Taniya Uppal

Taniya is Hatch's project manager for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s Green Line Train Protection System project in Boston, Massachusetts. Taniya is experienced in leading large, complex, and fast-paced capital programs from design to commissioning. She specializes in systems integration and test engineering and is driven to enhance program execution, elevate stakeholder satisfaction, and deliver an exceptional client experience. She is guided by Hatch’s commitment to the pursuit of a better world through positive change, and enjoys building professional and personal relationships.

Taniya has been featured by Harvard Business Review in its podcast series “Women at Work.” In October of 2022, she talked about her experiences of being a first-time manager. She returned in June of 2023 to discuss her first year as a project manager and shared her “oops and aha!” moments. Her podcasts can be found here.

True to our manifesto, I have found that people deem themselves and each other accountable, truly acting like owners. This is the main difference between the culture at Hatch and other companies.

What does positive change mean to you?

Positive change for me is making each day better than the previous day – even if it is only 1% better. Extrapolating that to weeks, months, and years, is how I visualize the future. Positive change means to be solution-oriented in a world where we have more problems than solutions.

How are you changing the world?

I am changing the world by implementing solutions that make the railroad safer for riders by reducing train-to-train collisions, overspeed derailments, and red signal violations. In reality, deployment of such solutions also adds an additional layer of safety for bystanders, infrastructure, and the environment.

I am making the world a better place by creating a positive environment for my team, by investing time with colleagues, understanding their concerns and interests, and encouraging accountability from each team member toward the tasks they’re performing. I also think that in my position, I am able to encourage women in engineering to make their mark in the workplace and believe there are opportunities for them to earn a seat at the table.

What do you think are the toughest challenges facing your clients?

The toughest challenge facing our clients in the railroad industry is the outdated infrastructure. Upgrading this outdated infrastructure needs funding, time, and resources. It also needs accountability to be able to drive positive change, to accept new technology, and to  move forward toward a sustainable system.

What are you most proud of?

I am most proud of fulfilling my dream of becoming a project manager before I turned 30. Within a couple of years of beginning my professional career fresh out of graduate school, I was inspired by the project manager on the project I worked as a test engineer on. I was in awe of how they were able to effectively communicate within our team, critically analyze situations, evaluate technical proposals, set deadlines, and deploy effective means to track progress, and finally manage expectations with the client. I aspired to do the same and planned my professional development accordingly. I was lucky to be mentored by one of my former project managers at Hatch who gave me a platform to develop the skills I needed to get into the position I dreamt of… and the rest is history!

What do you like most about working at Hatch? How do you think the Hatch culture is different from other companies?

The best thing about working at Hatch is getting to work with the people of Hatch. People are smart and knowledgeable and do not hesitate to help out. True to our manifesto, I have found that people deem themselves and each other accountable, truly acting like owners. This is the main difference between the culture at Hatch and other companies. People are driven to make a difference and do not limit themselves to what they are supposed to do. They are thinking about what more they can do and how they can keep doing better.