I have been working here since November 2022. I am originally from Florence in Italy: I now work most of the time from home but often visit clients and colleagues in our Frascati office.
What does a typical day in your working life entail?
It is quite difficult to identify a typical day in my working life as ‘business development’ seldom involves recurring situations that can be identified as ‘typical’. As part of my role, I travel a lot and regularly visit our customers and partners, both current and potential, trying to address their needs for future activities, and presenting the company’s core values to highlight the huge added value we bring to projects.
My role also requires a lot of studying to ensure I am always up to date with the latest ideas, projects or technologies in which we may play a role. This encompasses analysing reports and space agencies’ strategic plans, and preparing ‘position papers’ that express what we could do or our vision on a specific topic.
Another part of my job is devoted to contributing, with colleagues from the Chief Commercial Officer’s team, to the shaping of a long-term strategic plan for the company, to define and trace a route for our future.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
An element of my job that I really enjoy is the chance to meet an incredible number of professionals, and to learn from them. It is through such exchanges that the best ideas are conceived and the most successful initiatives are shaped.
I very much like the variety and diversity of this job. As a Business Developer in the space sector, you regularly need to deal with topics that are very different from each other: something that might be quite difficult to cope with from time to time, but is also very stimulating from an intellectual and engineering perspective.
What has been your most memorable career highlight or achievement?
I am particularly proud of having contributed to raising awareness of our capabilities and skills within the Italian domestic market during my first year working here. Along with my colleagues in Italy, we have participated in, organised and supported several workshops and events that made our brand and our values much more widely known and acknowledged.
Do you have any tips for people trying to get jobs in your area of expertise?
I strongly believe that a key element for this job is curiosity: it is very important to explore new elements and new opportunities, especially those that lie outside your comfort zone.
‘Mental agility’ is also important to allow you to speak about very dissimilar topics at very different levels with a diverse range of stakeholders. It helps if you can support this with a strong engineering background, some elements of economics, and very good soft skills to interact with customers and decision-makers.
How do you wind down after a working day?
I really enjoy spending time with my family, especially when I come back from business trips. When I am in Frascati, at our facility in Italy, I also enjoy the opportunity to have dinner or aperitifs with colleagues – I consider this social element very important in order to achieve great results as a team.