, whose job would you want?
Kier Fortier, our Launch Manager.
