IN Brief:
- UKBIC is strengthening its commercial function as more cell developers push from pilot to industrial demonstration.
- Watkins brings commercial and programme leadership experience across advanced automotive, motorsport, and engineering services.
- The appointment lands as UKBIC expands capability across scale-up lines, digital manufacturing, and training.
The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has appointed Jason Watkins as Commercial Director, adding a senior commercial lead as the facility continues to position itself as the UK’s national battery manufacturing development centre for cell industrialisation and process scale-up.
Watkins will be responsible for business development, sales, and customer project delivery, joining UKBIC’s Executive Team and reporting to Managing Director Sean Gilgunn. “I’m excited to be joining UKBIC and to begin helping to commercialise our growing portfolio of tools to help the industry grow,” Watkins said. “I look forward to working closely with our partners, customers and the wider sector to unlock new opportunities in the battery manufacturing sector.”
UKBIC’s role in the battery supply chain is increasingly defined by the gap it is intended to bridge — between laboratory-scale R&D and the process discipline required for high-yield, repeatable cell production. The facility operates pilot and industrial-scale lines used to validate electrode and cell manufacturing processes under conditions closer to factory reality, with an expanding focus on data capture and process analytics as manufacturers chase tighter control over quality, scrap rates, and throughput.
Before joining UKBIC, Watkins was Commercial Director at Prodrive Advanced Technology, with responsibility spanning business development, sales and marketing, programme management, and transitions from R&D activity into larger-volume production programmes. His earlier career includes senior roles at Ricardo Plc, McLaren Applied Technologies, and the Cosworth Group, covering commercial leadership across test services, advanced engineering programmes, and motorsport-adjacent technology development.
Gilgunn linked the appointment to UKBIC’s partner-facing delivery model. “We’re excited to welcome Jason to UKBIC. His experience should further strengthen our relationships with customers and partners alike,” he said. “Jason’s appointment reinforces our commitment to supporting industry and delivering meaningful impact to the battery development and manufacturing landscape.”
The hire follows a period of investment and capability build-out around the facility, including scale-up line development and training activity aimed at growing manufacturing skills alongside hardware access. UK battery industrialisation has been repeatedly constrained less by cell chemistry novelty than by manufacturing competence — coating uniformity, slurry handling, drying, formation protocols, and end-of-line test methodology — and UKBIC’s positioning has increasingly leaned into repeatable process demonstration rather than technology theatre.
With UK gigafactory plans unevenly distributed across automotive anchor projects and smaller independent initiatives, UKBIC’s customer mix continues to broaden across mobility, stationary storage, and specialist applications. Commercial leadership, in that context, becomes part sales function and part de-risking mechanism — translating prototype ambitions into process plans that survive the scale-up steps where most cell programmes fail.
