Meet Lennart or ‘’Lelle’’, our Director of Production Development & Engineering here at Polarium. After 24 years in the telecom industry, he decided to make a change and join the energy field to work with batteries.

‘’My journey in the engineering field has been quite long,” says Lelle, I haven’t always worked with batteries and energy. I started out working in the car industry, mending smashed and crashed cars. It was a hard time during the beginning of the 90’s, and I ended up losing my job. That’s when I started to work at a big telecom company, and I stayed there for over 24 years! During that time, I got more into production and engineering, and now I have been in production since 1994.”

"I’ve worked here at Polarium for a little more than 3 years. My role focuses on prototyping and developing production processes. The biggest comparison between my last job and Polarium is that here we move in such a fast pace, and I love it! Back when I started at Polarium in 2020, we were only 35 people; today we are more than 250 people here in Sweden so you can understand that we are constantly growing.”

“My role varies day-to-day. I manage a team that works hands-on with the batteries and other things like documentation around how to secure the process and quality of the products. At this job, I get to keep my freedom and flexibility while working with something that I am passionate about, which I enjoy. I mostly get to plan my days as I want and still manage to handle my work. The same goes out for my team."

"As a manager, I carry a responsibility to create a sustainable work environment, including how we work and how we can perform in the best way possible. Everything moves fast here, and I believe that people can only keep up being productive and keep up their performance by balancing work and private life. So, I often remind my team to use their flexible time to do things other than work.’’ 

For Lelle, his team is just as important to him as the work they produce. One of Lelle's main hiring philosophies is that he looks beyond the CV and tries to see if the person would work well in his team. He wants to create a work environment that welcomes people from different backgrounds and experiences. 

"I am aware of how my team looks. For me, raising the topic of diversity in teams is important. It is harder to hire women because there are fewer applicants, but I want to keep discussing this and work on how we can change that. I believe that a diverse group of people brings different views, competencies, and background that creates company success. It generates a better work environment and new ways of solving problems. When you only have one type of people, the view gets narrowed and it becomes a different workplace." 

"But it really comes down to the manager's responsibility for creating these teams, sourcing people from diverse backgrounds, and not being afraid to try. It might take a little more time, but it is essential to get it done. In Jovana's case,  I really saw her potential even if she didn’t have any earlier experience in production. But she was an excellent fit for the team, and I quickly saw how she adapted to the role fast. We gave it a try, and, in this case, it really worked out." 

"I usually start off by looking at a person's CV to see what kind of background they have and then I try to get a picture of who the person is. I try to see if the person would make a good fit on my team, at the end of the day, sometimes it is more beneficial to extend the team in a more diverse way than having that extra competence in the long term. And that really is the Polarium way, a people-first mindset. We think big here to solve big problems."

Each of our teams has the shared purpose for creating smart energy storage that changes the way we use energy as a society. At Polarium, we believe a diverse group of people is the springboard for our creativity, innovation, and success. Check out our available job positions to see if one is right for you!