John Rees

Uk Chief Engineer @Ampaire

Bristol, GB

Ampaire is a California based developer of Hybrid-electric powertrains and Aircraft.Current Dual responsibilities – AI Strategy & Commercial PartnershipsAI strategy & platform- Lead AI Adoption. Prioritise applied AI use-cases across functions; define adoption criteria (value, risk, data/privacy)- Prototype and ship RAG + hybrid search tools (Pgvector + Postgres) for internal process efficiencies- AI-assisted vibe coding approach: ship fast with the right stack (e.g, Gemini + Apps Script + Sites; Replit (Claude); or VSCode + Codex → Vercel + Supabase/Postgres)-Building a certification project platform to structure evidence, traceability, and audits.Commercial partnerships (Europe)- Lead enterprise partnership discussions for hybrid-electric powertrains & aircraft for GTM; act as solutions architect for the CEO- Driving customers through from discovery to commercial contract signing- Created internal operating-economics tools and a public first-pass DOC calculator, customers use independently: Build ROI models, P & Ls, and exec-ready briefs that convert technical proof into commercial commitment.Earlier focus (first 2 years)- Led all UK engineering activities; managed a fully remote team- Delivered 2 Future Flight Challenge projects incl. demo flights of a 6-passenger hybrid-electric aircraft, and led 9-19 passenger hybrid-electric aircraft concept development- Drove project definition & consortium building for UKRI-funded programmes.