Career Path Spotlight: Toby Uppington

At AECOM, staff members are inspired and supported to pursue job paths that finest suit their distinctive abilities, passions, and aspirations. Our Career Path Spotlight series will take you via the rewarding profession journeys of our staff who have stepped out of their comfort and ease zone and taken on new problems to chart their very own successful careers and progress. 

This time, we related with Toby Uppington, senior vice president and world wide energy/hydrogen marketplaces lead, to explore how he chose the path he’s on now.    

Hello Toby. What do you do for AECOM? 

I am in my 21st yr with AECOM and currently main our press into the emerging hydrogen financial system. I also search right after our customer account administration romance with our biggest non-public sector customer – Shell. Following travelling the earth and dwelling on 3 different continents, I have settled in London wherever I keep on to hone my skills in a variety of worldwide BBQ variations with my spouse and little ones.

Inform us about your journey and how you acquired in this article. 

I started out my skilled vocation eager to deploy the tutorial abilities I acquired as a geographer and hydrologist. This led me to alternatives in groundwater and contaminated land thoroughly clean-up, and varied assignments such as the construction of one of the UK’s greatest CCGT Electrical power Stations, Seabank 1, with Golder Associates as a contaminated land hydrogeologist. This gave me a taste for significant infrastructure tasks. 

Right after a couple several years, I took a crack from Golder when I was sponsored by Shell to do a master’s plan at Imperial Higher education. I moved to Northern Canada the place I aided acquire revolutionary remediation systems and directional drilling strategies. Following that, I returned to Golder as a senior environmental scientist and took gain of their personnel enhancement method. I transferred to Melbourne, Australia, where I continued to increase my immediate consumer management expertise and invested in adopting a suite of electronic systems to improve the way our expert services were being executed. 

Immediately after completing the plan, I returned to the British isles and continued to develop my professional abilities with Golder, right before joining URS to grow to be the operational chief for the Ecosystem group in Wimbledon and the oil and gasoline market sector guide in Europe. These roles taught me the complexity of bidding on important initiatives and controlling numerous teams of people today. 

I was then requested to be part of the Strategy and Expansion workforce exactly where my very first endeavor was to establish the Company Client Account Administration Software and do the job-successful finest practices. I also produced URS’ progress strategy for Europe, Africa and India. When URS transitioned into AECOM, I served direct the integration of the two various delivery teams with a particular focus on assessing sector alternatives and purposeful method for all organization lines in the region. One particular of the most intriguing initiatives I championed was the enhancement of AECOM’s advancement into fashionable procedures of construction by setting up a modular housing small business in the British isles in partnership with a key architect. This function allowed me to absolutely have an understanding of the Properties + Destinations company and integration of all our specialist style procurement and development expert services for a item alternatively than experienced companies market.

Adhering to the achievement of these jobs, I was then asked to look at how AECOM could reposition alone in the energy current market in line with our Sustainable Legacies system. As the senior vice president and global energy/hydrogen marketplaces lead, I emphasis on applying one of the four main initiatives of our expansion strategy in the power sector, specifically in positioning AECOM for the emerging hydrogen economy that is altering the way many of our shoppers consider their energy decarbonization choices. 

I was also eager to maintain direct connection to exterior shoppers and get the job done-profitable, so as a dual responsibility, I took on the consumer account manager position for Shell – a buyer I have continually labored with for most of my profession. 

What is the most effective element of your career? 

I never know what my inbox will carry me in the early morning, and I keep on to be psyched and surprised by the future obstacle that awaits – be it reconstruction of Ukraine’s strength infrastructure or a ask for to existing to university small children on what net zero indicates to them in follow. 

What has been your proudest minute? 

Of all the items I have been included in, developing a modular housing item that tenants now are living in that are found throughout the British isles amazes me to this working day. It was undoubtedly the most difficult detail to provide with each other! 

If not this path, what would have been your profession approach B? 

Forestry – I was made available the likelihood to stay in the Amazon for a couple of several years when I was leaving college. Possibly that was some thing I should really have told the youthful me: Really do not be fearful!