In our Day in the Life series, we sit down with various team members from our global departments, taking a look at behind the scenes of their typical schedules. Our colleagues come from a range of backgrounds and each bring unique perspectives to their roles and our clients’ renewable energy journeys.
In this instalment, we meet with Jake Royle, one of our Senior Metocean Engineers. As a self-confessed ‘translator of science’, Jake enjoys sifting through ideas, data and facts to discover new insights. “It’s my job to distil many sources of data into palatable information about how the marine environment interacts with an offshore wind farm,” shares Jake.
When we asked him for a summary of his role and duties, it’s fair to say it couldn’t be covered in a job title alone. So, Jake provided a perfect explanation: “If you are building a wind farm in the sea there are a lot of questions you need to answer about the marine environment. How big are the waves? Will the sea freeze? Is the sand moving? Do we have typhoons? How often will we be able to work there? My role is to answer those questions in a way that people will enjoy the answer. “
It sounds good to us!
A.M.
For Jake, family life is a central part of his day to day - as is his sense of humour. “I am embracing my midlife crisis so the first thing that wakes me up is whatever ache or pain I have picked up from sport over the last few days,” Jake shares. He’s a man of many hobbies, all of which are important to striking an important work life balance. “I surf when I get the chance, skate if it is dry and the kids want to and I am training in Muay Thai which is the perfect antidote to a busy week of science.”
Between 8 and 9am, Jake is normally occupied with family activities, having breakfast with his two daughters aged 11 and 13 and his wife, fellow offshore wind industry expert Lis Royle. Jake praises his flexible working arrangements at K2 Management which help him to juggle busy family life, adding “The best thing about my work environment is that it is very modern and most days I have the ability to support the people around me while I think about work.”
Between 9am and 1pm is Jake's optimal time of the day where he typically splits his work into several categories. “I spend a lot of time distilling complicated ideas into simple “so what?” proof statements or graphs,” shares Jake. This is something he is doing alongside his role as the Package Manager for an offshore wind farm project, where his duties include checking in with colleagues to tackle problems and bump around ideas. “The people I work with are very bright – the biggest challenge is pointing them in the right direction and managing everyone’s expectations.”
“I like talking with my colleagues about what weather problem they are trying to answer,” adds Jake. “Then I give them some bespoke analysis to help them understand where to best allocate their resources.”
P.M.
When it comes to lunch, for Jake it’s a simple affair - and a possible option for a career change. He’s not a lunch person, but is partial to a salad. “I`m getting pretty awesome at making salads,” Jake shares. “So if this offshore wind metocean thing doesn`t work out I might get a job as a salad consultant.” We certainly can’t knock his confidence!
From 2pm onwards, Jake spends a lot of time nurturing the expertise of his more junior colleagues, passing on his experience and knowledge to the people who will be managing weather risk and quantifying extreme conditions in the future. Jake shares, “I am in my best mood of the day after lunch and this is when I commonly talk with the young people I affectionately tell myself I am mentoring. I work with great young people in the industry, so I look forward to hearing about their work and offering suggestions or encouragement.”
4pm onwards is when Jake tends to work more flexibly, particularly as his kids make their way home. “By 4pm I’ve usually had a great day at work, but I then really need to focus on delivering whatever I have promised my colleagues I would do,” shares Jake. “I work well in the late afternoon when the pressure of the end of the day is on me and the phones are quiet. I know tomorrow I will wake up with another great idea or exciting problem to solve so it is important to get the report written, code finished or graphs plotted before I retire for the day.”
In the evening, Jake spends much of his time outdoors with his children and their friends. “We pack a toy, sometimes an expensive toy like a paddle board, sometimes a cheap toy like an 80L Perspex box, and we go to the lake and horse around,” he shares. He also adds how his love of sport helps him to relax and distract his mind from fizzing with ideas. “I like to do mindless sports for myself,” adds Jake. “I am really enjoying Muay Thai boxing – there is nothing like making sure your friend doesn’t kick you in the head to allow you to refocus. I also like to skate – in the way a 44 year old scientist would!”
When asked about his favourite things about K2 Management, we were so pleased to hear Jake talk about his experiences with such glowing positivity - and modest Jake humour of course: “In the renewable energy world K2M is like a premiership football club – they only employ the best – the smartest, forward looking and most capable people in the industry (and ME!).”
Reflecting on his favourite thing about his role, to Jake, it’s a simple answer. “Not many people get to make money where their interests (the sea, waves, tides, and climate) and their skills (analysis maths and explaining) intercept with one of the largest problems humanity has to solve (how do we get electricity to people without impacting the climate?),” shares Jake. “The people I work with are great fun too.
Jake had some poignant words to share with us about the colleagues he works with too. In his view, his colleagues are not only his fellow team mates at K2 Management, but all of us globally. “There are 8.2 billion people on this team, our planet,” Jake reflects. “Tackling climate change is a planetary challenge, I am lucky enough not to see anyone in the industry as a competitor as we all have to do our bit. I am focused on helping people build offshore wind projects to reduce the planet's CO2 emissions. In short, I`ll work nicely with anyone who wants my advice!”
If you’re interested in an exciting, engaging career in renewable energy consultancy, you can take a look at our Careers page for vacancies.
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