Adelaide Spicer

What inspired you to pursue Chemical Engineering at UNSW, and how did it fit with your career goals?

In high school, my favourite subjects were Chemistry, Food Technology, and Design Technology. The combination of chemical theory and design practicality really appealed to me. It also didn’t hurt that my dad is a Chemical Engineer, I admire him a lot and so was always curious about his work. We had a whiteboard above our dining table, so over dinner we’d often get a repeat of a lecture he’d given earlier that day.

Was there a particular project or experience during your studies that had a major impact on your career path?

For my Design Technology major work, I designed a nut-free food product that emulated the aroma, flavour, and mouthfeel of nuts. It came from a desire to make my best friend, who was allergic to nuts, feel included. Then, I had a similar opportunity in UNSW’s Product Design course to create a novel product from scratch using cricket flour. The process of conducting research to understand users, crafting concepts, and then prototyping and testing for feedback is very similar to what I do day-to-day now. I’ve always been drawn to this design process, whether I’m creating food products or, now, digital products.

Which skills from your degree have been most valuable in your work?

My degree gave me a strong foundation in research, design, and critical thinking. In my role today, I do process design and user experience design in financial services. Similar to crafting and conducting scientific experiments, I create hypotheses around why a process may not be operating optimally, speak to people, test systems, and then synthesise key insights. That allows me to diagnose problems, craft proposed solutions, and collaborate with others to implement them.

Can you tell us about your current role and your key responsibilities?

I’m an Experience Designer at Macquarie Group. I lead design for our Asset Management business in Americas, which involves partnering with technology and business teams to digitally transform our processes and products. The goal is to deliver a better experience for our staff and investors, while also reducing process risk and driving business growth. 

What advice would you give to students wanting to build a career in product-focused engineering?

Product focused engineering will equip you with widely applicable problem solving capabilities and a commercial mindset that translates across industries. It’s enabled me to work in food, IT, and finance and I’m sure will help anyone kick off a successful career.