Technology

Petra Ålund

Head of Technology

We will be a driving force in developing the bank of the future

Petra Ålund is in charge of more than 2800 employees in SEB's Technology division. She wants her organisation to be a driving force in developing the bank of the future through technological expertise and innovation.

"Our core mission is to make sure that the bank's systems always are available, reliable and future-proofed," she says. "Customers must be able to rest assured that the payment systems will work and that their money and information always are in safe hands."

"Moreover, we serve as the bank's R&D unit, responsible for finding out how we can create value for customers with the help of new technologies such as AI, machine learning, and data analytics."

Petra Ålund has worked for SEB since 2017. She has an extensive industrial background, where she has held high-level IT positions for both Scania and Sandvik. She was born and raised in Oxelösund and has a Master's in International Economics from Linköping University.

"I bought my first computer in 1982 and have always been interested in IT," Petra says. "I did some programming when I was young, but I see myself more as a generalist than a specialist."

What do you like best about working with IT?

"It's exciting that the development is going so fast, which means that you have to learn new things all the time. It gives everyone a chance to get up to speed on a new level of development together."

"I also enjoy the adrenaline kick you get when a disruption or some other unforeseen event occurs. Solving problems through teamwork is an energy booster."

You head one of Sweden's largest IT organisations. Can you tell us more about how you work?

"We are nearly 2800 people working in Technology. We are situated in 14 countries, with our largest units in Sweden and Lithuania. Then there are another 1,500 tech-related professional roles in the bank. We work together in a virtual, agile organisation where we have all the different competences we need from across the bank, with our joint goal to create products and services that our customer truly love. We provide our technological expertise and strive to jointly find new solutions that no one has thought of before."

Can you give some examples of various professional roles in the organisation?

"We have all types of roles – from in-depth specialists to broad generalists – and we work with the absolute newest forms of programming languages, as well as the ones that have been around for a while. It's a large organisation, which offers fantastic opportunities to develop, change your area of focus and find new challenges.

It's also an international organisation with employees in many different countries and a lot of cross-border collaboration. A large share of communication is done in English, so you don't need to have a command of Swedish or any other local language to be able to work and develop here. A diverse workforce is important for us, we see that a mix of people in gender, age, nationality and social background makes the best and most innovative teams."

What do you think is best about SEB as an employer?

"How we take care of our people. We try to make sure that every one has an opportunity to develop, and we require our people to be self-motivated to grow and take responsibility for their own learning."

Zane Štrausa

Business Coordinator in Technology Management Support team at SEB Global services centre in Riga

Zane’s story: learning is the key to thriving

Zane’s story at SEB began just a little over a year ago, as looking for new challenges, she joined its tech department. She still jokes about being the ‘least techy person’ there. In her everyday work, Zane supports the department’s managers in things related to HR and teambuilding. Zane took of co-leadership in SEB’s volunteer organisation not long ago, and now organises exciting and meaningful employee engagement activities with her team of volunteers.

Zane, how did your career path at SEB begin?

I’d heard many positive things about SEB as an employer for quite some time. The company's culture was a significant factor for me looking for a new job, because of my past negative experiences in that regard. It’s very challenging to work in a place where you can’t be yourself, and your growth is limited because of that. It was because of the culture and career development that I applied for a job opening at SEB. The first job that I applied for is not the one I’m holding now. Sometimes pieces fall in the right places and opportunities start happening all at once. As soon as I applied for one job, there was another that was a much better fit for my preferences and experience. This is how I ended up here, and after a year of working at SEB, I can say that I am where I’m supposed to be.

What do you like the most about your work?

What I like the most is that there’s no routine. There’s something new every day: new projects, new challenges. I’ve still got a lot to learn in this process. Right now, I’m using my project management skills on a regular basis, and in our team, we’re trying to find ways to introduce the ‘agile’ approach to our processes. I have the time and opportunity to learn things, to research interesting topics. I can’t imagine my everyday work without ChatGPT. It helps a lot while generating ideas and creating communication. I like that there is a balance between daily tasks and creative ones. 

What motivates you to learn, to acquire new skills?

I am ambitious by nature, I like achieving new heights, and I strive for excellence in my work. Because of modern technologies and new approaches to work, performing well on your tasks means being in the process of learning all the time. This motivates you to keep learning and gaining new skills. Here, at SEB, there are a lot of ways to develop. We have online learning platform, we’ve got access to Pluralsight and Coursera, and people use those possibilities regularly. We also have internal targets, spending at least four hours a month learning. This culture of education really inspires you and makes you want to keep up with the tempo.

Have you had the chance to use this new knowledge?

Yes, I try to put to good use everything I learn, and I share it with colleagues, too. We have special groups where we routinely share the helpful tools we find out about and other new stuff. Project management skills also helped me with my new challenge: not long ago, I became the leader of Drive4U, which is our internal volunteering initiative. There are two leaders, and we work in tandem. I hadn’t had any experience managing the group like this before, but I’ve decided to apply for the position, to test my leadership skills, and to help improve our company’s internal culture through meaningful activities. We learn in the process, and we can already see changes, which feels incredibly gratifying.

How do you think SEB’s working environment and culture help people grow?

I believe that the individual, their needs, and their potential are in the centre of attention. In the environment like this, receiving support from colleagues can contribute to achieve your growth potential. A lot depends on the person, of course: you do have to want to learn, to be open, and to take effort. If you put in the effort, your work will not go unnoticed, and opportunities will appear!

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