Building from zero, again and again.

It started with a conviction that electrification would reshape transport long before the industry consensus caught up. My career has been the result of the intersection between my passion for motorsport and a commitment to technical progression.

After completing my BSc in Electrical Engineering at Istanbul Technical University in 2001, I spent my early career at TÜBİTAK while completing my MSc part-time. We developed Türkiye’s first electric vehicle using a serial hybrid powertrain architecture. I personally wired the lead-acid battery packs for that vehicle, a story I detailed in the inaugural edition of my LinkedIn newsletter, From Track to Trench.

I closely monitored Formula 1 regulations during the discussions surrounding the introduction of “push-to-pass” technology. Following this ambition, I joined AVL Powertrain UK to develop hybrid vehicle architectures for Jaguar Land Rover. At the time, electrification was so nascent that I had to build new teams from the ground up at every stage of the process.

In 2008, I received a call from an agency that felt like the definitive moment for any engineer: an invitation to work in Formula 1. I joined Mercedes-Benz High Performance Powertrains a few months later, where I contributed to the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). In 2009, the McLaren Mercedes driven by Sir Lewis Hamilton became the first-ever hybrid F1 car to win a Grand Prix at the Hungaroring. This work was later recognised with the Dewar Trophy from the Royal Automobile Club.

Following a further tenure at Jaguar Land Rover, I moved to Williams Advanced Engineering. This is where the pace truly accelerated. I led the battery development and integration for the Jaguar C-X75 hybrid supercar, the vehicle featured in the James Bond film Spectre, which earned a Jaguar Land Rover Technology Award.

Then came a project that defined a new category of motorsport: the FIA Formula E Gen 1 battery. When Williams executives asked if we could deliver the project, I spent two days personally building the foundations and architecture to maintain strict confidentiality, as a competitor had already been nominated. We won the tender, then designed and delivered the battery that powered the entire grid for the first four seasons. This achievement was honoured with the Simms Medal and the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in Innovation.

I subsequently built the Jaguar Racing Formula E powertrain programme from a blank sheet of paper. This involved assembling the team, establishing the architecture, and delivering a competitive system for Jaguar’s return to international racing. Despite starting with zero data while competitors were two years ahead, Jaguar FE became the first team to race a fully in-house powertrain competitively by the third season.

In 2018, I pivoted to a large-scale corporate environment. I established the electrified powertrain engineering group for CNH Industrial across Switzerland, Italy, and the UK, managing the acquisition of a strategic business. Later, as Vice President of Advanced Technologies and Innovations, I led a global organisation of hundreds of engineers across Belgium, Italy, the US, Brazil, and India. Directing major R&D investments was a masterclass in operating at scale: building consensus, aligning stakeholders, and delivering against public capital-market commitments.

In July 2024, I joined Williams Grand Prix Technologies as Technical Director and was promoted to Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer within months. WGPT is a greenfield, F1-derived engineering solutions business. Building this organisation from the ground up is the exact kind of challenge I have pursued throughout my career. We are now applying the speed and precision of Formula 1 to solve the most complex engineering problems of the future.