Lakshmi Manjoosha Adapa

Job:

Senior Product Manager

Company:

GoCardless

Develop strategy and lead implementation of new products to tackle payment and chargeback fraud as well as reduce payment failures for our customers who use our payment solutions for direct debit payments and card payments by co-creating with UX designers, researchers, data scientist and software engineers.

I am...

Hard-working

Empathetic

Enthusiastic

The skills I use most in my job...

Communication

Problem-solving

Strategy

Data and analytic

People management

The most interesting thing I've worked on in my career so far...

Led a team of data scientists, software engineers, UX designers, and BI analysts to successfully launch the first anti-fraud solution for bank payments: £200k revenue generated within 2 months of its marketing launch & the company was nominated FinTech of the year for the product.

What inspired me into digital and tech...

Innovation in the water industry is very slow and I get motivated when I see the impact of my work hence I was looking for a more fast paced environment. I wanted to make a difference to solve real problems that people were facing using technology.

My educational background is...

Successfully completed MEng (Hons) in Engineering Science at the University of Oxford after which I decided to pursue a PhD at the same university. My thesis was focused on exploiting metal-organic-microbial interactions for metal recovery in engineered systems as well as treating metalworking fluid wastewater. Project was funded by Singapore Peking and Oxford Research Enterprise (SPORE), responsible for Water Eco-Efficiency. More recently I completed MBA at Quantic School of Business and Technology, Washington DC (Remote).

What advice I'd give to girls thinking about a career in digital and tech...

There is ample amount of different career opportunities here both technical and non-technical. Don't be intimidated: no previous technical study or experience is required, as long as you have affinity with innovation and technology and are curious and eager to learn! It's never too late to change your career/study!