National Engineering Month: Meet Maybelline
From co-op student to engineering leader
Maybelline’s journey with Lockheed Martin Canada began as a co-op student from Montréal just trying to get a foot in the door. Over the years, she worked her way through a variety of positions supporting the CAF over air, land and sea.
Today as Chief Technology and Research, Maybelline heads research, engineering and digital transformation at the very same company she began her career in. Through each role, a commitment to Canada’s service members has remained the guiding force of her work.
“To me, innovation means providing a new capability that keeps our Canadian Armed Forces safe,” Maybelline explains. “The question: ‘How do we make their job easier?’ lives at the heart of everything we do.”
A human touch at the centre of engineering innovation
When Lockheed Martin Canada was awarded the Halifax-class modernization contract, Maybelline faced a new challenge: designing a software system tailored to the operator so that the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) wouldn’t be required to adapt to fixed architecture. To do this, Maybelline incorporated a process called “human factor engineering.”
This person-first process is what led to the development of Lockheed Martin Canada’s most significant technology and largest international export: Combat Management System 330 (CMS 330). Designed with the RCN in mind, CMS 330 is innovative for its open-architecture, flexible system that is not only best-in-class in defence capability. It’s also easy to use and ready to scale to any ship, mission or navy.
A career that’s come full circle
Maybelline credits her long career with Lockheed Martin to never turning down opportunity and to the many managers who gave her the agency to take risks, even as a student. This experience inspires how she approaches leadership today, especially when it comes to mentoring students who are in the same position she was in many years ago:
“I’ve been in their shoes; I already have that lived experience. So naturally, I’m coming at it from a different perspective, because I’ve already been that person. I see myself as more of a mentor and a part of their team, than a leader.”
Today, Lockheed Martin Canada brings on 60 co-op students every term. For Maybelline, these students represent the future of the Canadian defence industry: each of them has the potential to design the next big breakthrough in support of Canada’s forces.
What would Maybelline say to young people looking to build a career in defence today?
“Don’t be afraid to ask, but try it yourself first. Innovation happens when you take risks.”