Meet Clara, Innovation Project Manager at the Mantu Lab

Mantu Talent Stories let you get closer to the people who make Mantu what it is. Today we’re chatting to Clara Dorne, an Innovation Project Manager based in Paris, France, with the Mantu Lab.  

Hello Clara! Thanks for chatting to us today. Tell us, what exactly does an Innovation Project Manager do at Mantu?

As an Innovation Project Manager, I oversee some complex and innovative projects dealing with data and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Mainly, I help clients challenge their needs, then I design solutions and challenge them against other state-of-the-art solutions on the market. Finally, I help to ensure our clients’ projects will be developed and delivered on time and on budget. Part of my role is also to boost synergies between all the projects developed by the Mantu Lab.

Sounds like a very varied role! What excites you the most about your position with the Mantu Lab?

The thing I love most is the opportunity to continually discover new topics, jobs, and sectors of activities. I get to do deep dives into a wide range of topic areas because to be efficient designing innovative solutions, I need to immerse myself into users’ daily activities and challenges.

I also love that I get to work with amazing people every day. Developing innovative projects remains risky, and we overcome most difficulties by working as a team, cross-pollinating ideas with our different backgrounds and knowledge.

How did you come to be working for Mantu? What was your experience and background before joining the team?

I have a general engineering background. During my education in France, I had the chance to work as an apprentice within a French multinational engineering company’s innovation lab.

At the end of that experience, I wanted to explore much more about digital innovation. That’s when Mantu Lab offered me the opportunity to work within its team, and so I joined the adventure!

What advice would you give to a young engineering graduate who is starting her career in this industry?

I think that one of the most important pieces of advice I can give to any graduate is to remain confident in their skills; she deserves her diploma as much as any other student and should be proud of what she has already achieved!

I would also advise her to always stay open minded and curious. For me, these two qualities are crucial to continue learning, developing, and evolving all the way along her career. Learning doesn’t stop when you leave university!

What new skills have you learned since joining Mantu, and which ones have you sharpened?

Working with Mantu has really helped me improve my communication skills with all sorts of people from different backgrounds and levels, such as developers, project managers, and even directors.

Also, Mantu is now supporting me to take my first steps towards becoming a manager and developing all of the related skills. I can’t wait to put them to the test!

Finally, what would you say is your favorite project to date?

Last year, we had a challenging project to work on. It involved designing a complete set of innovative solutions to fit a global vision. This was interesting as we needed to understand the current environment of a complete entity, and then synthesize that with innovative technologies which had the capacity to answer the objectives given by the client. It was one of my favourite projects due to its complexity and the impact level for our client.

Thanks for taking the time to give us the inside track on Innovation Project Management, Clara!

If you’re inspired by Clara’s story and want to learn more about working with Mantu, visit our careers hub here.