In a global company, sometimes your colleagues work at the desk next to yours, sometimes they may be on another continent. MaaS Global’s combined CTO and CPO, Jorge Tercero lives and works from Madrid, leading product, design, technology and Q&A teams both in Finland and in Spain.
“At MaaS Global, the Chief Product Officer makes sure we build the right things and the Chief Technology Officer makes sure we build them the right way. Combining these two positions works for us, and it ensures a lot of conflict situations never arise.”
Jorge joined the company in May 2021 as a result of the acquisition of the Spanish mobility startup Wondo. He snickers at the idea that just when everything was ready for a dedicated team prepared to take on the challenge of bringing mobility-as-a-service forward in Spain, the merger happened.
“And it made a lot of sense. In such a huge market, a mobility business needs to scale up. Only going piece by piece is hard, and we have to constantly stay relevant to transport service providers and cities. It is better to have a big platform.”
As the platform continues to expand to another continent with the acquisition of the Brazilian Quicko in April 2022, one of the challenges is finding a window for all the necessary meetings. At the moment, MaaS Global has offices in Latin America, Europe and Japan.
“We have all learned to work remotely during Covid-19, and the Wondo merger happened during the pandemic, so we have never had a problem with not having face-to-face meetings. We just have to find a balance between the larger time differences. Finland and São Paulo share a two-hour lap that could be used for meetings, and that is one option we could explore.”
And as the restrictions are lifting, visiting teams in other countries becomes easier. Jorge first visited his Finnish colleagues in the summer 2021, but wanted to have the proper Finnish experience and came back in the winter.
“I thought I knew what cold was, but the Finnish winter surprised me. But I still want to try cross-country skiing in Finland one day.”
So, working remotely has become everyday life for everyone, and as MaaS Global has offices in Madrid, Jorge has a chance to meet his colleagues when he wants to. And no matter where he is physically, he enjoys his job.
“Working for a company where sustainability is such an essential part of the business is important to me. I’m a software engineer and have always enjoyed creating different kinds of digital solutions, but this is the first time the technology we create matters to me on a more personal level. As I see it, cars create three kinds of problems, pollution, congestion and safety, and I want to be part of creating a solution to these problems.”
Jorge is a big consumer of MaaS solutions and uses public transport and micromobility options to get around. Even with two children, life without a car functions well with plenty of other modes of transport to choose from and work and family still leaves him time for hobbies.
“I am an avid reader and flamenco aficionado. I also play a bit of guitar and piano, but still quite badly.”
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