BMT names new Global Technical Director

BMT, the international maritime design, engineering, science and risk-management organisation, has appointed Catriona Savage to the newly created role of Global Technical Director – the first technical leadership position at this level in its history. The role brings together BMT’s innovation, technical capability and assurance under a single, globally aligned remit, at a moment of rapid change for the industries BMT serves.

The appointment comes as a rare convergence of pressures reshapes the maritime landscape: tightening international decarbonisation deadlines, the rapid maturing of autonomous and uncrewed systems, the arrival of artificial intelligence and digital twins in ship design, mounting cyber risk, geopolitical shifts placing shipping, ports and ocean resources under strain, and a worldwide resurgence in naval and undersea investment. For an organisation whose heritage stretches back more than four decades – and whose technical fingerprints range from the Royal Navy’s Queen Elizabeth-class carriers to the marine monitoring systems supporting Woodfibre LNG in Canada, set to be the world's first net-zero LNG export facility, and predictive dredging technology helping keep ports across the Asia-Pacific open, safe and sustainable – the creation of the role is a deliberate move to align technical excellence across the business and translate it into sharper value for customers.

A Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and the first female President of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (RINA), Savage is among the most recognisable figures in naval architecture. She began her career at BMT in 1996 and rose through the ranks to Head of Naval Architecture and, later, Technical Director, before holding the UK Ministry of Defence Chair in Naval Architecture at UCL where she continues to hold an Honorary Professorship. In a voluntary capacity she contributes to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and Lloyd’s Register as a member of advisory committees.

Her technical credits read as a tour of the modern maritime agenda, a body of work that places her at the intersection of the very themes now defining the sector’s future.

A homecoming – and a culture built on curiosity

For Savage, the move is also a return. “I wouldn’t have come back if BMT wasn’t a great place to work,” she says – pointing to a culture of curiosity, collaboration and technical excellence that she believes is the organisation’s real differentiator.

“The value we bring to customers isn’t just what we do – it’s how we do it,” Savage explains. “It’s the way we work alongside customers, challenge their thinking and focus on solving the right problem – not just the one in front of us. That willingness to be provocative in the right way is a genuine strength, and it’s what brings people to BMT.”

That culture is not just an article of faith. BMT remains independent and employee-owned, its assets held in beneficial ownership for the people who do the work – a structure Savage credits with sustaining the long-horizon thinking and freedom to innovate that the most complex engineering challenges demand. It is a formula that continues to earn external recognition and makes BMT less an organisation than a deep, thriving innovation hub – a place where outstanding technical minds are given room to experiment, collaborate across disciplines and turn complexity into clarity.

Innovation, balanced with trust

Looking ahead, Savage sees clear ground where BMT can lead: energy security and sustainability; digital, data and AI; cyber; and automation, robotics and autonomous systems – underpinned, in every case, by people. But she is emphatic that innovation must never come at the expense of the assurance BMT’s customers rely on.

“Our customers operate in risk-sensitive environments, so assurance will always matter – but that shouldn’t limit us, it should enable us to take the right risks in the right way,” she says. “The opportunity ahead is as much about people as it is about technology: ensuring we have the skills, the mindset and the capability to adapt and lead.”

It is a philosophy she distils into a test she has borrowed from the British Men’s Eight rowing team during their journey to Olympic gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics: does what we’re doing make the boat go faster? “If it does, we lean into it. If it doesn’t, we stop doing it,” she says. The line is characteristic – plain-spoken, decisive, and quietly insistent that engineering should always earn its keep.

Savage steps into the role with the business carrying real momentum. In November 2025, the UK’s Fleet Solid Support (FSS) programme – a BMT design – passed its Critical Design Review, confirming the detailed design is ready for manufacture. The ships will join a Royal Fleet Auxiliary already operating BMT-designed Tide-class tankers – a measure of the trust the organisation has earned on the most demanding naval programmes. The same month, BMT signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Teledyne Marine Vehicles to advance maritime autonomy, while its 2024 acquisition of Australian Maritime Technologies (AMT) has deepened sovereign design capability across the Asia-Pacific. Each speaks to a strand of the new remit – assurance proven at the highest level, innovation in autonomy, and technical capability aligned across the globe – precisely what the Global Technical Director role exists to bring together.

Drawing those threads together globally is precisely the point of the new role. “We already have fantastic expertise right across the business,” Savage notes. “The opportunity is to make it easier for our customers – and our people – to see what makes BMT distinct, and how we pull together across our regions to deliver even greater impact.”

A role model with a mission

Beyond the technology, Savage brings a personal mission that has defined her public voice: widening the door to engineering and maritime careers. As RINA President she has championed diversity and the breadth of opportunity open to the next generation – from hands-on STEM workshops to programmes that help people back in after career breaks. With women making up just 16.9 per cent of engineering professionals and only a fraction of seafarers, she argues the sector’s talent challenge is also its greatest untapped opportunity.

“Ours is the generation facing challenges like decarbonisation and autonomy. We don’t have all the solutions yet – but one thing is clear: collaboration will be key,” she has said. It is a fitting note on which to begin a role built, at its heart, on bringing people and ideas together.

“Cat is one of the most respected technical leaders in our industry, and her return to lead this new global function speaks volumes about both her and BMT,” said Sarah Kenny OBE, Chief Executive of BMT. “As the maritime and defence sectors face their most significant period of change in a generation, bringing our technical capability together under a single, globally aligned vision will help us continue to deliver trusted, innovative solutions for our customers – today and for the long term.”

Catriona Savage
Global Technical Director