Angelique’s education and career path
I joined Medtronic as a management assistant and in this role, I was able to see many different aspects and departments of the Medtronic BRC organization. From pre- and post-market clinical studies, clinical research, statistics, data management, clinical operations, European steering committees to the general management at the BRC.
While enjoying my job and realizing the importance of this management assistant role,
I felt it was time to start following a different path in my career. With my passion for project management, process improvement and change management, I started a bachelor in Information Management. This resulted in three and a half quite intense years: a fulltime job, going to school two nights a week, studying during weekends and finally, also becoming a mother. A period during which my planning, communication and organization skills were trained even more.
In January 2015, it was time to make a career switch, say goodbye to my management assistant position and start as a Localization Project Manager (LPM) within the Medtronic Translations department.
As an LPM, I managed technical literature translation projects from start to end for various Medtronic business units/therapy groups, like Cardiac Rhythm & Heart Failure (CHRF), Cardiovascular (CV), Restorative Therapies Group (RTG) and Diabetes. In this role, elements such as planning, resource assignment, cost estimation and budget management are the drivers for a successful project completion.
Medtronic Translations supports more than 34 languages and that means that there are many people involved in a single translation project. An example: In a translation project requiring medical device Instructions for Use (IFU) in 26 languages, over 80 persons can easily be involved: 1 LPM, 52 linguists (every language has 2 native speakers as linguists),
2 publishers and, if applicable, also 26 Subject Matter Experts (SME).
In February 2016, I accepted the position of LPM Account Manager for Cardiovascular (CV) and mainly partnered with the CV Technical Communication and Packaging & Labeling organization. This was followed by my promotion to Localization Program Manager CVG in October 2016. I now oversee the overall portfolio for both CRHF and CV for technical literature, software and packaging & labeling translations from a planning, finance and quality point of view. I partner with multiple international stakeholders in managing comprehensive and global translation programs. Apart from the great Medtronic partnerships, I also have the pleasure of working with a great team of passionate LPMs, who are the experts in the actual execution of the translation projects.
With my special interest in operational excellence and being exposed to more strategic and process-related perspectives, I had the opportunity to also follow the Lean Sigma path, in parallel to my career switch and development steps. This resulting in my Lean Sigma Black Belt certification in October 2018. Next to being a Localization Program Manager, this also gives me the opportunity to be involved in various continuous improvement initiatives.