Testimonials

"Tim has a tremendous respect for the complex systems problems we're working to solve, and the awesome potential power of self-driving technology. This allows him to approach aspects of organizational structure and workflow, technological hurdles, process definition, and project planning in a very pragmatic and logical way, removing ego from the equation and working across teams to achieve results.

He seeks out areas where improvement is needed, and works with the teams and individuals involved to form practical and effective strategies and approaches. Tim enables the implementation and operationalization of these plans. He is able to see opportunity where other may only see blockers, problems, or inefficiencies."

Thomas Mast | Engineering Manager, Autonomous Vehicles | Uber ATG

Tim is an excellent cross functional systems engineer with a mind for efficiency.

Tim was able to come into ATG's newly created Systems Engineering & Test organization, quickly understand where the organization was, what was needed, and where there were deficiencies in effectivity and efficiency.

In short order, Tim was able to make tactical, data driven decisions on organizational structure, technical content, and ensure that SE&T was providing the best signal back to developers in order to focus ATG on our rapidly approaching driverless goals.

It was a pleasure working with someone with the depth of knowledge, experience, and passion as Tim.

Amir Shah | Senior Engineering Manager - Autonomous Vehicles | Uber ATG / Aurora

Tim and I started on the same day at Uber ATG and he quickly became a valuable mentor of mine.

Tim is great at framing a problem within an organization or within a project and presenting it in a manner that insights urgency and motivates people to get on board. He is a talented engineer who leaves no stone unturned.

On top of his relentless focus on on efficiency within the organization, he took time out of his day to bring others up around him. He is a wonderful leader and will be a true asset to what ever organization he joins next.

Madelyn Gioffre | Systems Engineer | Uber ATG / Aurora

"Tim is without a doubt one of the best systems engineers I have ever had the privilege of working with. He is an observant leader with high EQ and solid people skills. Tim asks key questions and has a superpower for getting to the core of complex technical problems. During our time together at ATG he effectively identified, documented, and communicated the dominant technical and cultural issues hindering the company's progress along with recommendations for how to overcome them. He then worked diligently to assign each issue to the team members with the right skills and guided them towards making measurable progress. I was constantly amazed at how well Tim handled himself during very chaotic times when our team was under an enormous amount of pressure to deliver.

Beyond his unique set of technical and problem-solving skills, what I love most about Tim is that he is a genuine and kind human being. When we worked long hours to meet deadlines, he reminded me to maintain a balance at home and take care of myself. When Uber's revenue took a hit due to Covid and ATG shut down their branch in San Francisco laying off hundreds of people including myself, Tim was the first person who called to check on me and ask how he could help. I am a better person and a better engineer having known and worked with Tim, and I would recommend him for any technical leadership position without reservation."

Pez Zarifian | Senior Systems Engineer | Toyota Research Institute

"It has been a great pleasure working with Tim on untangling and streamlining the system development and testing processes at Uber ATG. Tim was able to work across stakeholders at all levels and quickly synthesize the strengths and areas of opportunity. Tim developed solid strategies and plans to move the engineering organizations. He succinctly and effectively communicated them from the board room down to the hourly personal running tests on the road, tracks and labs.

I have seen many fail and only a few succeed at developing and implementing organizational shifts of this magnitude in engineering organizations but those all had established professional cultural values. Tim’s success at Uber was above stellar due to his ability to navigate the chaotic fragmentation of professionalism common in startup cultures. I am really looking forward to working with Tim in future chapters of his career."

Peter Castelli | Senior Manager, Vehicle Testing | Uber ATG

Very few people have the opportunity to report to a manager who is also a great leader, a great coach - but I did when I worked for Tim Jones. “Simply amazing” is what comes to mind when I think about Tim.

Most managers focus solely on the product and task completion and neglect the people responsible for the tasks; Tim is a different breed of leader.

He is, first and foremost, a people manager. His focus is not only getting things done but also getting things done the right way.

He invests time getting to know every employee working for him, understanding their strengths, and assigning them tasks to their strengths. He understands when people are used to their strengths, they are more engaged and motivated to come to work every day.

Hugues Leger | Sr Systems/Software Engineer | GE Aviation

"Tim is a passionate and inspirational leader who will work tirelessly to build, improve and support the team and organization!

I had the pleasure of working with Tim over the last 11 months to align ATG’s testing efforts with systems engineering. Having been with ATG for 3 years prior to Tim’s arrival, I held several positions in both Operations and Engineering. Our primary goals were to increase testing efficiency, improve requirements traceability and bolster the development signal. Focus areas involved: Test Development; Vehicle Testing; Test Hardware Development; Vehicle troubleshooting; Issue Burndown. By meeting with stakeholders across the Org, we were able to map out all core processes, "handoff points, data types and team responsibilities. Tim then implemented a way for us to identify and track deficiencies, weight them, and associate them with points in the process. This gave us everything we needed to make logical, data driven improvements, and resulted in us performing more testing in 2020, during a pandemic, than we had the year prior.

Cross-Functional - One of Tim’s greatest strengths is his ability to look across team boundaries and fix seemingly intractable issues. His documentation methods make it easy for anyone to see and understand organizational issues, which also makes it easier to resolve. Inspirational - Tim has a very special way of conducting these efforts. He is extremely proficient at identifying and leveraging the talent around him, in a way that leaves a wake of confident and successful people. This gets the job done while also empowering them for the future. I truly hope that I get another opportunity to work with him.

Dave Mares | Engineering Manager | Uber ATG / Aurora

"I enjoy working with Tim (L3Harris) on various projects and initiatives. Tim is well rounded and can take on any role in the organization - from engineering to business development, manufacturing, mission assurance, and continuous improvement.

He is great listener and excellent communicator and can take the most complex message and simplify it for any audience. He is a very effective problem solver - and will take the time to gather all the information, determine root cause, evaluate all options, and take a structured approach to determining the best solution. Tim has been an amazing mentor to me, providing guidance based on his deep knowledge and experience. I am honored to call him my friend."

Salman Nasir | Programs and Site Lead | Battelle

I had the pleasure of working with Tim at Uber ATG where he championed continuous improvement initiatives of every shape and size. He has amazing drive to push projects to closure as well as the ability to split his time efficiently between multiple initiatives as once.

I think most importantly Tim has the technical depth on a variety of topics which allows him to make solid arguments for continuous improvement in many different areas in an industry that is new to that term and resistant to losing their perceived flexibility. Thanks Tim!

Kristin Jacobs | Technical Program Manager | Uber ATG / Motional

"Tim is a full speed, make it happen professional. Seldom do you find someone who has true passion for his work, his family, and for whatever he sets his mind to. He is an inspiration, period.

I have been fortunate to work beside him (L3) in the most challenging projects of my career, and there was no one else I would have preferred to have with me in the trenches, fighting for the success of the company and for the well-being of our coworkers."

Dave Lupia | Senior Sales Director | GE Aviation

"I have had the pleasure of working with Tim for over a decade at L3.

My first significant interaction with Tim was on a large avionics architecture for a launch vehicle. It was uncanny how he was able to distill disparate requirements and pieces of information into a comprehensive architecture definition for the engineering team to work from. Later, Tim was instrumental in helping to assemble a repeatable, architectural method of addressing the test needs for L3’s avionics architectures. In more recent years, Tim had assumed responsibility for improving the engineering and test processes, using his six sigma skills to help guide us through the CMMI process.

Tim’s most essential skill is being able to listen diligently, assimilate large amounts of seemingly unrelated and uncorrelated information, and formulate and execute a plan of action around the information he gathers. He routinely applies this skill in both technical and business situations with great success.

Tim’s technical background serves him well in addressing software and test-related technical tasks. His skills allow him to address larger system engineering tasks as well - I’m convinced he could direct a team of systems engineers. But his business acumen also makes him helpful in addressing the needs of a growing organization. He’s insightful, understands people, and can apply his knowledge in creative and unusual ways. My most lasting impression of Tim is that he invests in people."

Robert Hayes Jr., Ph.D. | Director of Advanced Programs | GIRD Systems

Tim is a rare kind of highly skilled, flexible, and hard-working professional, combined with a savvy team manager and observant people-person.

I had the opportunity to see him unleash upon wicked issues with people, process, or technology. He paints a detailed vision of what can be achieved, enrolls sponsors and stakeholders, energizes project teams to deliver robust solutions, and then takes time to reflect, document, and share (e.g. the feasibility study for a new ERP system; the SharePoint program collaboration sites).

Tim displays a seemingly boundless energy in the workplace, embracing a multitude of goals and challenges from diverse areas of the business, like Engineering, Sales, IT, Marketing or Manufacturing (e.g. automation to avoid production waste due to the human factor; Mergers and Acquisitions initiatives).

His formal education and continued investment in modern frameworks, methodologies, and approaches (Lean Six Sigma, Value Chain) allow him to apparently effortlessly elucidate even the hardest to pin down root causes. I would love to work with Tim again.

Claudiu Vasilescue | IT Director | L3Harris

Tim is a highly efficient and dedicated strategist. He is one of those "think outside of the box" individuals who knows how to solve issues and overcome challenges with innovative solutions and creative ideas.

He's an outgoing, energetic go-getter who not only gets things done -- he gets them done well.

Penny Bena | Sector Marketing & Communication Manager | L3Harris