Tania lives right across the street from a St1 station, yet she never imagined that St1 is so much more than just fueling stations. Today she leads the team that builds St1's own software and AI capability across the organisation. Brilliant people around her, a manager who has her back, and a healthy appetite for new technology makes her job rewarding. Tania Matvyeyeva's career path is a story about looking for something more tangible than software alone, and finding it in an energy company. With a background in education startups, security and access control field, gaming, Tania joined St1 as a project manager. Today she leads the Software Engineering team in the Business Technology unit at the Stockholm/Bromma office.

Tania's team is responsible for the custom-built software St1 builds in-house: mobile apps, My Pages, websites and a range of smaller and larger applications and services.

She doesn't write code herself these days. "I make sure we have the skilled and talented people to produce quality software," Tania explains. She also makes sure the team has clear processes, follows industry standards and security procedures, and still moves fast and delivers on time.

From startups and testing to something more tangible

Tania holds a Master's degree in Computer Science and started her career in traditional software development. She worked in startups building mobile apps for education, grew products for access management and data security in finance and banking, and worked on compliance and regulatory testing for a gaming platform. Along the way she tried many roles, including content developer, quality assurance engineer, automation engineer, QA lead and project manager.

A job ad caught her eye as if it had been written for her, and a recruiter called within days of her application.

“The people I met during the interview process were incredible, and I knew almost instantly that I wanted to be part of this group.”

Tania started at St1 as a project manager and participated for example in renewing St1’s mobile apps in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Then she got the opportunity to lead the Software Engineering team, where she is today.

A day built on communication and people

Tania’s days include a lot of communication and collaboration across groups, vendor governance and making sure engineering standards are followed. Lately, much of her focus has gone to AI-driven development and building AI skills across the engineering organisation.

“I'm lucky to have such a capable and driven team. Everyone is skilled, talented, motivated, and knows what they're supposed to do, and they do it.”

For Tania, the most motivating part of the job is the people and the work itself.

“St1 people are amazing. Seeing this level of commitment and hard work every day inspires me and gives me faith that there's nothing we can't do as a team. It's humbling, and sometimes a bit overwhelming, to see how much trust I'm given here.”

Software as the enabler of the energy transition

According to Tania, the role of software has changed fundamentally. It no longer just supports the main business but enables it. She sees software playing a bigger role than ever.

“If we need data, we need software. If we want to add new capabilities to the services we provide, we need software. Tracking the consumption of different fuel types, steering customers toward more sustainable energy choices, tracking emissions: all of this and much more is handled by software today. And if you think about AI capability, it's by nature a software product.”

Growing with the help of great people

Stepping into a manager role meant learning new skills on several levels. She thanks the people around her for the support she has received along the way.

“I'm very lucky to have had fantastic managers at St1. My manager believes in me, always holds my back and steers me in the right direction.”

She has also learned from her own team:

“Each person is so different and so unique and brings so much to the table. I think they make me a better person and a better professional.”

Continuous learning is a big part of her routine. Tania takes courses, listens to talks from industry leaders and follows a few blogs and channels to stay relevant.

Asked about her proudest career milestone, she points to her team's achievements year after year, and says the real game changer is still ahead of her.

Challenging the ordinary with AI

Tania describes St1's culture as unifying and supportive, regardless of whether people work in Finland, Sweden, Norway or elsewhere, in the office or at home.

Tania is also proud of the company's ambition.

"I want to know my work matters."

For Tania, challenging the ordinary happens every day, and it is often the small decisions that make the biggest difference. Right now she sees the biggest impact in AI adoption. This year, St1’s summer trainees in Finland piloted an AI-first approach to developing use cases, turning several promising ideas into practice.

“It may sound like a small step, but with this experience, and a couple of other tests, we can take the next steps toward scaling AI adoption across engineering groups and domains.”

Looking ahead, she is curious about electrification. "Imagine your St1 charger recognising which car is being charged and handling the payment on its own. I think the future lies in more convenience and automation", says Tania.

Quick questions

Three words that describe St1? Trust, commitment, agility.

Best employee benefit? “Ice cream, of course. But it also feels good to get recognition for going the extra mile through the bonus and transparent TDA process.”

What might surprise people about working at St1? “St1 does so much more than just traditional fuel.” Tania recommends St1 as a workplace especially for those who are comfortable with some uncertainty and a bit of creative chaos. “If you're someone who wants to discover your own path, this is the place to be.”