Youri: 'Delighted to make my contribution to the energy transition'

Youri Havenaar came to work for Alfen following a career switch. He talks enthusiastically about what he enjoys about his job. 'The chance to work at Alfen resonated with me, because it enabled me to contribute to the global energy transition; perhaps the biggest societal evolution of our generation.'

"My name is Youri Havenaar, I'm 27, and I work as a product manager in Alfen's EV Charging Equipment business unit. Prior to starting at Alfen, I worked at the Royal Dutch Navy where I trained to become a Marine Officer and worked to obtain an internal technical degree on an academic level.

As the discrepancy between theory and practice was a bit too large, I switched to the Delft University of Technology. I obtained my Engineering Master’s degree there, specializing in Design for Interaction. Shortly after, I was hired by Alfen, a dynamic company where I’ve enjoyed working ever since.

'A truly versatile job'

As a Product Manager for our Charging Equipment, I have to communicate with and streamline all kinds of matters between the Sales, Development, Production, Service, Procurement and other departments. This means I have a highly versatile job: I write user manuals and draft development requests, collaborate with colleagues to determine development priorities, align our product portfolio, brainstorm about upcoming products and features and more.

The fact that our Product Management team also co-defines and monitors our product portfolio strategy, makes my work interesting from both an operational and strategic perspective. Furthermore, I’m also responsible for releasing new products and features on behalf of Alfen, both internally and externally, and I am part of the team that defines our portfolio’s user experience and user interface strategy.

One of the things I love to talk about during private conversations, is that I played a pivotal role in implementing the largest public charging infrastructure in Belgium, and that the person I’m talking to is most probably charging his phone through one of the transformer stations delivered by Alfen throughout the Netherlands. It shows the impact we have on people’s daily lives.

'Alfen anticipates and plans ahead'

The thought about working at Alfen resonated with me, because it enabled me to contribute to the global energy transition; perhaps the biggest societal evolution of our generation. While many companies have a reactive approach, Alfen anticipates and plans ahead. The entire product portfolio is aimed at smartly using power, whether during transformation, charging or storing electricity.

My future role is to ensure that charging stations are increasingly integrated with other Alfen products, but also with the ‘smart homes’ of the future. These charging stations, combined with renewable energy, will enable people to live sustainable lives without compromising on comfort, and find their way to electric vehicles.

Alfen is a renowned name with much expertise that is rapidly expanding, in part due to its leading role in sustainable solutions, energy transformation and energy storage solution. We all work together to reach our common goals, and the sum of what we do together is stronger than our individual contributions. Not a day goes by without something exciting happening, and that turns working at Alfen into a thrill."

Interested? Come and join us at Alfen! 

Review our job vacancies or send us an unsolicited application.