Syos Aerospace senior flight mechanics design engineer Keshika Warnakula has worked at the Mount Maunganui start-up since 2023.
Syos Aerospace senior flight mechanics design engineer Keshika Warnakula has worked at the Mount Maunganui start-up since 2023.
Mount Maunganui aerospace engineer Keshika Warnakula was 11 when her parents took her overseas for the first time.
“I just fell in love with aircraft ... That was my first time flying so I was so curious in how these things fly ... ”
One bachelor’s and two master’s degreeslater, Warnakula is working her dream job as a senior flight mechanics design engineer at Syos Aerospace – a company founded in 2021 that develops and manufactures autonomous uncrewed vehicles across air, land, sea and underwater domains.
Warnakula has been named the Aerospace and Defense Rising Star Awards: Women in Engineering winner for 2025 by SAE Media Group.
Based in New York, SAE Media Group is a subsidiary of SAE International – a global association of more than 128,000 engineers and related technical experts in the aerospace, automotive and commercial vehicle industries, its website said.
She was the only New Zealand winner out of the six categories.
The Tech Briefs website said the prestigious programme honoured “exceptional women engineers who are not only making remarkable strides in their fields but also lighting the way for future generations”.
Warnakula said she was nominated by two managers and found out on October 3 she had unexpectedly won.
Warnakula said in her experience, there were not many female engineers in the aerospace and defence industry.
“It’s really nice to see all these women changing the engineering field.”
Starting an aerospace engineering career
Along with her first overseas trip, Warnakula said she was also good at maths as a child, and her teacher encouraged her to consider an engineering career.
She did a Bachelor of Aerospace Engineering degree at Kingston University in London.
Her first master’s degree was in aerospace vehicle design, specialising in aircraft design at Cranfield University in the UK.
She did a second master’s degree in engineering at Auckland University of Technology.
Syos Aerospace senior flight mechanics design engineer Keshika Warnakula was named the Aerospace and Defense Rising Star Awards: Women in Engineering winner for 2025 by SAE Media Group.
Warnakula said she started working at Syos Aerospace in 2023. As a start-up, she thought it would be a good opportunity to “grow with the company”.
Working for a start-up meant she got to do a lot of things “hands-on” and gain a lot of experience, she said.
Warnakula said she mostly did design work on rotary-wing aircrafts, which involved doing flight mechanics calculations and aerodynamic simulations.
She most enjoyed designing “cool aircrafts [sic]” and watching them fly.
“That’s, like, the best thing ever.”
Encouraging children to become engineers
Warnakula said she was a member of Engineering New Zealand, which had volunteering projects.
One was at Ōtūmoetai Primary School, where Warnakula worked with teachers and students to build “water rockets” and launch them.
“It was really successful.”
Warnakula said she did the volunteer project during work hours. This led to a company initiative being created, allowing staff members to join volunteering projects during work hours.
Outside of work, Warnakula volunteered at Tauranga’s StemFest last month and at the Girl Guiding Association, inspiring young girls to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (Stem) subjects.
Her advice for women considering a Stem career path was to “stay curious” and “never give up”.
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and the Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
