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Career Profiles
Read about the experiences of some of our staff to find out why working at Critical could change your life.
Alex Hill - Senior Engineer and Business Development lead for Energy
Alex Hill joined Critical Software in the summer of 2009 as a graduate software engineer. In less than two years he has progressed to become a senior software engineer and also leads our Business Development activities in the energy sector.
Read what Alex has to say about his experience at Critical Software:
“I’ll get this out at the start – Critical is a great experience. As I approached graduation, I began to feel overwhelmed with trepidation about my future career – would I get lost in the mist? Would I be bored? Would I feel like I could make any difference? From the first interview I knew that my fears would have no foundation at Critical. Almost two years on, not only were my fears unfounded, but the opposite is true.
“I very quickly found the work and opportunities to be challenging, exciting and interesting and I quickly gained experience working with many top-name clients in the aerospace and defence industries. When I spotted opportunities to develop myself and help the business, I was given every chance to make these into a reality.
“In the time I’ve worked with Critical, I have gained experience on a number of always-challenging projects that has enhanced my set of skills, while doing a fair bit of travelling. The teams I have worked with have always been embarrassingly talented, though I do still enjoy working on projects and ideas by myself. I greatly value Critical’s positive approach to people working in the way that suits them, with a great system of support and help.
“Critical has turned out to be everything I wanted in a job after graduating. I doubt many other organisations would have given me the opportunities and experience that I now have.”
Marco Costa - Business Unit Managing Director
Marco Costa joined Critical Software in 2000 as an intern. Just twelve years on, he’s running an entire business unit.
Read what Marco has to say about his experiences at Critical Software:
"I’ve been involved with Critical Software almost since it began. I joined when Critical was a single company with fewer than 20 people and I’ve contributed as it’s grown into a world-wide group of companies with more than 400 employees.
In 2000, as part of a Portuguese government initiative designed to help young professionals gain international experience, I moved to California, representing Critical Software on the west coast for nine months. When I returned to Portugal, I went back to engineering, but also started a research and development project on databases, introducing this new area of expertise to the company. In the following years, I became a database engineer and project manager for several projects, supporting tendering activities on database-related opportunities, mainly in semiconductors, telecommunication, energy and government markets.
By 2006, the database section had grown from two to 70 people and become one of the most profitable areas of the company. At the end of 2007, I was invited to join the board of directors, responsible for all of Critical’s engineering activity, management of the engineering team and the definition of the company’s technology strategy. Overnight, my team more than tripled and the areas for which I was responsible grew to ten, targeting new markets such as aeronautics, space and defence.
I am responsible for attracting, recruiting and retaining the best people, providing them with training in technical skills and the company’s processes, culture and values, and supporting their career development. I aim to develop a strong engineering team, with the technical and non-technical skills needed to cope with the demands of our international customers in the various markets in which we operate, including aeronautics, space, defence, energy, finance, telecommunications and government.
I directly lead a small team of senior software architects, the top ten engineers in the company, responsible for defining solutions for our customers and the technology roadmap for the company, specifying reference architectures and best practice, implementing re-use strategies, and offering guidance to the entire production engineering team. This world-wide engineering team is now more than 300 strong. They’re highly-qualified people; approximately 90% have a first degree of whom 10% also have a Masters or PhD. Most of the team works from our three offices in Portugal: Coimbra, Lisbon and Porto.
In 2009, I enrolled on an executive MBA at the Insead Business School, to strengthen my general management skills, and in 2010 I become Managing Director of the ECS Business Unit, targeting non-military markets such as energy, finance, and the public and health sectors, operating mainly in Portugal, Brazil, Angola and Mozambique.
Critical has provided me with an amazing opportunity to develop myself and reach my potential. I look forward to further contributing to the Critical success story!"
