Meet Cristina, Business Developer Water Technology Products

From a software delivery engineer to a business developer

“In the beginning, I have dived into the water technology products of Royal HaskoningDHV, in particular the  Nereda® technology, a sustainable wastewater treatment solution for municipal and industrial water. Being part of the controllers team, it was my task to plan and deliver software for the water technology products.Very interesting! Also because there are a lot of stakeholders involved. One of the water technology products I work with is Aquasuite® Nereda Controller which is part of the Royal HaskoningDHV Aquasuite family. Aquasuite is an AI-powered analyst and autopilot which helps to get insight into company’s wastewater infrastructure.’’

“After growing towards a product owner role, I was asking myself: what is the thing I really want to do? Luckily, there are plenty of opportunities at Royal HaskoningDHV. So I got the room to discuss my ambitions. After several conversations with my manager and fellow colleagues, I felt the business developer role was at the heart of my ambitions. Due to this switch, I could really make use of my native language (Italian) for business. I was asked to follow up on opportunities in Italy, leading to more projects with universities and potential clients like water utility companies. Very exciting and interesting to be part of this, and I am happy I have taken this step. I got the full confidence from my team. This allows me to travel back to my home country as well, and that is great.’’

Combining my technical and social skills

“In my new role, I can perfectly combine the technical skills I obtained at the organisation in the past 4 years. On the other side, social skills are very important to guide the clients and meet and surpass the client’s needs. Besides English and Italian, I am also skilled in the Spanish language. That makes it very good for me to focus on the South European market. Embarking in this challenge feels like a new and great adventure!’’

A lot of inspiration internationally

“Recently, I visited a fair/conference in Como, Italy to get to know more players in the water technology market. I did this all by myself. At first, it felts scary but in the end I made a lot of connections. This is very inspiring. Soon, I will meet up again with some spokespersons of universities and water companies to discuss their needs and how we can help them and vice versa.’’

‘’Great projects I look back on were in Brazil, China, Germany, France and India. As water is a vital and crucial source for life, I am happy I can make a valuable contribution to society.’’

More about the team and my career path

“What I really like is that our team is very international. There are 17 nationalities in a team of almost 60 people. Very impressive! Everyone puts their skills and culture together which makes it a vibrant atmosphere. We have process engineers, sales managers, project managers, making the projects multidisciplinary.’’

“As written above, my career was not pre-made. I get the freedom at Royal HaskoningDHV to think ahead and craft my own career path. I am happy I get freedom to reflect on my achievements and ambitions. Flexibility is given to you regarding your career direction.’’