Celonaut Spotlight: Sabeth Steiner, Vice President Product Management

Celonaut Sabeth Steiner joined #TeamCelonis in April of 2017 as a Data Scientist and has progressed her way in the company to Vice President Product Management.

Sabeth talks us through her Celonis journey, the challenges she faces in her daily work, and advice for women who are just starting their careers.

Sabeth Steiner

Vice President Product Management for Boards & Analytics

What makes working at Celonis special for you?

• I started my Celonaut journey over three years ago and Celonis managed to turn me into a Process Mining enthusiast on day one due to two reasons: the product itself and my colleagues.

• I was overwhelmed by how much fun it was to actually work with the product. As a Solution Engineer, it was my joy to convey that enthusiasm to the customer and it is always great to see that they are convinced of our value proposition and love working with our solution. At the beginning of this year, I switched to Product Management to be even more involved with the product itself.

• What is amazing about working at Celonis is with you are working together. Across the company, you meet the smartest, most creative and fun people that will always support you and from whom you can always learn something. Furthermore, most have a true ‘can-do’ mentality and want to get something going. That is really contagious and motivates me every day.

Which advice would you give to less experienced women who are just starting their careers? 

• Try out things, see if you are good at them and if you like them. You do not need to be an expert at something before you start…

• I personally questioned myself a lot when I started (and still do sometimes/in new situations) and I was wondering if I am doing a good job if I fulfilled the requirements if I am as good as my colleagues. My advice is before questioning yourself too much ask for feedback. Also, make sure to really accept it and be proud of it. And learn to communicate your achievements!

• Don’t be intimidated by loud/male colleagues (and also customers or partners). Be brave and put trust in yourself. Just because someone is older than you or talks louder does not mean they know more about a topic. Demand what you deserve (equal pay should be a given, but also the necessary respect which is shown in “little things” like time to finish your sentence).

Which key qualifications should applicants have to join your department?

• Ability to breakdown complex topics and prioritize

• Technical expertise, passion for our product and data

• Understanding of users, customers and the market

• Strong communication skills

• Quickly adjust to changing priorities and circumstances can-do mentality and outcome-oriented

What challenges do you face every day and how do you deal with them?

• Prioritisation and focus. The most important decisions are what we are not doing. There is a lot to do, a lot of cool things we want to do and very limited resources.

• Working effectively across teams/tribes/departments and making sure that responsibilities and ownership are clear.

• Changing circumstances - prices can change, and the strategy might be adjusted, so everyone also needs to get on board quickly.

Describe your team at Celonis in three words.

Smart. Fun. Passionate.

What does a typical day at Celonis look like for you?

There is no typical day. In product I am:

• Engaging with customers as well as market analysts, listing to their challenges and features requests and feedback

• Supporting GTM (Sales and Delivery) for deals

• Enabling internal departments on the roadmap/new features

• Aligning with engineering how to build new features and align on the order and scope

• Mocking and testing new feature designs with UI/UX

• Exchange with my team members on current progress and challenges and planning the next sprints

👩‍🚀 Sabeth, Vice President Product Management, joined Celonis after finishing her studies in business engineering at the University of Applied Science Karlsruhe (M. Sc.). Celonis is Sabeth's first employer - she gained working experience through previous internships at L’Oréal, SAP and Bosch.

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