What is your connection with Femto Engineering?
‘The first time I was introduced to Femto was while studying aeronautical engineering, I had my graduation project at Femto. This was in 2012 and I’ve stayed in contact ever since. After graduating I started a student job here as an FEM project engineer while doing my master’s program. I returned when I applied for the position opening of Operations Manager and was offered the job.’

What does an Operations Manager bring to the table?
‘Internally, an operations manager is someone with the time on his hands to pick up everything that revolves around our engineering activities. With the continuous growth that Femto is experiencing, this is a vital position to ensure an equally consistent quality of work. This way, engineers can fully focus on running their simulations, leaving time to launch and support new initiatives.’

What do you hope to achieve as an Operations Manager?
‘In the end I hope that this position, and me in it, is of added value to the company, but especially the engineers I am working with. Achievements like this can be hard to measure, but in the end I’m here to make everyone’s job much easier. For me the most important measure is that there is a feeling within our team that they can continue to do their job well and still have the time to learn new things.’

What makes a good Operations Manager?
‘I think a good quality to have, is the ability to make a connection between a problem and the solution. This asks for strong analytical skills and the ability to look at the bigger picture. That is a quality I think I have because I like to solve puzzles. Other than that, communicative skills are important. This makes the job more fun too because it is great to build a connection with the team. I don’t think die-hard managing makes a great Operations Manager because then you will lose that connection with your team.’

How do you see the future of Femto engineering?
‘Femto’s way of business has always come very organically with not much formal structure. For me this next phase means a more strategic approach in what we do, and more planning for innovation. Technically this has always been a part of Femto, but now that a new structure is formed with the entirely new position of an operational manager, there are more possibilities for innovation.’

If you have any questions for Daan or about our work at Femto, feel free to get in contact!

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