How Somali built a 20 Year engineering career and advocates for everyday equality

Somali is a discipline lead for Instrumentation, Automation and Telecom at AtkinsRéalis, based in Mumbai. She has over 20 years of engineering experience across Minerals and Metals, Chemicals, Oil and Gas, and Material Handling industries and she works daily with teams in Canada establishes relationship with Brazil, and Peru. 

An engineer, not a gender

Somali started her career in the EPC industry at a time when it was overwhelmingly male‑dominated.

Various types of gender bias were there, she says. But I was blessed to work under one person, my boss and mentor, who always made me feel like an ambitious engineer, not a woman or a man. Just an engineer.

That early experience set the tone for everything that followed, a career built on technical expertise, ownership, and the belief that what you deliver matters more than who you are. Today, she leads the Instrumentation and Automation engineering on projects across Minerals and Metals business, handling everything from design basis documents and functional descriptions through to guiding junior designers on preparation of checklists, datasheets, loop drawings, automation configurations and many more.

She’s also deeply involved in the commercial side; estimating efforts, preparing proposals, Bill of quantity, and helping win work from local project offices for Minerals and Metals and Industrial businesses through the bidding processes.

 

Commissioning assistance to a gold plant

When asked which experiences have stood out in AtkinsRéalis, Somali points to the kind of work that most engineers dream about.
 
The opportunity to work on a critical Gold Beneficiation Plant in detail engineering, attending the software Factory Acceptance Test, and working as commissioning support for that scale of project was a really great experience.

She’s equally proud of leading deliverables on an Aluminium project from Pre‑feasibility through to Detail Engineering stage, owning all the outputs from the Global Technology Centre side. Developing drawings and providing guidance to designers in my Canada team was incredible.
 

Working across ten and a half hours of time difference

Somali’s role requires her to span the working hours of both India and Canada, a ten‑and‑a‑half‑hour time difference. The flexibility AtkinsRéalis offers has made that possible.

I remember a few months where I was working on an Australian project with my Canadian counterpart, as well as on a Canadian project, and handling various bidding processes from India, all at the same time, she says. Flexible work culture helped me to maintain my availability and to fulfil all my targets.

I always feel valued and included here. I’ve enriched myself in a very good cultural environment, and I’m very happy with my development as a better human being, a better global‑level engineer, and a more confident person.
 

The day we won’t need International Women’s Day

Somali’s view on IWD is refreshingly honest.

International Women’s Day means recognition of the contributions, achievements, struggles, and aspirations of women. However, I feel one day will come when this type of special recognition day will not be required anymore.

Instead of dedicating a single day to appreciate women, respect and equality should be an everyday, lived reality. A truly equal society would erase the need for corrective celebrations.

I believe every day is Women’s Day. Men and women are an integrated part of nature, and both should respect each other to maintain the equilibrium.

Her advice

Come join us, this is a place of gender equality and equal opportunities as default. If you feel you are the CEO of your career, then this is the place for you.

Join experts like Somali and be part of global projects that push boundaries in minerals, metals, and industrial innovation. Explore opportunities at AtkinsRéalis.