Turning challenges into opportunities: the female engineer redefining the industry

Some engineers work with blueprints, Jo Morley works with possibilities. From AI-driven maintenance tools to smarter energy solutions, she’s helping businesses to rethink how they generate, manage and optimise their energy use.

As a performance engineer working with some of E.ON’s largest business customers, Jo tackles real-world energy challenges – whether it’s fine-tuning efficiency for a major manufacturing site or preventing system interruptions before they happen. It’s a job that blends data, problem-solving and innovation – and for Jo, that’s exactly where the excitement lies.

Jo’s engineering role at E.ON sees her helping businesses get a reliable, efficient energy supply. From Britvic’s combined heat and power (CHP) system, to Diageo’s solar (PV) site, and Walkers’ wind-powered operations, she works with brand-name customers who have major energy demands.

“The best part of my job is how tangible it is,” she says. “The customers I work with have huge assets on-site, and you can literally see the impact of the work we do. Solving problems and seeing the results first-hand is really satisfying.”

But it’s not always smooth sailing. Many legacy sites can have unreliable or inconsistent data, which makes it tricky to diagnose and fix problems. “Having good data can mean the difference between everything running smoothly and constant firefighting,” Jo explains.

One of the most exciting projects Jo is working on is a preventative maintenance tool powered by AI.

“It actually came out of one of E.ON’s hackathons", (an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time) she says. “We trialled it using poor-quality data, and despite that, it predicted trends with 86% accuracy – which was seriously impressive.”

By spotting potential faults before they happen, the tool could help E.ON move from reactive problem-solving to proactive energy management. Using AI, it’s trained to detect subtle anomalies in data — patterns too small for the human eye to catch — that signal potential failures. For example, brief spikes in energy production for the same level of consumption could indicate impurities burning with the fuel, an early warning of an impending issue. “It could completely change how we work with customers,” Jo adds. “It means we’d have more time to focus on long-term improvements instead of constantly chasing issues as they occur.”

Jo’s path into engineering wasn’t exactly traditional.

In fact, her first job involved keeping three-year-olds afloat at a swimming pool – despite admitting she’s not the strongest swimmer herself!

But it was during her time at university, studying chemical engineering at Newcastle, that she started to rethink her path. She had always dreamed of working for a big-name makeup brand, and that dream became a reality during her industrial placement. However, the reality didn’t quite match her expectations.

“It just didn’t feel fulfilling,” she says. “But while I was there, I worked on an energy project, and that’s when something clicked. I realised energy was where I wanted to be.”

That realisation led her to E.ON’s Graduate Scheme, where she quickly built a broad skillset across multiple roles, from engineering and asset performance to innovation and process safety. Working across both the UK and E.ON’s headquarters in Germany, she gained hands-on experience in optimising energy systems, trialling new technologies, and helping businesses to improve efficiency.

“The variety of roles I’ve had at E.ON has been incredible,” she says. “Each one has helped me develop different skills, whether that’s working directly with customers, understanding asset performance, or testing new technologies. It’s given me a really rounded perspective on energy challenges – and how we can solve them.”

Breaking barriers as a female engineer

Jo’s career has been full of learning curves, but one of the biggest challenges has been navigating a male-dominated industry.

“There have been times where people wouldn’t even address me directly – they’d speak to a male colleague – or even a male work experience student instead. The more I work in the industry, the more I notice how things have been designed for men, by men.”

But she’s determined to help shift the industry. “E.ON is really good at promoting women in energy – and in STEM roles like engineering – and making it clear that diversity matters. Hiring more women doesn’t just help balance the numbers, it brings fresh perspectives, new ways of thinking, and better solutions.”

Her advice to young women considering a career in energy: “Don’t be put off by being in a male-dominated field. No idea is a stupid idea. Have confidence in yourself – you’ll be surprised at how valuable your voice is.”

Looking to the future

For Jo, the future of energy is all about self-sufficiency. “Businesses don’t want to be dependent on the grid, they want more control over their energy use.”

Her team is expanding into more battery storage sites, solar PV systems and heat pump technology to help businesses achieve that independence. She’s also passionate about energy-sharing models, like the Tenerife solar project she previously worked on, where locals are able to share and sell excess solar power to their neighbours, instead of the grid.

“This is exactly the kind of thing we could bring into the B2B space,” she says. “Helping businesses become more energy-independent while creating a more flexible grid – it’s an exciting challenge, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.”