International Women’s Day – Interview with Nicole Ruszkowski, Head of Delivery

This International Women’s Day, we celebrate the incredible achievements of women all around the world and what they stand for, we also want to recognise and celebrate the extraordinary group of empowering women across our global team who inspire us every day. 

This year’s campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity, highlighting the importance that equal opportunities alone aren’t enough – people start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action. To learn more about the campaign, click here. 

This day serves as an important reminder to continue to challenge the status quo and a commitment to achieving gender equality and embracing equity for all. 

In honour of International Women’s Day, we’ve interviewed 5 talented female employees from the Paydock team and we will be publishing a series of these interviews over the course of the week. Take a moment to read and learn about their personal experiences, what this day means to them, and how Paydock provides support for women on their journeys.

Today, we talk with Nicole Ruszkowski, our Head of Delivery. 

Hi Nicole! Tell us about you and what you do at Paydock. 

I often get asked “what does Delivery do?” and the name in itself creates a lot of different assumptions. However, in the software development space, I mainly focus on business agility and ways of working to streamline collaboration between other departments and teams. I manage a group of Delivery Managers who are embedded in various product teams and focus on their ability to build and deliver value to our clients. My career so far spans more than 14 years in different roles within the delivery space mainly in the e-commerce and fintech industry working with engineers, QA and product managers and bringing new ideas and technology to life. 

Why do you think it is important to celebrate International Women’s Day?

I think it’s important to recognise the journey and fight our ancestors took on and went through to be able to break centuries of stereotyping against female roles and capabilities.We must celebrate achievements led by women so that it creates healthy debates, and hopefully challenge every last existence of that type of gender inequality.

Do you have any female role models that inspire you in your career?

Most definitely. I was very fortunate that my first-ever manager was a remarkable woman, who not just believed in me but also supported me in anything and everything I went after. She encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and pushed me further to take on new challenges. She set the bar for me of what a successful woman looks like and made me realise that things like gender do not and should not matter and that the world is my oyster.  

What advice would you give to females considering a career in fintech?
The same advice I would give to anyone regardless of gender or industry, go for it! Make use of the free knowledge base that is the internet and build your network and knowledge through numerous meetups, interest groups and conferences. Consider entry jobs or roles that provide good foundations to build on and grow from. There are plenty of startup companies out there within the fintech industry that provides great opportunities for progression and development beyond the day-to-day.

How is Paydock supporting our women on this journey?

At Paydock we have lots of open roles and internal initiatives that allow you to get stuck in and reach way beyond your role role. It’s a fast-paced environment and creates opportunities for everyone. Diversity and equality are always at the forefront when we recruit, promote or open up internal opportunities. Finding the right people for the right role, who are enabled to develop their strengths and become the best versions of themselves is what matters. I am proud to say we have so many strong females across all levels who make an impact on Paydock’s future every day.