What is your role at Ilmatar, and what kind of tasks and responsibilities does your workday include?
My office is located in Oulu, and my job title is Head of Technical and Commercial Services. In my daily work, I focus on wind farm substations and external investors’ wind farms, particularly their technical and administrative aspects.
I am also responsible for the payment transactions and budget of our subsidiary, Ilmatar Service, and I participate in due diligence (DD) processes related to our upcoming projects.
My duties also include preparing contracts during DD processes and construction projects. In construction projects, I am responsible for the procurement and implementation of telecommunication connections and monitoring systems.
Additionally, I oversee the ISO certifications granted to our organization in early 2019. I also frequently act as a host for visitors at our sites.
How do you enjoy working at Ilmatar? What’s the best part of being one of us?
I enjoy it very much, thank you for asking. Ilmatar is a company whose uniqueness comes from its openness and solution-oriented approach. Employees often feel a strong sense of ownership over their work because here, things are done together and in a genuinely collaborative way.
One of Ilmatar’s key strengths is its diverse team of experts, where collaboration flows smoothly across organizational boundaries. Many companies in the same industry do not have equally comprehensive organizations or the same level of adaptability.
I have been with the company for over eight years, and it has been fantastic to witness its growth and evolution during that time.
Can you briefly describe your career before Ilmatar?
My professional career essentially began as a thesis worker at Rautaruukki-Transtech, where I continued after graduation as a calculation and design engineer. The company’s rail vehicle division, where I worked at the time, was responsible for product development, design, and manufacturing. One of the most well-known projects I was involved in was the double-decker passenger coaches for VR (the Finnish railway company).
My next employer was Wärtsilä Oyj, where I worked as a machinery dynamics analyst in the product development team at the Turku unit. The team focused on engine development, and the work involved close collaboration with the engine factory in Trieste, Italy.
After a brief period at PKC Group, I moved to WinWinD Oy in 2007, initially as a project engineer for delivery projects and later also as a commissioning engineer. The job involved a lot of travel, and I later transitioned to the role of product manager, where I was responsible for technology transfer to the company’s product development organization in India. When WinWind ceased operations, I remained employed by the bankruptcy estate until the company’s full closure.
After WinWinD, I worked in a few shorter-term positions before joining Ilmatar.
Can you briefly describe your educational background?
I graduated as a Master of Science in Engineering from the Faculty of Technology at the University of Oulu. My studies specialized in technical mechanics and mechanical design.
The most valuable lesson you’ve learned in your career?
I believe the most valuable lesson is this: “Fortune favors the well-prepared.” While this saying is not my own, I have found it to be true in many situations.
