
I have two roles in Starion Italy – as a Network and Security Engineer and a Service and Project Manager – so every day is different for me!
What’s your role?
I’m based in Italy, at Starion’s office in Frascati, and work mainly for the European Space Agency (ESA) as an offsite contractor, providing and managing engineering support services to the Ground Segment Department of ESA’s Earth Observation Programme (EOP) Directorate.
I joined the company in 2010, so next year will be my 15th anniversary!
What is a typical day in your working life like?
There is no typical day in my current professional life and I like that very much. Every day can be different; yes, OK, there are always meetings and some of them are recurring ones on a weekly or fortnightly basis, but I try to survive them!
I mostly work for the Engineering Support Service we provide to ESA’s EOP-GE Division. I’m the Deputy Service Manager for one of the four areas of this contract and I oversee all infrastructure and security support activities. I’m also managing a couple of projects, again with ESA as the end customer.
In addition to that, I am the technical leader of Starion Italy for the network and security domain, and the line manager of anyone whose competences are within this domain. Finally, I am very active in supporting business development, contributing to bid proposals for any information and cybersecurity aspects.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Well, I enjoy many things…. First of all I enjoy the multinational environment and the space business. I am the kind of person who wanted to be an astronaut as a child and was fascinated by foreign cultures and languages, so I have been lucky enough to have both my dreams come true in one way or another (although I am not an astronaut and only speak decent English in addition to my native language!).
I also enjoy working with competent and friendly colleagues; I firmly believe that there is no goal that cannot be achieved through teamwork.
What has been your most memorable career highlight?
To be honest, I don’t look at my career in terms of memorable highlights. Yes, there have been important achievements, but I would rather think of it as a long journey that began many years ago and is still ongoing, a journey that has brought me to where I am today and given me the opportunity to work with many colleagues who have combined remarkable professional competence with wonderful personal qualities.
Do you have any tips for people trying to get jobs in your area of expertise?
My technical area is information and cybersecurity, and both these disciplines are in the spotlight today.
There is a lot of demand in this area, so it is not difficult to find a job. But many people boast about their skills and experience when in fact they are often very limited. I value people’s potential and significant work experience much more than their claimed skills and competences: also because these can easily be planted and grow in fertile soil. I also believe that personal and interpersonal skills can be more important than technical ones.
How do you wind down after a working day?
I like to do sports (lately cycling and going to the gym) and also watch live sporting events such as football, volleyball, basketball, athletics and tennis. Sport is my medicine, for body and mind.
Meet more of our team
If you’d like to find out what it’s like to work in other roles at Starion, read more stories from across the Group.