Recently, I had a few interview talks with Amaris: Julien, Cahe, and Sebastian. The whole process is very open and candid. We talked about some of the important elements in a job interview, for example, position understanding and KPI. This small essay is a kind of summary based on the talks, particularly with Sebastian.

The summary has four parts as the following.

What do I understand about the position in Amaris

Julien, Cahe and Sebastian all discussed some directions of the position in Amaris, from different perspectives as a service provider. The position matches my expectation: a position combined with program/project management, team management, customer service, and inter-company cooperation.

Sebastian’s detailed illustration of the ADAS position is very inspiring. He points out that ADAS has been growing into a very important domain for automotive industry. China has very strong demand for ADAS projects delivery, and Amaris has rich experience in helping customer develop and test ADAS specific technology and products.

As a key role in this position, I will focus on the following:

1. secure high quality delivery of major ADAS projects, and win both customer and team satisfaction,

2. oversee other ADAS projects, and help the team whenever necessary,

3. lead the team with clear direction, including KPI definition and succession plan,

4. make strong voice of Amaris China in the whole organization, and help win internal support, including help other Amaris business groups from China,

5. keep tracking the trend in Automotive and other areas, and be flexible in winning new customers and business.

There could be something I missed, but this is already a challenging position.

How do I think myself fit for the position

The position is clearly defined, and I have a rather good match with it.

I have strong engineering background - embedded system development, automotive infotainment system design and software/system test, etc. These fit the ADAS domain technically, and I am confident that I am able to handle engineering part of ADAS programs rather smoothly. Even if ADAS becomes a separate domain in today Automotive architecture, it always has a lot of communication with other domains in the vehicle, like Power train, like Infotainment. My know-how and experience in other domains will also be a support in winning related projects.

Regarding program/project management, because I am PMP certificated, I believe I have common understanding with all project managers, within Amaris and between customers. I will apply the industrial best practice to manage the time, quality, and cost of each and every project, and find the good balance for programs.

I know Amaris is a service company. The key of service company is people - how to lead people, how to retain good people will also be a big part of my job. I know there are traditional ways like KPI, but I would also like to find each one’s unique needs - that’s how we keep people together longer.

In short, I can take the challenge of this position.

What should I improve to do better in the position

If the position is all within my ability, it would be boring - it must give me some space for growth. For the above position, I believe I can improve from the many areas:

technical expertise

ADAS is rather new area. There are a lot innovations and new application in ADAS area. To do my job better, I would have to learn a good deal of new things, and would also look for internal or external resources to help me in process the real technical issues.

commercial acumen

To keep the projects financially health is very important. I would like to learn from the team have to better make the deal, control project budget and keep good business relationship with different customers.

balance between all parties

Whether within the organization or between customers, I have to be always careful regarding making decisions. I would not like to make a decision before I am fully understood, and this is sometimes no very easy. I have to learn.

What do I see myself in Amaris in three years

Three years is not a short time for my age. I plan is for the first year I can smoothly establish a reputation of good performer - management-wise and technique-wise. In the first year I will focus on project delivery and process fine-turning.

In the second year, I think I will help Amaris China make bigger voice in the global business. I will make the China ADAS service team capable of challenging both local and global projects.

In the third year, I hope the core team is almost self-motivated and has enough experience in delivering different projects. Team members have super experience staying Amaris. Internal and external customers are actively looking for cooperation with us.

This would be good enough for me.

All in all, if I can have such an inspiring talk in Amaris, I will feel the future is promising. I will transfer this spirit to the next team member I meeting, and make a happy and strong team.