Sarika Varma, Senior Engineer in Frazer-Nash Consultancy’s Project, Programme and Portfolio Management team, has been shortlisted for Engineering Returner of the Year at the prestigious Engineering Talent Awards.
The Engineering Talent Awards celebrate the diversity of the engineering and technology profession by showcasing inspirational role models. The awards seek to raise the profile of engineering and technology across the UK and highlight diversity in engineering on a national platform.
Sarika’s career spans more than 30 years and several industries, including civil engineering, oil and gas, finance, academia and fusion energy. Along the way, she has worked across Europe, the Middle East and Asia, while continually embracing new opportunities and challenges.
After graduating in Civil Engineering, Sarika was awarded a full scholarship for a Master’s degree in Petroleum Engineering at Imperial College London before building a successful international career with organisations including Texaco, Chevron, Barclays Capital, Occidental, Conoco Phillips, SPE Qatar/Dubai, Exxon Mobile, BP, Qatar Petroleum and ADNOC ZADCO. She later combined her industry expertise with a passion for education, helping to establish and directed a Master’s programme in Dubai while starting her PhD. She was championing science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) outreach activities in local schools and colleges in the Middle East.
After a period away from full-time employment, in March 2025 Sarika was contacted by an advisor from the STEM Returners organisation, who said they had come across her CV, and would she be interested in an opportunity with Frazer-Nash Consultancy? Sarika observed: “I said, well, that would be lovely, but not right now, thank you, because my daughter hasn't finished her A-levels. And they said, well, Frazer- Nash really needs somebody to come on board fairly soon. So I said, OK, maybe it's something that can be negotiated or discussed. So I went for the interview and lo and behold, my start date was July: based on my daughter finishing her exams. And here we are!”
For Frazer-Nash Consultancy, the STEM Returners programme is a really great opportunity to tap into brilliantly experienced and talented people who for a multitude of reasons, are not currently active in the workplace. Gemma Duncan, Head of Inclusion at Frazer-Nash Consultancy explained: “Giving experienced professionals that opportunity to re-enter the workforce is really important for us because it enables us to give back, but also we get brilliant, talented people in the business: people like Sarika. That's a brilliant opportunity for us as a business to find people who wouldn’t otherwise be active in the workplace and support those people.”
“We now have a cohort of returners in the business, which is great to see. I love working with our line managers to understand what a returner looks like. A candidate might not be the complete finished article that they are looking for, and so we work with our line managers to encourage them to look past those career gaps and see the wider person in that role.”
“It’s been a real learning curve for us for STEM returners over the last two programmes for us and we are looking forward to our third programme launching next year. Hopefully we'll be having many more returners to come for the next couple of years.”
Sarika has nothing but praise for the support that she has received from her line managers and colleagues at Frazer-Nash and from STEM Returners. She has this advice to anyone with a STEM background who has been out of employment or on planned career breaks: “First of all, I would never turn down an opportunity. So, if somebody knocks at your door, open the door, find out what it's all about. That's happened to me quite a bit throughout my career. I haven't turned people away. So be open minded. Don’t be ignorant to an opportunity.”
“The other thing is: embrace challenges, new challenges. It can feel intimidating returning to work after time away, but my advice is to be open-minded and positive. Rather than shying away, just go and break the ice. Don't be shy. And if you don't try, you don't know. So try, and see what happens!”
Everyone at Frazer-Nash congratulates Sarika on being shortlisted and wishes her the very best of luck for the awards ceremony in October.
