Pros
At this point, I have been at Finastra for nearly 3.5 years now. I was initially hired for an individual contributor role, but quickly advanced in the company as I focused on projects that had a big impact on the business and pipeline. Just one year after my hire date I was promoted to people leader to a small team (3 people) and then the year after that I got promoted again to manage a globally distributed team of 8. However, I need to stress that getting 2 promotions in 3 years is not the common experience at Finastra, but exceptions can be made for certain people who have impressive contributions to the company.
Some of the pros:
- You get to learn how to do enterprise B2B marketing, sometimes from colleagues who have decades of experience in the field. This experience is super valuable as there are only a handful of companies the size of Finastra who could teach you that and who are willing to pay good money for that experience.
- Relaxed RTO policy, at least for the Marketing team. In Bucharest, we are encouraged to visit the office at least twice a month, but generally it's up to you how often you want to go.
- Unlimited PTO for most Finastra location and yes you can actually use it.
- Flexible working schedule, as long as you do your tasks and join mandatory meetings.
- Free access to LinkedIn Learning and some courses can also be expensed (if the manager agrees).
- Free access to a 1-to-1 coaching app called TaskHuman where you get coaching on any topic you want (nutrition, fitness, leadership, career, foreign languages etc.)
- If you are in a people leader role you might get the chance to travel to other Finastra offices, especially if your team is globally distributed. I travel often to London and even went to Manila once to visit my team there.
- Supportive team members and managers - at least on the Corporate Marketing side I can guarantee it.
- Ability to move jobs horizontally if there is an open position.
- If you have a really big impact on the business you could be nominated to go on an annual all-expenses-paid trip called "Diamond Club". Normally, this trip is reserved to salespeople only but around 21 people from non-sales roles are also invited. I had the chance to go this year despite being a marketer!
- Frequent employee surveys where you can tell your opinion to the leadership team and actions are actually taken in light of feedback.
Cons
- Despite recently updating salary bands, compensation still could be improved for the Marketing functions (especially the ones based in Romania)
- Periods of extremely high workload in Q2-Q3 (September-February) and high workload in Q4 (March-May). Q1 at least is generally chill as people are on summer holidays.
- Lots of meetings, especially as a people leader, so you need to be good at blocking your calendar and ruthless prioritization.
