Meet Julia, our Chief Commercial Officer

Julia joined IONA as a Chief Commercial Officer in 2024 and is responsible for sales and marketing at IONA. She believes in the power of human connectedness, having clear and systematic processes, and cultivating a genuine interest in others.

What have you been up to since joining IONA?

I’m responsible for commercial success, sales and marketing at IONA. I’m currently building the processes and team behind that. Since joining in August 2024, I’ve been taking the time to fully understand our sales and marketing function to identify high-potential areas and lay out our roadmap for the future. We’ve already started recruitment processes as we know we want to expand the team to match our ambition for growth. In addition to that, I’ve also had the pleasure to begin work with our customers.

Tell us about your career journey so far

I have a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science and a Master's degree in Software Engineering. While I never thought I’d be a programmer, I’ve always wanted to work in tech - just in a more business-oriented role. That’s why I began working and studying at the same time. I wanted to grasp the business aspect. Since then, I’ve worked across many different areas, from media monitoring to HR, IT recruitment, sales and research and development. I realised I loved sales and wanted to learn more, so I joined my previous employer and got the chance to work in the accounts team from the beginning while doing consulting. I worked my way up to lead the sales development team and later on became an account lead. After that, I was offered the opportunity to join IONA as Chief Commercial Officer.

What do you love about sales and account management?

I never thought I would end up in sales. After working in consultancies, I realised consultative sales was very complex and interesting. I had some misconceptions, and I’m glad I could see past that. What I love about sales and account management is the combination of the people and business aspects. That’s why I didn’t want to be a pure coder - I felt the need to connect with people day-to-day. In sales and account management roles, you meet many people, and you have to connect with them. It’s important to hear and understand them. Sales actually isn’t about talking; it’s about listening and having endless curiosity.

What are your pillars for success?

It’s about striking a balance between being systematic and process-driven while also creating space for creativity and flexibility. Sales and account management is a numbers game, but it’s also a ‘people game’. You have to be genuinely interested in clients and their businesses. People and tech have to be combined. Business and tech have to be combined. Sales and marketing have to be combined. You can’t work in silos. Modern sales happen when sales and marketing are closely intertwined. It’s possible to break down silos with the smart implementation of technology - which is what IONA represents as a MACH-certified system integrator.

Has anything surprised you about IONA?

The culture stands out. You can be yourself and speak openly and honestly, and it’s something that’s truly wanted and embraced. At IONA, it doesn’t feel superficial. It’s genuine. The other thing that surprised me was IONA’s ambition. I knew IONA was in a growth stage, but I’ve been positively surprised by how dynamic and ambitious the company is. It’s impressive. We’re a relatively new challenger in the market, and we’re already operating globally with incredible expertise and credentials. It doesn’t stop there either; we’ve got our eyes on the horizon.

What is important to you when building a team and culture?

It’s about being genuinely interested in each other. I want to foster and nurture how people are different, because we all have our own fortes. I believe in having clear targets and goals - and working systematically towards them while maintaining openness. Freedom is important, but it entails accountability. We must cultivate what works best for everyone while also having the right amount of guidelines and boundaries to ensure that our goals are reached. Good and clear communication is essential to reach collective understanding and the level of freedom I want to give my team. As a team lead I want to be clear, fair, present and transparent.

What’s your plan in the coming months?

We want to build our team, systems and processes to match our ambition for growth. That means I’ll be focusing on how we can finetune and scale our ways of working to get even better results. The same applies to how we lead and build our accounts. Over the coming months, I’ll refine our processes for acquiring and managing client accounts and tech partnerships. IONA is in an incredible growth stage, and it’s an exciting time to join the company. I feel that we can really shape how we work and what the future will look like. It’s a unique opportunity to make a difference.

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