Paulo Lopes

Paulo Lopes haltian marketing manager

I met one of Haltian’s cofounder, Ville Ylläsjärvi at a recruitment fair – Oulu Mega Matchmaking 2014. It led to some interest and one interview with him and top Haltian’s managers, CMO and CTO. I was interested in working in operations and production management. At that time Haltian only had product development services which in other words means that the customers were responsible for these tasks. Despite the mismatch, the seed was planted.

When Thingsee company was formed as a daughter company of Haltian (currently part of Haltian Group) to sell it’s first IoT product – Thingsee ONE, operations became a critical part of the business. After backing their Thingsee ONE Kickstarter project the interest was reborn, and the seed started to flourish.

There is a matrix organisation which means that not always the higher-ranking person in a project or room leads them. Anyone can have an influence on decision-making and pursue their ambition. Naturally, this is based on mutual respect, readiness to take responsibility as well as willingness and trust in others.

I started working at Thingsee as Operations development and then evolved to logistics and customer support specialist.

I have a master’s degree in industrial engineering and management from the University of Porto, Portugal, and did exchange studies in international business at the University of Oulu, Finland. In addition, I did a course in leadership and team management.

Before starting at Haltian I had entry-level experience both in Portugal and Finland. In Portugal, I did my master thesis, which consisted in optimizing the production speed and reduce waste in a process industry environment by using lean methodologies. In Finland, I worked as a mechanical designer for a VOC emission cleaner product for industrial environments.

In Haltian anyone has the possibility to pursue initiatives and share their opinion. You don’t need to belong to the top leadership to make suggestions and sometimes implement them.

There is a matrix organisation which means that not always the higher-ranking person in a project or room leads them. Anyone can have an influence on decision-making and pursue their ambition. Naturally, this is based on mutual respect, readiness to take responsibility as well as willingness and trust in others.

Also, the organisation is quite flat. In other words, you’re able to get to know the top leadership on a personal level and even do some after-work activities together. Overall there is a relaxed environment but engaged and committed since the market where Haltian is present is very competitive.

An interesting fact about me: Sports are an important part of my life. In my spare time besides coaching and playing futsal in a multicultural adult team I have created a side business called Juoksutek where I coach youth teams how to run better, faster and with more power. The players enjoy their sport more and dropout less, and coaches can focus more of their time in coaching specific sport drills and tactics.