Julia Suttcliffe, systems autonomy capability manager and future technologies group leader, BAE Systems

That's a pretty long job title. What does your work entail?

"My job involves planning research and capability development activities, from an engineering perspective, followed by leading a multi-disciplinary team of engineers, scientists and support staff in the development and deployment of new technologies and concepts relating to design, deployment and operation of autonomous systems operation. This involves close liaison with end users, customers, academic collaborators, the industrial community in Australia and international partners and complex demonstration activities to potential customers. We have achieved a number of 'world firsts' in the last five years and received the BAE Systems chairman's gold award for innovation."

How did you get involved in this field?

"I joined the company in 1996, then British Aerospace, as a research scientist at the corporate research centre in Bristol, UK. I worked in the advanced embedded systems and autonomy demonstrator group for three years on a range of autonomy, artificial intelligence and data fusion projects before transferring to the BAE Systems Australia team based in Melbourne."

How long have you been doing this?

"Twelve years."

Do you specialise in one particular division of the armed forces?

"No, not specifically. I could be potentially involved in projects for all of them."

What qualifications and training do you have to enable you do the work?

"I have a degree and PhD in physics from Nottingham University, but soon became trained in the systems engineering discipline after joining BAE Systems Australia."

What challenges and difficulties do you face on a day-to-day basis?

"The most difficult challenge for me is meeting the demands of the busy and international work environment, whilst retaining time to be with and enjoy my family. My research background also sometimes causes me to be labelled as a 'boffin' in an engineering company, but I don't really mind that."

How do you feel your job benefits the armed forces?

"One day, autonomous systems will be prevalent in civilian and military applications. They already feature to some degree in all the military domains and this will only grow as autonomy offers the potential for reduced manning levels, reduced workload for operators and increased survivability of personnel, to state but a few examples of benefits. Australia will be a major beneficiary of autonomous systems, having a small population and budget, but large coastline and area."

What advice would you give to people who were looking to enter your field?

"Be quick. The area of autonomous systems is growing quickly. I have been really lucky to enjoy some of the most exciting, rapid prototyping projects in something of a pioneering era. There is huge demand for innovators and people who can step up to significant technical challenges."