Sophie’s First Year at Vodafone

What attracted you to working at Vodafone?

To be completely honest, when I was first contacted about the role, I was unsure about a move to a Telco. Having worked in Financial Services for nearly 10 years, I was very much in my comfort zone and didn’t have any plans to leave the industry. However, when I started researching Vodafone and heard more about what my role would entail, I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity to apply. The company’s drive for inclusivity, equality and diversity was something I could be proud of, its passion for creating the future was very exciting, and the role would give me the freedom to experiment and make a real difference across the whole of Credit Risk within Vodafone. 

How has your first year been?

It has been brilliant and flown by! The first thing I noticed was how many people have worked here for donkey’s years and I can completely understand why. It is a true testament to the culture here. Everyone was so welcoming and open with guidance and advice. I’ve also had the pleasure of taking part in a couple of Connect Days (a twice-yearly opportunity for home-based colleagues to meet face to face and have fun), meaning that I’ve been able to meet my manager, peers and team in person which was fantastic.  

How have you found working from home and starting a new role virtually?

This was probably the smoothest onboarding I’ve ever had! All my equipment was delivered ahead of my start date and I was able to log on with my access working on day 1!  It has been a bit strange going to the same desk at home to start a new role but there have been so many virtual events, and more recently also in person, to get to know everyone, that I felt right at home quickly. 

What exciting projects are your team currently involved with and what's coming up next?

The team acts as a centralised function for the Credit Risk, Collections & Billing area so we have lots of exciting projects happening across the board and far too many to mention! But projects that have been kicked off in the last couple of weeks are the complete refresh of our Acquisition scorecard suite which is a hugely exciting project to get our teeth into, and a Customer Lifetime Value model which will help to improve our Acquisition cut-off strategy.  

Coming up next is a huge push towards innovation - we're currently assessing our tools and data to ensure we're set up to best support the business and provide state-of-the-art solutions via advanced machine learning and explainable AI. This is a truly exciting time to be a part of the Vodafone family and as luck would have it, we're hiring!

What skills would people need to be successful in your team?

We're looking for people with a passion for data and analytics, who love to drive innovation and change. The ability to code using their preferred language (SAS, SQL or Python) is a must and an inquisitive mind allowing them to identify opportunities and drive insight would be amazing. The team is absolutely fab, creating a culture of collaboration so communication and teamwork is also key. If the existing team is anything to go by, they also need to really like carrot cake!