Product Growth and Career Growth; Meet Antigoni
Antigoni, you’re currently an Engineering Manager here at GoCardless, how did you get into leadership?
When I first joined GoCardless, I was at a point in my career where I felt the need to change something and rediscover what brings me joy at work. When given the opportunity, it felt like the perfect timing for me to transition into a leadership role by wearing the tech lead hat for a while. This was quite an involved role where I stayed technical but also explored a new set of responsibilities and the path to leadership. It soon became clear to me that all the new elements of my role, such as broadening my perspective and understanding the context in which technical decisions are made, team objectives, and dynamics, were where I wanted to be. Privileged to be working with a manager who actively listened and kept all doors open, it was only a matter of time before I found a role internally that would help me take the next step in leadership, and that was the Engineering Manager role in Spark.
Talk me through the Propel program and what was involved there.
Propel is a leadership training program for women across GoCardless, offering great opportunities for self-development through educational modules, coaching sessions, and networking.
I am thankful to have been selected for the program a few months after starting this new role. I am learning a lot and can easily apply new learnings to my day-to-day activities as I gain more experience. I can’t stress enough how helpful it has been to connect with other GoCardless women, listen to their stories, learn from their journeys in leadership, and become part of an authentic community that emerged from the course.
What would you say is the biggest learning you have from that transition from Engineer to Engineering Manager?
The biggest learning for me was around shifting my mindset and making peace with the fact that success is not about what you can accomplish on a personal level anymore, but about empowering and supporting team members to succeed. I previously focused on technical skills and deliverables, however, I am now focused on fostering an environment where every team member feels valued and capable. This requires a lot of empathy and emotional intelligence as well.
What does your current team do?
Spark is a team within the Acquire and Activate group. Our vision as a product growth team is to drive sustainable growth by attracting and converting new merchants. We conduct user research to understand the target audience, their needs, pain points, and preferences. Then, we employ various experimentation methods to systematically test and optimise various aspects of our product. We work in a fast-paced, creative environment and are fortunate to see the direct impact of our efforts on product performance in real-time.
What does a typical experiment look like?
Our experimentation process starts by understanding the problem and setting clear objectives. We then prioritise solutions and craft a hypothesis that describes the desired outcome and expected impact, and also guides the approach we will take for the experiment (e.g. A/B vs A/B/C type of experiment, duration and more). In the design phase, we create visuals for the experiment’s variations and establish tracking requirements for success measurement. Next, in the build phase, we implement the designed variations and set up necessary infrastructure, including user tracking. Following implementation, we analyse the results to inform decisions on whether to move forward with productionisation, iterate on the experiment, or reject the original hypothesis.
Despite our data-driven approach, there’s always an exciting anticipation for the outcomes, ensuring engaging work for those who seek dynamic challenges
Finally, I’d love to know how you find the culture at GoCardless?
I am not going to shy away from this cliche, I believe that the culture at GoCardless is truly elevated by its people, who bring genuine care and support to the table. I am also impressed by the ample opportunities for growth and development that GoCardless provides, the growth mindset and accompanying ‘can-do’ attitude, which is incredibly motivating.
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