From HQ to the Big Picture: Growing with the Product Graduate Program

Feb 7, 2025 • 4 min

In this blog, we are traveling the world from Finland to the US and Australia! Boluwatife “Tife” Akinbola, Kati Vinnikainen, and Tuomas Haapalehto joined RELEX in early 2023 as part of the company’s Product Graduate Program. This two-year program has offered the three recent graduates the chance to grow into Product professionals through job rotations in different teams and offices at RELEX.

In the fall of 2024, the graduate colleagues relocated from the RELEX headquarters in Helsinki, Finland to the company offices in Atlanta, US and Melbourne, Australia. By changing continents, they also changed departments: from Research and Development (R&D) to Customer Operations. The international rotation of 6 months has been a fantastic opportunity for the trio to gain new perspectives on RELEX and its products.

Their time abroad is soon coming to an end. Before starting new professional chapters at RELEX in Finland, the graduates share insights about their global RELEX journey so far.

Starting Product Careers Together After University

Tuomas, Tife, and Kati all graduated from university around the start of the program in February 2023. With master’s degrees in industrial engineering and management, supply chain management, and international business and management, respectively, they formed a multi-disciplinary team.

The different backgrounds combined with the same motivation to learn and grow have turned out to be a great recipe for supporting each other and sharing learnings during the program. The graduates all had their own motivations to apply for the Product team at RELEX.

“I had some years of experience in an operational role at a pharmaceutical company, and I really enjoyed creating new things – whether it was building a new process on the shopfloor or developing a tool to boost efficiency. I love working with data and insights, too. When I came across the job ad, I instantly felt this program and RELEX were something for me”, Tuomas says.

Tife adds that for her the open position at RELEX, a market-leading supply chain planning software company, was “the right next step after previous work experience in data analytics and logistics.” She continues: “I envisioned a role combining both supply chain and technology, so RELEX is a perfect fit”.

Kati explains how she got interested in a career move towards the Product world: “I had previously worked in a fintech company and a digital marketing agency. Product teams are at the intersection of business and technology, close to the customer interface, which was the case in my previous roles as well. I felt that at RELEX, I could utilize my existing skills while growing into a new field.”

Same Program, Different Paths

For the past two years, the graduates have worked with different RELEX products and as part of various teams and departments. Despite the different work tasks throughout the program, what the trio clearly has in common is their growth mindset. Tuomas, Tife, and Kati share their insights about the learning journey during this intense but rewarding program.

Tuomas says: “In moving from my first rotation to the second, I shifted from one of our major product areas to another, stepping into a completely different role. This change came with a new product focus, different systems, and a fresh team. The most exciting part of this program is the need to rapidly understand each new context, adapting to the unique challenges of each rotation. It’s been an exceptional experience that has kept me continuously learning and engaged!”

Tife nods and says: “My experience was very similar when I changed from my second rotation to the third one. After I moved from one of our business logic teams to the sustainability-focused product adoption team, I learned so much already during the first week in the new role! It’s a rewarding moment to notice how you suddenly feel at ease after this kind of a jump into the unknown.”

“I remember that the job ad of the program said something like “Real work tasks from day one” and that’s definitely been true at RELEX”, Kati says. “A few weeks after joining, I started managing an internal data project. 1,5 years later, together with the cross-functional project team we finalized something that facilitates the daily work of many teams across the company, hopefully for years to come. The best part is that we did it together with around 50 RELEXians, all learning from each other.”

Changing jobs every six months is not always easy as it takes time to onboard to a new team and understand the new context. The graduates are happy with the program structure and have been able to support one another on the way.

Tife adds: “It’s great that the three of us have been changing roles at the same time so peer support has always been available. I also like that the program has been structured for everyone individually, based on our own career interests”.

Lots of Learnings to Take Home from Overseas

As the 6-month rotations overseas are soon coming to an end, it is clear for the graduates why the final chapter of their program took place abroad.

“My previous team focused on the back end of one of our products and in the current role I am in daily contact with customers using that product. Changing from “behind the scenes” to collaborating with our customers’ supply chain experts in as big of a market as the US has given me valuable insights for any future role at RELEX”, Tuomas says.

“The Helsinki office has existed for roughly two decades whereas the one in Melbourne is only less than four years old. Many of the customers I’ve got to work with are big companies around here, but I have not been familiar with their operations before. Changing geographic location, combined with the move to the customer front, has given me a totally different view of RELEX and our products”, Kati adds.

From HQ to the Big Picture: Growing with the Product Graduate Program

Starting Product Careers Together After University

Same Program, Different Paths

Lots of Learnings to Take Home from Overseas

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