Role: Engineering Manager
Bio: Clare is an engineering manager with Liberty IT and has been in this role for the past five years. She studied Computer Science at Queen’s University Belfast and completed her placement year with Liberty IT in 2010. After graduating in 2012, she returned to Liberty IT as an Associate Software engineer. She has worked her way through the software engineering grades to Senior Software Engineer. In 2018, she decided that sje would try something different and took on a people-focused leadership role. She feels that coming from a software engineering background has helped her support and better understand the teams she manages.
Q. What does your typical day look like?
There is no typical day, which keeps each day interesting. I have a range of responsibilities and in any one day, I could be meeting with a team member to discuss their career opportunities, day-to-day project updates with teams, meet with stakeholders to review current and upcoming work or working alongside other leaders within my leadership team to ensure we are working towards our company goals.
I am also involved in Liberty IT’s Employee Resource Groups - a member of the Pride Committee and President of the Social Committee, so I am actively involved in planning and promoting events for these groups within the company.
A very important part of my day is to ensure I get my lunchtime walk, come rain or sun to help to get a break from screen time and re-energise.
What are you currently working on?
I work in the commercial insurance area, specifically in the underwriting effectiveness space for our parent company, Liberty Mutual Insurance. Our main aim is to make the day-to-day lives of our underwriters easier, for example, by trying to automate the most time-consuming manual tasks.
What inspired you to join this company in particular?
During my time as an intern, I got an insight into the company’s ethos and the work life balance that it provides so I knew I wanted to grow my career within Liberty IT and that there was plenty of opportunities to do that.
Did you always want to work in this industry?
No, during school I wanted to be an accountant or go into the banking sector, but after some work experience and an open day at Queen’s, I thought Software Engineering would be a better fit for me. As there was, and still is unfortunately, a small percentage of women in this sector, I thought joining and excelling in the space would inspire other woman to do the same.
What’s your favourite part about your work?
I am a very sociable person, so I enjoy meeting and collaborating with different people daily. One meeting I could be chatting about career development or day or day tasks on the team and in the next meeting I could be jumping straight into scoping out the upcoming work with our business stakeholders to see what a good fit for the team would be. I enjoy being there to support all my team members in any way I can.
What would you say to other people considering a job in this industry?
The tech sector is an exciting and challenging field to work in and offers numerous career opportunities for professionals to grow and develop their skills, from system analyst, software developer, data scientist to management. There is a role to fit all personalities and career background, as well plenty of opportunities for career growth at Liberty.
How do you see technology impacting our lives?
Overall, technology has had a profound impact on our daily lives, making tasks easier, more efficient and more convenient. Technology has revolutionized how we communicate with each other. We’re actively encouraged to experiment, for me that is pushing our business to revolutionize the insurance experience for our customers.
Who inspired you to work in this field?
There have been a lot of different people within Liberty IT that I have worked with throughout my career that have inspired me to stay in this field and grow my career through their leadership styles and support. I hope that I can do the same for others throughout my career.
What do you consider to be the most important tech innovation or development in recent years?
Upgrades to our internet infrastructure over the past number of years have enabled us to work from home reliably and effectively. This has been critical, especially during lockdown, and still today as we continue with remote working.
What tech gadget could you not live without?
I could not live without my smartphone - I use it for nearly everything day to day. It wakes me up in the morning, keeps me up to date with the latest news, and holds all my numerous lists and notes. And of course, it holds many pictures and videos, in lots of exciting places with lots of special people!
