Emma discusses her job values and the steps she took on her career, that led her to becoming the Chief Technology Officer at one of Northern Ireland’s largest homegrown fintech firms.
I got into software by accident. I studied Electrical and Electronic Engineering at QUB and as part of the course was introduced to software development.
I was immediately drawn in by the frustration and satisfaction of solving problems by writing code. During my time at university, I completed two placements, one in electrical engineering with Randox and one in software, based in Japan with Horiba. This practical experience really helped me pick the right fit in terms of career.
After graduation, I worked as a software developer and then a technology leader. Here I tackled problems across IPTV, cloud storage and capital markets in companies of all sizes.
These ranged from small local start-ups to large multi-national corporates like Citi and BT and now FinTrU. A significant part of my career has been spent in capital markets, building products for large financial institutions which process incredibly large volumes of data at high speed, e.g., in NYSE building market data systems handling millions of messages per second.
My approach to career development has been to pick things I am excited about and to always be open to trying out new things. That’s how I ended up working in Japan for three months despite not speaking any Japanese!
Organisational culture is incredibly important to me, and I was initially attracted to my current role by FinTrU’s organisational values of People, Passion, Professionalism and Partnership. As I learned more about the role and FinTrU I was thrilled to discover a unique opportunity to work with a great team, creating brand new products which solve difficult global-scale problems, and as a locally run company there is no waiting for America to come online to make key decisions.
To be a technology leader you don’t just need to keep up with industry and technology trends, you also need to be passionate about building teams and growing leadership skills within them. The best teams have a common purpose and share a bold, forward-looking vision of the future they want to create. I encourage my teams to always ask “why” they are doing something. If you don’t know how it contributes to our goals, then you should find out before you do it.
I also believe that to be successful in technology you need to know your clients and be enthusiastic about solving their problems.
As CTO at FinTrU, I sit at the intersection of people, process and technology for both our Internal Solutions and our External Product Offerings. Understanding the interaction between these three elements of a solution and getting the balance right is the difference between success and failure. You can build the best technology in the world and not have a good product because it doesn’t fit the end user’s needs.
At FinTrU we work hard to create that client intimacy and our culture overall is very entrepreneurial, with decisions being made at all levels of the organisation, not just in management. For us the result has been innovation and rapid growth.
FinTrU is a Sunday Times Fast Track 100 and FT EU Fast track 250 RegTech company established in Northern Ireland with offices also in London and New York. Alongside working with investment banks around the world, we have a set purpose to provide high-quality employment and to put local talent on the global stage. Our Digital DNA Best workplace 2021 award and Silver Diversity Mark are two recent achievements we are particularly proud of.
This article first appeared in the Summer 2021 edition of the Sync NI magazine. You can download your FREE copy and sign up to receive future digital editions here.
