2021-08-06
Reading time approx 2 min
Inesa works as a Technology Site Manager in Vilnius, Lithuania. We spoke to her about her role within SEB.
– I have been with SEB for over three years now. I started as an IT Tribe Lead and Team Manager in the Capital and Liquidity Risk Tribe where my teams were responsible for external regulatory liquidity risk and capital adequacy reporting. We provided data for internal management liquidity risk reporting and forecasting as well.
– Today I work as a Technology Site Manager in Vilnius and my role is very broad and covers a lot of different areas. I bridge the gap between the geographies of the SEB Tech organization and act as an ambassador and representative of Vilnius Technology communities both internally and externally.
– While making sure that local IT labor market tendencies and the internal tech community situations are being known, I also ensure alignment and two-way communication between our headquarters and Vilnius. My goal is to promote the Tech area, attract tech talents, raise awareness about our potential and the technologies we work with as well. Employer branding, external and internal communication, community building, recruitment and retention are my key focus areas where I work closely with many area-related professionals.
Inesa Vanpoucke
Title: Technology Site Manager
Education: Bachelor in Philology, Siauliai University, 2002. Market Economist, Niels Brock Copenhagen Business College, 2005.
What is your best career tip? “Dear to try and fail and risk your comfort zone. There is one saying that I really liked – Don‘t be know it all, but learn it all.”
– I would say by opening a world of opportunities. SEB recognises employee talents and makes sure that there are tools and an environment that support us in our professional journey. At SEB, we have set a strategic goal to spend a certain amount of hours on professional development within the company.
In order to achieve that goal, we have a number of different platforms that cater for the different needs of each employee. At the same time we offer GIGs where our professionals can try out assignments and different roles to expand their knowledge and broaden their perspective. We have mentors and coaches in place to support employees on their quest for more. Teams also have the opportunity to spend time exploring new technologies and innovations during a dedicated time. We have also had several hackathons dedicated to data quality and cyber security as well as an external Big Data challenge that attracted a lot of talent and was very well received.
We also support employees to come to us with ideas to try out new activities. There are numerous opportunities at SEB for those who want to learn!
– SEB is a large international company with lots of development opportunities both horizontally (if you wish to specialise in a certain area as an expert), and vertically (if you want to develop your leadership skills and take charge of a team). In both scenarios you will be a valued and appreciated employee.
We believe in people and believe in creating possibilities to try new things out. The principle of Fail Fast is important to us: it’s okay to try and it’s okay to fail. Whether learning by doing or by reading, mistakes are sometimes unavoidable.
– Diversity has always been an integral part of our business culture. We are certain that diversity enriches and adds value to our organisation, enables creativity and innovations, and improves efficiency. For SEB diversity means respect and recognition in terms of personalities, education and professional experience, but also identity – for instance, age, gender, origins, sexual orientation and people with special needs.
An inclusive environment for us means an environment where everyone feels appreciated, respected and involved. In an inclusive organisation everyone has an opportunity to contribute using his or her potential. It is a culture where we encourage diversity in thinking and we actively seek and respect different perspectives and experiences.
We implement the management of diversity and ensure equal opportunities in very practical ways. The list of key performance indicators identified by SEB’s management includes very concrete targets like the split of genders in management positions.
With regards to internal communication, we discuss diversity and inclusion-related topics on a regular basis. For instance, this past May was the Month of Diversity at SEB, where employees had a chance to take part in educational webinars and other events discussing the importance of having different perspectives in an organisation.
– To be honest, I think everyone should choose SEB, regardless of sex or age. We value people’s talents and skills to achieve more. At the same time, we are actively working to involve more female talents in the IT area. We have an event called Women Go Tech, where we have our department managers working as mentors to give career advice and guide women through their journey in the IT world. This April we had the Pink Programming event to encourage more women to try out programming by arranging Sunday coding where experienced mentors were leading workshops in different coding languages.
We actively measure our progress in terms of ensuring equal opportunities. Each year this topic is included in the annual employee survey to identify whether colleagues feel everyone has equal opportunities and where they are also given the chance to voice any concerns.
I think I am living proof of what I was saying about SEB being open to people with different educational backgrounds, giving them equal opportunities to succeed and work within our company.
SEB
