5 minutes with… Stephen Walker, Academy Manager

Why did you decide to join Marlowe Fire & Security?

I joined Marlowe in 2012 as a Service Engineer covering East Midlands and based in Nottingham Centre.

I came from serving an Electrical Apprenticeship and remained at that company for 10 years

What are your main responsibilities?

I am responsible for Marlowe Academy which is our in-house training facility responsible for upskilling current engineers and developing new trainees through a dedicated training programme. I also support technical sections of the Group induction.

I create new training courses and learning materials, support engineers in the field with technical or remote support, deliver training, meet with suppliers to look at innovative new products and solutions

What is your main objective within this role?

The main objective in my role is to build the brand of Marlowe Academy

To become a reputable training centre which is well renowned within the industry for proving best in class training.

We work to identify skills gaps within our workforce and give our employees the knowledge and skills to install, service, maintain and commission all our different systems. We offer a variety of apprenticeships, trainee programmes and entry opportunities to showcase Fire and Security engineering as a career route, in turn supporting the shortage of engineers across our industry.

What jobs did you do prior to joining us?

I came from serving an electrical apprenticeship and remained at that company for 10 years

The company was a much smaller business with 7 engineers covering from London to Scotland and I completed larger installations and attended corrective calls on domestic, commercial and industrial sites.

What prepared you for your role here?

I have always been very technology focused and driven by making information available and easy to access. I previously ran a home hosted server for the industry holding manuals and software. When that outgrew my home internet provider I moved hosting to a data centre.

That website and content is now Mar-Tec

Mar-Tec is our internal engineer’s bible housing Manuals, Software, Site downloads and programming guides.

What’s the best thing about working at Marlowe Fire & Security Group?

We all run at high capacity and workload at all times but regardless, we seem to step up that extra gear when it’s needed for our customers. I see various employees going above and beyond on a daily basis, working outside of their main job description, but to their strengths. I also enjoy seeing engineers going out and putting their learning to good use in the field.  

What has been the highlight of your career at Marlowe Fire & Security over the years?

The Running of my East and West Midlands Service Teams will always be close to my heart.

Knowing my engineers on a personal level, being part of their lives and supporting where needed was very important to me and I have enjoyed watching them all progress.

The build and launch of Mar-KAM and Mar-Tec are project highlights for me as I feel these have created the biggest positive impact.

Are you working on any special projects that would be interesting to this interview?

Currently the Academy is focused on building its brand, broadening the content and training courses we cover and spreading its regional reach. We are rolling out a new platform interface to house all Academy content and have employee able to see their current training journey and what the best progression paths are. This takes a bottom-up approach to learning, giving employees the autonomy and resource to steer their own development.

What has been your greatest personal achievement?

My greatest personal achievement is my daughter Lily.

Watching her grow and change just amazes me. Teaching her about the world and watching her little face as she tries to understand. Seeing bits of myself come out in her personality and feeling proud of the influence I can give her.

What makes you most proud of your team/company?

I have worked for various teams now within the business over my nearly 13 years and I have always been proud of the team I work with.

What makes me proud of my HR team is the shared attitude to do right by the employee and employer. We have a clear strategy that we are currently in our second phase of and it is rewarding to see how all our projects tie in together to meet our strategic goals.

Where were you born/where did you grow up?

I grew up in Ardoyne, Belfast, Northern Ireland and lived there until I was 5 years old

3 fun facts about you?

I lived in Edinburgh for two years.

For all my life I have only spoke my true Belfast accent to my family, its fairly recent I have chosen to speak it publicly

I love my music and follow Anjunadeep like a religion

I’m big on space and Astronomy (Not Astrology!!), the size of the universe blows my mind

Do you have any hidden talents?

I feel I’m pretty good at fixing anything electrical or mechanical and will strip down anything I can get my hands on to fix it or find out how it works or is put together

What’s on your bucket list?

I have always wanted to learn how to code but have never put in time, i want more tattoo’s and would love to see the earth from space

What are the best things in life?

 Love, Family, Sleep, Coffee, Music, Pizza