"FRILO is an innovative employer with great growth potential"
Manuel Walter joined the FRILO team in the summer of 2020 and was promoted to Head of Product Management around two years later. His daily work routine has become even more international as a result, and thanks to the flexible working hours at FRILO, he also finds enough time to pursue his hobbies. You can read what these are at the end of the interview.
Hello Manuel! You started at FRILO in 2020. What were your motives?
FRILO is an innovative employer with great growth potential that also offers optimal working conditions to young professionals and specialists. Flexible working time models and an individual home office arrangement are not just flowery words at FRILO to entice new colleagues, but are also put into practice in exactly the same way. As a result, all colleagues of any age and regardless of their family situation can experience an optimally balanced work-life balance.
The flat hierarchical structures offer the best conditions for personal development and the opportunity to quickly reach a position of responsibility.
You are the Head of Product Management at FRILO. What does your workday look like?
Essentially, my day-to-day work consists of a mixture of customer service and product management issues. In addition to important decisions for the product roadmap (regarding possible and targeted new developments and enhancements), this also includes topics such as quality assurance, market analysis and comparisons, team meetings as well as webinars, online trainings and trade show appearances, if applicable. Due to the newly founded Nemetschek Engineering, in which the brands FRILO, SCIA and DC have joined together in a strategic cooperation, my daily work has become more international. This also entails regular trips to other locations, partners and events within Germany and to our neighboring European countries. Since these trips rarely last longer than three days, they also fit perfectly into my work week and are not a particular burden for me, but rather an enrichment to my daily work routine. The contact to domestic and foreign colleagues is very valuable for me and brings me a big step further linguistically, professionally and socially, trip by trip.
What was your most extraordinary experience at FRILO?
My most extraordinary FRILO experience was certainly my promotion to Head of Product Management for the FRILO and DC business units within Nemetschek Engineering. Extraordinary because no lengthy further training measures or assessment centers were necessary or required for this. And not least because the promotion came as a bit of a surprise and at a time when I was not expecting it. Nevertheless, I was delighted and accepted the challenge.
What do you like about working in the FRILO team?
The special thing about FRILO is the extraordinary team spirit, which I have never experienced in this form in my professional career in any other company. #teamfrilo is a symbol for this team spirit and is also lived by all colleagues. The interaction among colleagues is highly collegial and friendly, if not even amicable.
In addition, there is a very comprehensive benefit program and many internal events of various kinds to constantly promote and sharpen this team spirit. An employer-financed bike lease, various after-work get-togethers and excursions, and first-class catering in the office are just a few examples that I would like to highlight.
What do you do when you’re not working?
My free time consists mainly of music, sports and voluntary work. In all three areas I am very active and therefore also very grateful for flexible working hours.
I have been an enthusiastic drummer since I was six years old and have been active in many different formations and musical styles during this long time. I have maintained this hobby over all these years and today it offers me – in addition to my sporting activities – an optimal balance to my everyday working life. As far as sports are concerned, I would like to emphasize my passion for winter sports, mountain biking and sailing. For each of these sports, I invest at least one week of my vacation every year, which allows me to relax and completely forget about my daily work routine. In my voluntary work, I like to be involved in youth education and the promotion of music culture in the association and as chairman of the supervisory board in a cooperative for solidarity agriculture.
