15 minutes with: Merle Hall

How would you describe your role to someone you’d just met?

At its simplest, my role is about helping organisations turn ideas into practical solutions that create value for people.

That might be a physical product, a digital service, or increasingly a combination of both. A good example is modern healthcare technology. A child living with type 1 diabetes might use a wearable device that continuously monitors their blood glucose levels, another device that administers insulin, and a digital application that provides insights for healthcare professionals and parents. Delivering that solution requires much more than technology. It requires an understanding of people, behaviours, data, regulation, engineering, and science.

What excites me about leading Design, Engineering, and Science (DES) at PA is that very few organisations can bring together designers, engineers, scientists, strategists, and technologists around the same problem. That’s where the best ideas come from, and ultimately where the most meaningful impact is created.

We help clients take ideas from insight through to implementation, ensuring they are not only technically feasible, but commercially viable and genuinely useful. We do this across healthcare, defence, energy, transport, and consumer products, but the common thread is always the same: solving complex problems and improving outcomes.

What makes PA stand out?

Most client challenges don’t arrive labelled as a design problem, an engineering problem, or a technology problem. They are usually a combination of all three, alongside commercial, organisational, and human considerations.

What makes PA different is that we bring those perspectives together from the start, often alongside the skills the broader organisation can offer. We have designers, engineers, scientists, strategists, and technologists working alongside each other rather than in sequence.

Increasingly, organisations are navigating significant uncertainty. Whether that’s AI, sustainability, resilience, healthcare transformation, or geopolitical disruption, clients need partners who can look across the whole challenge rather than one part of it.

Innovation only matters if it creates value. Ultimately, our clients invest in innovation because they want to grow, stay relevant, or solve problems that matter. Our role is to help them do that in a way that creates lasting value.

Our relationship with Jacobs gives us an even broader platform to do this. By combining deep engineering, scientific, and technical expertise with strategy, innovation, and transformation capabilities, we can help clients solve challenges at greater scale and with greater impact.

Which challenges are clients facing, and what advice do we give them?

The biggest challenge facing organisations today is navigating constant uncertainty.

We’re operating in a world shaped by geopolitical instability, economic pressure, rapid technological change, and shifting customer expectations. Many businesses are finding that traditional planning approaches are no longer sufficient because markets can change dramatically in a short period of time.

I still hear people talk about getting back to normal, but uncertainty is increasingly the new normal.

That means helping them understand not only what is happening today, but what is likely to happen next. Whether we’re advising on cyber security, developing healthcare technologies, or helping transform manufacturing operations, we’re helping clients make decisions that remain relevant and valuable in a rapidly changing world.

Innovation plays a critical role here, but innovation isn’t always about large-scale transformation programmes. Often, it’s about finding better ways of working, improving resilience, accelerating delivery, or creating a minimum viable solution that allows an organisation to move quickly and learn faster.

The organisations that succeed will be the ones that remain adaptable and continue to evolve as the world changes around them.

What inspires you when working on projects for clients?

A guiding principle for me has always been to leave things in a better place than I found them.

One project that has always stayed with me involved a wearable device to help people living with Tourette’s syndrome. Seeing the impact of that technology on individuals and families was a powerful reminder of why this work matters.

What motivates me is the opportunity to solve meaningful problems.

That might mean helping people live healthier lives, creating safer environments, supporting more sustainable choices, or helping organisations respond to major societal challenges. The sector may change, but the purpose remains remarkably consistent.

Across PA, I see the same motivation. People want to make a difference. They want to solve difficult problems and create outcomes that genuinely matter.

How does PA approach new technology, and how does it play into DES?

Technology is becoming increasingly important in almost everything we do, but I think it’s important not to become fixated on the technology itself.

The real question is how technology can be applied to create better outcomes.

AI is a good example. It is helping us derive richer insights, develop smarter solutions, and accelerate decision-making. In healthcare, it can support earlier intervention and more personalised care. In product development, it can help reduce development cycles and enable faster learning.

We’re also exploring emerging technologies including quantum sensing, quantum computing, and advanced automation, but our focus is always on practical application rather than technology for technology’s sake.

One of the things I value most about our DES teams is their curiosity. They are constantly exploring, questioning assumptions, and looking at problems from different angles. They focus on the outcome first and then determine which technologies can help achieve it.

In many cases, that mindset is more important than any individual technology trend.

What advice would you give to people who might want to work in the same area as you?

Be curious and never stop learning.

The world is changing at an extraordinary pace, and none of us can rely solely on what we know today. The people who thrive are those who continue to learn, adapt, and seek out new perspectives.

You also need resilience, empathy, and a genuine interest in understanding people. Many of the challenges we solve are complex and ambiguous. Success often comes from bringing together different viewpoints and creating clarity where none previously existed.

Most importantly, don’t assume expertise is a destination. The best people I’ve worked with remain curious throughout their careers.

What are your future goals?

My ambition is to continue strengthening DES as a globally recognised capability that combines design, engineering, and science to solve some of the world’s most complex challenges.

We have an incredible heritage, particularly through our Global Innovation and Technology Centre, and that remains an important part of who we are. But we’re also evolving.

The opportunity ahead is to connect our expertise more deeply across PA and Jacobs, bringing together complementary strengths to create even greater value for clients and unlock new opportunities for growth.

But the thing I’m most passionate about isn’t really a capability or a structure. It’s creating an environment where brilliant people can do their best work.

If we get that right, everything else follows: stronger client outcomes, better innovation, sustainable growth, and a business that continues to attract exceptional talent.

What are you looking forward to right now?

I’m excited about the opportunity we have to create even greater impact for both our clients and our people.

We have exceptional talent across DES, and my role is often about helping connect that expertise to the opportunities where it can make the biggest difference.

We’re continuing to evolve our strategy, creating more empowerment, accountability, and autonomy across our teams while ensuring we remain focused on creating lasting value for clients.

I’m also excited by the opportunities that come from working more closely with Jacobs. Together, we have an even broader range of capabilities that can help clients respond to complexity, navigate uncertainty, and unlock growth.

Most importantly, I’m looking forward to seeing what our people achieve. The answers already exist within our teams. My role is often to help create the conditions for those ideas, capabilities, and ambitions to flourish so we can continue solving important problems.