Alexandre Borel.

At Klarna, I have the autonomy to challenge and create a vision for my product.

Klarna Engineering Alexandre Borel

I drive architecture choices and gather skilled people to offer Klarna's payment methods to consumers in physical stores.

My path.

I took my first bend on the irregular path 2 weeks after joining. The recruiters had told me that ‘you will get opportunities here’ - they weren’t wrong. I joined a LEAP (our short-term single-issue focus team) working on creating a new Klarna In-store solution. I applied to become the Competence Lead of the team and was successful. During those first months, I quickly learned that at Klarna, you can share your opinion, and more importantly, you can convince people too. I was able to go on to build the In-store application for consumers and for retailers. 2 years later, I am now Accountable Lead for my team and I relish the role I play in creating great products and supporting great people.

Working at Klarna.

With great thanks to our operating model, you really get the autonomy that lets you develop your sense of ownership, challenge, get into the details, and have a vision for your work. I regularly get the opportunity to defend our vision for In-store in front of management or try to convey to what is seen as the wider In-store strategy. This has given me a lot of opportunities to sharpen my communication skills. So there are lots of things to like at Klarna, but in the end, I’ve stayed because of the operating model.

Something I’m unreasonably passionate about.

Two things - the first is how to get systems to work together. From people to IT systems, I love how we can build things on top of other things and get a ‘wow it works’ feeling. Secondly, I love physical copies of video games. Nowadays everything is digital so it’s amazing to get that rare indie game that finally had a limited-run edition.

A day in my life.

AMPMEvening
I usually schedule early meetings with people from my team and do 1-1s at an early start in the day.I will get my espresso after lunch, which is the last coffee of the day. Espresso after lunch is the best.I will probably work late at the office, at least for Sweden. I love working when no one is here anymore.
I bike to work. It's so cool to live in a place that is near enough to use your bike to go to the office.I usually follow up on subjects while I'm waiting with my Espresso.I love to go for a run when it's dark, which is pretty hard in summer, where I prefer to go for some drinks!
After my 1-1s of the early morning, I start off with the team stand-up.And then I will probably help the team create awesome stuff. While drinking sparkling water.I may end up playing one of the video games I bought. Maybe.

3 takes on Klarna.

My favorite Leadership Principle is...

Customer obsession. I just love to create products that satisfy customers. Not just final customers - everyone from merchants to colleagues that sell or use our products.

The best task of the day is ..

cleaning up JIRA, our task management system. I love to clean up JIRA and go home! I know it’s not everyone’s idea of fun but we constantly go from one challenge to another at Klarna so cleaning up JIRA helps me reflect on what we’ve achieved.

I’d describe my team as...

Exigent! I love that we constantly thrive to live by the leadership principles without actually thinking about it. We are constantly trying to start small, to learn fast, to question our own ways of working, and to focus on the details.

Your success story starts here.