Marisa's Journey

Can you briefly introduce yourself and tell us more about your role?

I’m Marisa Kurimbokus, the Head of Engineering at Raeon. I have over a decade of experience in engineering for automotive and power electronics applications, leading multidisciplinary technical teams. I am hugely passionate about engineering and sustainability, and have won awards for my work, such as the WES Top 50 Women in Engineering 2022 (Inventors and Innovators) and the IET’s Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2024.

At Raeon, I look after everything from research and development projects, through to design and hand over to the production team. Myself and the engineering team also support the manufacture of our custom battery products. Getting a good understanding of our manufacturing process helps us really fine tune our designs to ensure they can be robustly assembled to a high quality.

How would you describe the team and work environment at Raeon?

The Raeon team is passionate, experienced and keen to stay agile and forward thinking. It’s a wonderfully open and welcoming workplace where we ensure every team member has the autonomy to contribute, and the processes in place to support them. We continually strive for best practice, and are excellent at supporting continuous improvement in all areas of the business. We constantly challenge each other without bias, and embrace new methods and ways of working to improve our output, and ultimately, our offering to the end customer.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

I love the flexibility and the autonomy of my role. Each member of the team has the chance to make a really meaningful impact in all areas of the company, and I find the level of responsibility and influence incredibly motivating. The culture that we have created at Raeon allows every member of the team to feel empowered and able to contribute and make changes, and that in turn leads to a highly creative and innovative space.

I also value the variety in my role. For me, no two days are the same, which makes my role so enjoyable. I can be involved in customer calls, engrossed in CAD, or trying out something new in the workshop - all in one day!

Finally, I love that the work we do directly supports other companies to realise their electrification goals. Knowing that we have provided a cost effective solution for our customers, allowing them to realise the potential in their own designs, and supporting their goals towards net zero technology is wonderful.

What does the future at Raeon look like for you?

We’re at an exceptionally exciting time in Raeon’s journey! We’re starting to develop our autonomous and semi-autonomous production line at our new headquarters in Warwick. Whilst our excellent production team is taking the lead on this initiative, there’s still plenty of support needed from the engineering team! We’re currently defining a class leading design that will allow full flexibility for our customers, whilst slashing lead times and assuring high quality by following our standardised production method.

We’re also working hard to develop our next generation of cooling technology, which can pass the very stringent UN38.3 testing needed for battery products. This will support our customers by providing a fully bespoke, cost-effective battery solution that is safe, robust and reliable for their application.

This year is going to be full of challenges, and I’m looking forward to finding solutions with the team along the way!