David Romero Pina: IT Business Consulting Advisor

David Romero Pina

MSc Manufacturing Systems Engineering, 1999; MSc Computer Science, 2022

Based in:

Brussels, Belgium

Came to study at Warwick from: 

Germany

First job:

Logistics coordinator for a large German manufacturing company.

Best advice received:

Never stop learning!

IT Business Consulting Advisor at Euroclear S.A. (Financial Markets Infrastructure)

Describe your current role and what attracted you to it.

My role is best described as IT orchestration, focusing on the Quarterly Business Review (QBR). I facilitate this quarterly cycle involving various IT delivery divisions across domains (Cybersecurity, Automation and Data Science, Infrastructure and Business Applications). The goal is to take into account the longer-term view (12 -18 months ahead) for executing inter-linked IT projects that contribute to the strategic objectives of the company. I was attracted to this role because it enabled me to leverage the knowledge I gained during the MSc in Computer Science to better understand the impact that technology can have on business strategy.

What’s your favourite part of the role?

To enable and participate in discussions about technology and how the human side of the process is still vital to enable success. In other words, to see IT deployed in a real environment with the human element right in the middle of it!

What are the key skills you learnt at Warwick that have helped you with your career to date?

My background (first degree) was in Manufacturing Systems Engineering, but I wanted to pivot towards IT. The MSc in Computer Science gave me an entry ticket to that function. In particular, the module of Social Informatics was very useful to get a context on topics where the integration of computer systems with the human element don't always work smoothly and learn what organisations have tried to do differently to make it work.

Did you have a specific career path in mind when you chose to study at Warwick?

I only knew I wanted to move to the IT function, which I managed to achieve successfully!

What top tips do you have for Warwick graduates who would like to work in your sector?

The Financial Services Industry is peculiar because of the large number of regulatory requirements and exposure to various risks. The environment is very different to other industries I've worked in before. It can be very demanding but also rewarding. A key tip is to demonstrate not only technical skills, but to also be able to explain in simple terms to non-technical stakeholders what a particular application or technology will do for them. I.e. What value is in it, to justify the risk of trying something new and innovative.

What ambitions do you have for the future?

I definitely want to apply more the technical skills I learned about Data Science, especially relating to Natural Language Processing (NLP), Machine Learning and AI. I would like to combine this technical knowledge with practical real-life products that go beyond pure prototype or Proof-of-Concept stage (as I did for my MSc Thesis).

What should current students or recent alumni be doing to move their careers forward?

Networking.