Could you briefly describe your job?

I’m the Engineering Manager for Digital Products, in the Digital and Detection Product Line at Thales Alenia Space in Spain. I lead a team of 20 people with very diverse skills, from microelectronics designers and hardware designers, to digital signal processing experts and IVVQ (Integration Verification Validation Qualification) managers. We’re all focused on the same goal: to design and develop the best processing units for our customers. We also develop all the application-specific and programmable integrated circuits for all of our products.

We cover the lifecycle, from drawing up proposals to delivering flight units. At the same time, we carry out extensive R&D, along with the product line manager, to develop new products and explore new technologies.

 

 

I started my career in 1997, right after earning my degree. I have been working at Thales Alenia Space ever since, starting at the testing department for three years and then the RF product line for ten more years, as technical manager in charge of different projects. In 2010 I moved to the Digital and Detection Product Line to lead bid preparation for Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) video units (Imager and Sounder satellites). Thales Alenia Space in Spain won these contracts, which were very important because it allowed us to expand our expertise in spaceborne video technology. I worked on these two projects until 2016, when I started my current job.

When I look back to the beginning, I’m surprised how time flies! It has been an amazing journey and I feel like my colleagues in Madrid are part of my family.

What part of your job are you most proud of?

It may sound like a cliché, but I’m proudest of the extraordinary spirit of cooperation that we have developed, not only in my team, but throughout the facility. We face every kind of situations with an exemplary team spirit. I really feel that this is the energy that we all need at company level to face the current environment, which has been dubbed VUCA – Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity – because of changing market conditions, new technologies, new actors, new ways of working, the digital transformation and much more.

Attracting and keeping talent is essential, but if there’s no team spirit, you’re sure to fail; nobody is capable of delivering a product alone. On the contrary, people with good soft skills can receive technical training and contribute to the team’s success. The key to success is motivation and cooperation …and we have a lot of that at Thales Alenia Space in Spain!

Does any event in your career to date stand out?

 

 

When we won the two MTG Video Unit contracts it was an explosion of happiness, because the whole team worked very hard for a long time. I was not really aware then of how important these projects were going to be for me, professionally and personally. I’m really proud of working for a company that has been at the forefront of spaceborne meteorology since the late 70s, from the first to the second and now the third generation of Meteosat (MTG).

When I was appointed to my current position, I did not expect it at all and it was a combination of excitement, responsibility and challenge: I was leading two large projects but I was not anybody’s line manager. My team comprises some brilliant engineers, and I felt like I was given a Ferrari and I had to learn how to drive it to the pole position without skidding off-course. That was a very motivating challenge, to say the least!

 

 

Today my team is in charge of some key products and we are leading many innovative projects. For example, we are leading the technical development of two units for the Spainsat NG program: the HILINK and the UHF processor (which is the core of the UHF payload). Since the Spainsat NG program marks a turning point in Thales Alenia Space’s place in the value chain of the Spanish space industry, I am very proud to take an active role in this program.

In three words, what are the qualities required in your profession?

• What I have learned is that a good leader must LISTEN (to her team, environment, peers and managers).
• A good leader should support and EMPOWER the team: if we hire them it’s because we trust their abilities.
• The third word is TALK: honest and direct communication is fundamental to avoid misunderstandings and to improve our joint efficiency.

 

Illustrations © Thales Alenia Space/Briot - MTG © Thales Alenia Space/Master Image Programmes - Spainsat NG © Airbus Defence & Space