Supacat Appoints Engineering Director & Chief Engineer

Steve Austen has joined Supacat as Engineering Director & Chief Engineer to lead the company’s engineering capability in developing and delivering innovative, high performance products for the defence, marine, renewables and energy sectors.

Steve joins from The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) where he had the Engineering lead for all plant and equipment, including the Shannon Class all weather lifeboat and its launching system, the latter jointly developed by the RNLI and Supacat.

A Chartered Engineer, Naval Architect and Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Steve brings over 25 years’ experience in R&D, design, supply and support across the defence and marine sectors and specialist expertise in composites.

On his appointment Steve Austen commented, “I’ve worked alongside Supacat for over a decade and have always been impressed with their engineering capabilities, innovation, responsiveness and ‘can do’ attitude, so it is a great privilege for me to join the company. As the company grows across a range of engineering sectors, we will continue investing in our skills and expertise to be the best at what we do and how we do it while keeping focus on the military vehicles Supacat is renowned for”.

Nick Ames, Managing Director, Supacat Group Ltd, said, “We are delighted to welcome Steve whose background in marine and huge experience in other sectors will make a major contribution to the company at this stage in its development. His appointment underlines our ongoing commitment to innovative engineering”.