Ute West

I came to Exponent when we were growing quickly as a firm, and it's been very interesting and very challenging. After 15 years, I'm quite happy here. 

Elevate Yourself and Others 

The first priority for me every morning is to go through my emails and see if there's anything urgent. Quite often, there's something from a project manager who needs assistance to help a client or set up a complicated project.  

Those things are quite interesting because often you have to really think out of the box to make it as easy as possible for our clients and project managers so that all the invoicing works properly. 

I also assist clients when they have questions about what the project manager has done, or what an invoice contains, or what it is for. So, I liaise between the clients and the project managers for invoicing and accounting. 

Because I've been here for so long, and I know our system so well, people often come to me for help with specific reports, accounting questions, or projects. 

I really enjoy teaching people on how we work and how the system works — I want them to know when they have questions, they can come to me. 

New Day, New Opportunities 

We've continued to experience growth as a firm, which can mean opportunities to go in different directions. It really depends on what you want to do and what you make of it.

For me personally, I've enjoyed being able to find the role of a teacher or training specialist at Exponent. There will be a point where I start thinking about retiring. I've really enjoyed the last few years of training other people, so my goal is to keep training people on our system and training new staff so that the success of the firm continues. 

If you're looking for a career, whether it's on the science, engineering, or administrative side, we really do everything. So, it's a great place to work and to start advancing your career. 

Schedules as Unique as You Are 

This is one of the most flexible companies I've ever worked for, with a great work-life balance as well! Many roles have flex hours with the ability to work from home a few days a week. It's great for people who have children. It's about getting the work done, and employees really appreciate that flexibility. 

It's a dynamic environment, and if you work hard and you do well, you can go quite far. 

Exponent also makes a lot of effort to connect employees through team-building days, which are always really fun. We join with people from different offices who we usually don't see that much. It's great because most people attend and it's Exponent's way of saying thank you to the staff for their work, which really comes through.  

Build Relationships in a Fun, Exciting Environment  

Here in the UK, we talk quite openly about diversity, and I would say that Exponent is very open and supports anybody who needs help or wants to discuss any topic related to issues of diversity and equity. It's a company that's very open on these issues, which you don't always find everywhere else. 

I like that the company is flexible and very diverse in that our employees come from every background. 

I like Exponent's values. From a personal point of view, I think they're important and I feel the firm is very committed to seeing them through. It's a great company to work for. Yes, it's demanding; we're all busy and a lot is expected. But if you like that challenge, you'll like working at Exponent.