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+44 (0) 113 486 4868 info@slipstream-design.co.uk

Meet The Slipstream Design Team

From our base in Shipley, West Yorkshire, we’ve been driving RF innovation for decades.

Our people span every stage of their careers—from seasoned specialists to fresh graduates and rising leaders. This mix creates a strong mentoring culture, where technical expertise in sensing, communications, and radar grows alongside essential skills like collaboration, integrity, and communication.

Discover more about our team and their highlights of working together. 

The Slipstream Design team huddle in for a photo in the office. There's an old wooden mill beam above and a wooden floor in the foreground of the image

Our mission is two-fold:

  • Bringing on the next generation of engineering skills

  • Pioneering signal intelligence technologies that safeguard the UK and its allies.

We thrive on technical partnerships, working with start-ups, major industry players, and everyone in between. This variety exposes our team to cutting-edge projects, sparks knowledge sharing, and fuels innovation—keeping us firmly focused on the future.

We work closely with leading regional universities such as Leeds, Leeds Beckett, Sheffield, York and local colleges like Shipley College. These relationships let us:

  • Inspire the next generation of engineers.

  • Offer meaningful work experience.

  • Show how engineering shapes the real world.

Pictured: Wei (left) presents Olivia Emms her certificate as the 2025’s recipient of The Slipstream Engineering Design Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Computer Science.

 

Meet our Leadership Team

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    Dr Mike Roberts, Technical Director and Co-Founder

    Mike has over 25 years of experience in the electronics industry.

    Mike has a passion for RF and over recent years he has been increasingly involved with projects that sit across the boundary of RF and digital and is driving the efforts at Slipstream to develop flexible RF hardware to marry up with our high speed software defined radio products, specialising in RF and digital design for radar and EW applications.

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    Philip Wilson, Managing Director and Co-Founder

    With over 20 years of experience in the communications sector, Phillip has a background in electronic design and product development. Having worked in the UK, USA and Finland with companies such as Filtronic, Ericsson, Borg Warner and Nokia, Phillip has driven the realisation of many cellular and defence technologies from concept through to manufacture.

    With an eye for details and flair for operational leadership, Phillip ensures Slipstream Design puts technical excellence at the heart of everything it does. Constantly striving to learn and improve, Phillip makes certain the company sets high standards and delivers true quality to its customers.

    Having led Slipstream Design through its inception and early years, Phillip is now the driving force behind its next phase of growth.

  • Sarah Gregory wears a bright blue blazer and smiles stood in front of a red brick wall inside Slipstream Design HQ
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    Sarah Gregory, Commercial Director

    Sarah Gregory is Commercial Director of Slipstream Engineering Design, a high-growth SME in West Yorkshire’s RF and communications cluster.

    She has played a pivotal role in transforming the business from start-up to award-winning, multi-million-pound supplier to leading organisations including BAE Systems.

    With a background in medical device R&D, Sarah champions a culture of curiosity and resilience, drives collaborative development partnerships, and oversees the growth of Slipstream’s multidisciplinary team.

    She also contributes to the regional space economy through TechUK’s Satellite Telecommunications Committee.

    She is a strong advocate for women in STEM and has served as Vice Chair of Governors at Menston Primary School.

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    Richard Leach, Associate Director

    Richard specialises in leading complex engineering programmes and bridging clients with our delivery teams. With over 35 years’ experience, he has led major projects and programmes encompassing international operations, new product introduction, business analysis, requirements engineering, and R&D across aerospace and space, telecoms infrastructure, digital broadcast systems, defence engineering, and advanced manufacturing.

    Richard is also an experienced educator, holding a PGCE and Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. His background in teaching and training in both public and private sector organisations underpins his effectiveness as a mentor, enabling him to develop talent, translate complex technical concepts into practical understanding, and support teams in building both capability and confidence.

Hear from our Team

Wei
Senior Design Engineer in Electronic Engineering

One of the great things about working at Slipstream Design are the people. I love working with like-minded individuals from a variety of engineering backgrounds and specialisms and being able to bounce concepts and design ideas off one another. This makes for an extraordinarily collaborative and supportive working environment which helps to bring out some fantastic ideas.

I have worked in a variety of several projects at Slipstream Design and I have gained extensive insight into the engineering design process and the intricacies of releasing electronic and mechanical designs for manufacture. One of the formal training courses I have attended is the IPC-610 Electronics Assembly Inspection course which has helped me support the team in the bring up of PCBAs as they arrive at Slipstream Design.

Eva Lawther
Former Intern Design Engineer

It makes me proud to have worked for Slipstream Design, thanks to the sense of achievement and trust that comes with taking ownership of your section (be it hardware or software). I could never before say that a Graphical User Interface (GUI) I coded was interfacing with FPGA code and running on a high end system on chip hardware platform for a 5G application.

I now have invaluable real-world experience working with state-of-the-art radio frequency devices alongside some of the most knowledgeable professionals in the field.

Matt

RF Design Engineer & Innovation Lab Lead

We get to work with cutting edge technology such as the Xilinx RFSoC and deploy it for use in prototype radar systems. The type of projects we win are hugely diverse, this really helps you keep on top of all sorts of technology developments in different areas of electronics. All the way from large high power amplifiers, through to cutting edge devices used in the world of software defined radio. Then dealing with the latest devices available for processing and data transmission such as the Xilinx RFSoC or high end fibre optic transceivers.

Working as part of a fairly small and diverse team, it really helps accelerate learning in many different areas of electronics. All the way from learning to use industry standard CAD and simulation tools, through to working with fabricators and manufacturers. Then bring-up and test of the designed electronics with the support of an experienced set of colleagues.

David (left, mentor) and Alex (right)

Alex (pictured, right)

Former Intern Product Design Engineer 

As an intern, I have been given so much responsibility on live projects that are so different from anything I have had exposure to before. It has truly been great working in this team of such skilled engineers because I have been able to develop and grow as an engineer- they all appreciate you are still new in your career, and everyone is willing to help!

I have had exposure to advanced software, complex testing methods for various hardware, designing concepts and DiSC (communication style assessment) training – which has helped me develop my professional communication skills based on the individuals around me and the best way to communicate my ideas.

Gabi

Office Manager

If you are looking for an inspirational career and support to achieve greatness, look no further! Slipstream is the place! I have learned that, although technical expertise is important, personal development is valued too, as it bonds the team and provides leadership opportunities.

Sophie
Communications & Marketing Coordinator

I love working for the Slipstream Design team. The management approach is that of trust, respect, and flexibility which empowers people to turn out their best work.

I am introverted in nature, whilst others in the team are more extroverted, yet we all respect the way one another works, which is the heart of our collaboration.

Team News