Client Profile:
A leading international company in the online voting and digital election technology sector. Operating in a sensitive and highly regulated domain, the organization combined deep R&D efforts with real-world implementations across multiple countries. At the time, the company was managing several EU-funded innovation projects while simultaneously evolving its core digital voting product.
Challenge:
The R&D department operated with strong technical expertise but lacked strategic alignment between innovation efforts and the evolving roadmap of their online voting platform. At the same time, the company needed to position itself more effectively within EU research frameworks, while building healthier and more structured internal processes.
My Role and Contribution:
This engagement required both Navigator-level strategic leadership (see services page) and Thrive-style process refinement — balancing active project delivery with long-term innovation strategy, and enabling organizational maturity from the inside out.
I stepped in to lead two ongoing EU-funded projects while also playing an active role in building the company’s future innovation portfolio. Within 6 months, we successfully joined two new consortia with high-scoring EU funding proposals, one of which I personally co-wrote. This was done while traveling to project meetings and dissemination events, representing the company externally and ensuring alignment internally.
Key Initiatives and Impact:
- Biweekly Strategic Syncs: Initiated a recurring cross-functional alignment between R&D, product, and innovation functions to define shared priorities and guide which EU proposals to pursue.
- EU Proposal Leadership: Played a hands-on role in writing and coordinating a high-scoring Horizon Europe proposal, securing future funding pipelines
- Process Inventory & Improvements: Audited and optimized team-level project management practices, streamlining delivery operations
- Performance & Culture Advocacy: Recommended regular check-ins between R&D leadership and engineers to foster engagement, retention, and personal growth
- Financial & Delivery Integration: Facilitated bimonthly meetings with the CFO and R&D Director, preparing and presenting data-driven forecasts to support collaborative decision-making
- External Visibility: Represented the company at project meetings and dissemination events — enhancing its credibility and positioning at the EU level
Results:
- Two major EU-funded projects delivered successfully, on time and with full compliance
- Successfully joined two EU research consortia within 6 months
- Co-authored a high-scoring Horizon Europe proposal, strengthening the company’s R&D roadmap
- Increased internal alignment between innovation efforts and product direction
Fostered collaboration across Finance, Product, and R&D through structured strategic rituals - Improved team processes and introduced culture-focused feedback initiatives in R&D
Reflections:
This was a deeply rewarding engagement where strategy, innovation, delivery, and culture had to move in sync. Balancing active EU project execution with forward-looking proposal work demanded clarity, structure, and resilience. My role combined Navigator-level strategic oversight with Thrive-style continuous care — proving that sustainable progress comes from both strong systems and genuine human connection.