Testimonials

"I have known Stuart for around 10 years and have collaborated with him on a number of projects both in his current role at Sofintsys and also in his previous positions.

I believe Stuart to be a first rate technical leader with a deep understanding of the current and future needs for software and embedded systems. In addition Stuart has a high-level of commercial awareness alongside his thorough technical grasp and he enjoys a reputation that is internationally recognised amongst his vast network of contacts. He is clearly focussed on delivering world-class solutions to some of the most important technical issues around software. I have always been impressed with Stuart’s ability to quickly get to the heart of any technical problem and offer innovative and pragmatic solutions which he is able to articulate convincingly from any level within an organisation from the engineer through to the board.

In addition to his extremely impressive technical and commercial capabilities I have also found Stuart to be a pleasure to work with demonstrating diligence, integrity and a drive to expedite the highest quality work. I think Stuart is a superb ambassador for his industry and I hope that I can work with Stuart for many years to come."

"I have known Stuart from 2006, including through some difficult times, in which he behaved in a professional and consistent manner, always seeking to achieve what was best for the company. One of the hallmarks of someone who is an effective leader is that they can show integrity and professionalism in the face of adversity.

He made significant contributions in his leadership of a corporate consulting group known as the Software Centre of Excellence (SCoE). Culturally, the corporation was a mechanical engineering company – but the future of the company’s products and services was increasingly dependent on software engineering (and systems engineering which was also encompassed within SCoE). Stuart displayed the leadership skills to get software “on the radar” with senior management in the company. He did a good deal to get world-leading advice on software into the company, and expanded the company’s horizons outside the UK, e.g. to the Fraunhofer in Kaiserslautern and the Carnegie-Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in the USA. He was also instrumental in ensuring that the SCoE delivered sound advice and made technical progress in key areas, e.g. model-based systems engineering and product lines. There is still much to be done, but Stuart made a big difference, in promoting and driving what was a key part of the company’s future business."

"I have known Stuart since 2006, and I have interacted frequently with him since. In all my dealings with Stuart I have been greatly impressed by his very high intelligence, his great expertise, and his unrivalled depth of experience. I have met many people who, like Stuart, work in senior roles concerned with software development and management for large multinational companies, and I can honestly say that I think Stuart is a truly exceptional character.

His experience in automotive, and everything that he has done since, means that he has developed deep expertise that is clearly drawn from, and applicable across, multiple industry domains.

He strikes me as a tireless champion for excellence in software research, development, deployment, management, and maintenance, all tempered with a well-honed sense of realism and pragmatism about what is achievable within any given set of constraints on time, budget, and human resources. He seems to me to be someone who thinks very clearly, quickly homing in on the core of a problem or an argument, and who is never fooled by woolly descriptions or marketing-speak.

In addition to all this, he has also always stuck me as a genuine, extremely nice guy: I enjoy his gentle sense of humour that he uses to good effect when gently dismantling someone's argument or politely explaining why he totally disagrees with them.

Although I have no direct experience of being in a team led by him, I get the impression that he is the kind of character who would engender a lot of loyalty in his team, and who stays calm under fire.

People like Stuart are very rare in my experience. I think he is a real asset and an excellent outward-facing "ambassador" for the industry."

"Stuart contributed effectively to the corporation’s Advisory Board, helping both in identifying fruitful areas for the Board to investigate, and in supporting activities, e.g. on safety critical software in the Marine sector, carried out by the independent Board members. His input was significant to ensuring that the Board delivered value to the company, especially in the systems and software areas, which were perhaps less tangible, in comparison to the more product-oriented work of the Board, and thus in danger of being overlooked."

" I have good knowledge of very many of the top UK computer science, software engineering, and systems engineering departments (and, indeed, I also have good knowledge of various comparable overseas departments in the USA and elsewhere). I have no doubt that, should he ever choose to apply, Stuart would be considered as eminently appointable to a professorial role in such departments, and indeed I would expect that which ever department managed to recruit him would consider that to be a stroke of good fortune."

" I have worked for almost 20 year in both academic and industrial roles in several European countries ranging from my role as silicon systems architect to my recent roles as academic, as well as the founder of a high tech VC backed start-up company that facilitates the software development process for future generation electronic systems.

Stuart and I have worked closely on a number of projects and activities in various companies. This included a series of highly prestigious EPSRC and EU funded international research projects that produced outcomes rated internationally excellent, which greatly benefited from Stuart’s passionate support on many different levels.

Throughout those interactions Stuart has always shown to be a highly effective leader with both great technical depth and a strong vision both in terms of identifying current needs and solving challenges for software and embedded systems as well as identifying the longer term opportunities and risks posed by the every increasingly complex connect software driven systems of the future.

Stuart is very well respected both nationally and also clearly internationally, which is evidenced by the standardisation bodies he has contributed to actively such as the AUTOSAR initiative. He has achieved a wide-ranging visibility, which is also due to his enthusiastic and highly committed engagement with the community, where he commands great respect and high standing. He is clearly focused to identify high value opportunities, and driven by a clear business focus that centres on the bigger picture. Stuart is making excellent use of his networks and communicates effectively to deliver value.

As a further illustration of his standing and reach, is the fact that Stuart Jobbins has been appointed as a visiting Professor to the University of Essex. As, one of the UK’s top tier research universities, it has the highest requirements for excellence and international standing for such appointments.

Stuart Jobbins is an excellent ambassador for the embedded systems and software community both nationally and internationally."

"Stuart has contributed to a number of University Computer Science Departments’ Industrial Advisory Boards. In my case, he has always provided useful insights which assisted the Department in determining and refining its strategic direction. His input always showed the broad and deep knowledge of his subject, and cognate disciplines."

"I had the pleasure of working with Stuart between August 2007 and July 2010 and would like to acknowledge him as one of those engineers “that are global experts in their respective fields” - an appropriate accolade for Stuart.

The areas I wish to draw attention to are the ways in which Stuart provides leadership in the following topic areas:

• Balancing Hardware and Software Engineering under a Systems approach

• Software Architecture

• Product Line Strategy and Management

• Process Development and Measurement

• Keeping Engineering connected with Business Goals

Balancing the needs of Hardware and Software engineering
Stuart and his team have played a significant role in encouraging attention to the balance that needs to be struck between hardware and software constraints. The concept that software creation is an engineering discipline just as much as hardware is relatively new and has been both a topic for engineering discussion and cultural attitude changes. The objects being discussed are different within the hardware and software engineering worlds but they strongly interact and trade-offs can and should be made between them. Stuart has been at the forefront of this cultural change.

Software Architecture
Control system software complexity has been rising over the years as the systems needing control have got more sophisticated. Without consideration of the overall architecture and the quality attributes that the software needs small changes to the software can have large impact of software behavior. In turn this means that apparently small market-driven requests can result in unexpectedly large costs. Stuart’s team understands the need for an appropriate software architecture and continually drives towards developing an architecture strategy that provides an appropriate balance between maximum reuse and minimum complexity.

Product Line Strategy and Management
Stuart has been central to the introduction and evangelization of the product line strategy, to pay attention to and separate out those aspects of the system that are core and should be shared unchanged between multiple projects and those that are application specific and are where creativity is to be encouraged and sharing is not to be expected. In this field it is worth noting that there is no stronger or better connected leader in the global network of experts.

Process Development and Measurement
Stuart has driven into many parts of the organization a need to follow due process and to continually measure both adherence too and the efficiency of such processes. This is one of those areas where an apparently detailed topic has a significant impact on development efficiency and it is right and proper for the change and configuration management process details to be regarded as worthy of attention at a senior level. Stuart has played a key role in adopting a globally coordinated strategy towards the storage, sharing, and change management of software within a framework that supports both a product line approach and operates within the constraints of both certification and export regulations

Keeping Engineering connected with Business Goals
Stuart has also been a prime driver in connecting the efforts of engineering to business goals. Indeed he and his team have been central in applying engineering disciplines to manage and track how the engineering effort achieves the business goals captured in business models. In this way Stuart has been instrumental in bringing much closer alignment between the business goals and the engineering department’s ability to provide business value.

In summary, it is my estimation that Stuart provides crucial value in championing the systematic approach to software as a core aspect of control systems engineering. His leadership is crucial to business success as the role of software continues its increase in relative importance set against the traditional hardware engineering disciplines that have been at the heart of historic success."

“Stuart is passionate about Systems and Software Engineering, both in what they can achieve and as a profession. He is active in promoting and improving the technology, processes and people skills, both today and his well-supported vision of the more-complex, more connected, more-dependent nature of the software future.

Stuart has a wide breadth of exposure to software and embedded electronic systems which he is readily able to use in anecdotal support of most situations. He is able to articulate clearly that future vision and the challenges to other industrialists, academics and researchers. His personal enthusiasm and clarity have allowed him to repeatedly acquire high-value, internationally-respected teams with loyalty and a shared passion.

His business acumen clearly drives him to solve today’s problems, but also focus on the future, with novel, valuable, applications of industrial research. He is quick to assimilate ideas and their potential exploitation.

Stuart enjoys high standing in the technical communities in which he has contributed his ideas and is a great ambassador for his field.”