Neil Oatley is a British design and development director in Formula One teams. Born in Britain, Oatley graduated from Loughborough University in 1976 with an automotive engineering degree. He worked briefly outside motor racing before joining the Williams team in 1977. There he became one of many young engineers to have worked alongside Patrick Head early in their careers before moving on to other organisations. Oatley worked as a draughtsman before becoming a race engineer for both Clay Regazzoni and Carlos Reutemann.