"I want to help create better workplaces where women in leadership are visible and influential, and where flexibility and support for different neurotypes are part of culture."
Current positions
- Senior Technical Director - Transport Decarbonisation, GHD
Previous positions
- Senior Principal - Net Zero, WSP
- Strategy Team Leader – Planning and Mobility, WSP
- Stay at Home Parent
- Senior Principal Transport Planner – Planning and Mobility, WSP
- Business Development Manager, Kier Group
- Bid Manager – Asset Management, Jacobs
With more than 20 years of experience across transport planning, strategy and mobility innovation, Eleanor has built a career at the forefront of evolving transport systems in both the UK and Australia. Now Senior Technical Director – Transport Decarbonisation at GHD, she leads initiatives focused on reducing emissions and supporting the transition to net zero across the transport sector.
Eleanor has held senior leadership roles at WSP, including Senior Principal – Net Zero and national lead for Zero Emission Vehicles, where she guided strategy and advisory services across planning and mobility. Her experience spans both technical delivery and team leadership, including managing multidisciplinary strategy teams and contributing to complex, large-scale transport projects.
Her career began in the UK, with roles at Transport for London and Parsons Brinckerhoff, supported by a PhD from the University of Southampton focused on road pricing and policy implementation. Across industry and government, she has worked on projects involving infrastructure planning, behavioural change, and future transport technologies.
Combining technical expertise with strategic insight, her career reflects a drive to shape a better world for future generations through sustainable and forward-looking transport systems.
I’ve always been quite academically minded and enjoy learning and researching, which is what drew me to do a PhD. But through that experience, I realised I’m much more of a team player. I found the work quite isolating at times, and it made me rethink my path. I decided not to pursue academia and instead moved into industry, joining Transport for London’s graduate program, which gave me great exposure to both practical project delivery and high-level strategy.
After a while, I found the public sector a bit frustrating and wanted something different, so I moved into the private sector. I worked across both contracting and consulting in transport planning and eventually found myself in bid management. I really enjoyed the pace and the collaborative nature of the work bringing people together to put forward the best possible outcome. That experience led to an opportunity to move to Australia in 2013, and I haven’t looked back since.
More recently, I’ve focused on transport decarbonisation, which matches my long-standing interest in sustainability. I enjoy working in the private sector because of the variety, it keeps you learning, solving new challenges and thinking on your feet. I’m also someone who’s comfortable sharing my thoughts and opinions, and I like being in an environment where I can contribute openly and have a voice.
Balancing career, family and self-awareness
I really believe in the idea of having a fulfilling career while also being present for my family, but I’m honest about the fact that it’s not always easy to get that balance right. I care deeply about setting an example for my children, showing them what it means to be a working woman, and standing up for equality and inclusion. A big part of what drives me is also the bigger picture, particularly around climate change and contributing to a better future for the next generation.
More recently, I discovered that I’m neurodiverse, which has been a significant and eye-opening experience. It’s helped me understand myself in a new way, and I’m keen to use my voice to raise awareness and challenge some of the common assumptions and stereotypes around neurodiversity. Being open about it at work has allowed me to connect with others, and I’ve had people share their own experiences with me, which has been incredibly rewarding. For me, it’s about understanding ourselves better and creating space for others to do the same.
Milestone moments that bring things together
One of the big ones for me was doing the Rhodes Australia Fellowship Program. It’s a year-long thing with industry mentoring, group projects, and a lot of leadership training. My mentor was Pamela Henderson from Transport for New South Wales, and honestly, that year just opened my eyes to what leadership can really look like.
Moving to Australia was another huge milestone, my life changed with a career change, but to be honest, I don’t think we really knew what we were signing up for at the time. Along the way, talking to senior women in leadership has been really important. I think it’s so important for people like me, and people coming up behind me, to see that there are women doing these roles and thriving.
I have really high standards for myself and always try to do a good job, but I’ve learned it’s just as important to be open and honest and authentic. Being a parent is hard, no doubt, but it’s amazing too. I’m really looking forward to seeing how my kids grow into their own people and what they make of the world.
Making the world a better place
Even from a young age, I’ve always cared deeply about the environment and sustainability, previously being a vegetarian, joining Greenpeace and caring about recycling. That passion has carried through to my work, where I’ve been able to connect my values with projects that make a real difference. Knowing that my work contributes to more sustainable travel and liveable communities has been incredibly rewarding and reinforces why this area has always mattered to me.
To help drive a real shift in how transport and infrastructure projects tackle emissions. To see ambitious targets built into every project and a move away from only thinking about cars first.