Sinéad Lalor

What challenges did you face, and how did you overcome them? 

The biggest challenge was really just the logistics of moving to the U.S. From a work perspective, the transition felt pretty seamless as the role was quite similar to what I had been doing in Tate Europe. It was more about building a new life from scratch, housing, routines, getting settled. There's always an adjustment period when you're starting somewhere new, even without a major culture shift.

What helped was just taking it step by step, not trying to figure everything out at once, and leaning into the experience as it came.

What new skills, responsibilities, or experiences have you gained in your new role? 

The scale and pace of the U.S. market is very different. It's significantly larger, and within the recent growth in the industry, things move quickly.

That's given me a lot more exposure across both the technical and commercial sides of the business. Moving into Sales Engineering has meant working much more closely with customers, understanding their challenges in detail, and translating that into solutions.

I've also grown the team considerably, so a big part of my role now is building and leading that function while keeping up with a fast-moving market.

Overall, it's been a really valuable experience in terms of both technical depth and commercial understanding.

How has this move helped you grow, both personally and professionally? 

I moved to the U.S. as Head of R&D, and within just over a year stepped into a broader role as Director of Sales Engineering and R&D. It was a quick transition, but one that really accelerated my growth.

A big part of that has been shifting further into the commercial side. I’ve always approached R&D with a customer-first mindset, getting close to real challenges and feeding that back into product development. As the market evolved, especially with the rapid growth in AI, it became clear there was a gap for a strong, design-led but commercially focused sales engineering function. That created an opportunity to build something new, which I was excited to take on. It’s given me the chance to shape my own path and have a bigger impact across the business.

On a personal level, relocating has been a great experience, living somewhere new, travelling more, and getting to know different cultures. It’s been a really positive move all around.

What would you tell someone considering a career move that involves relocation? 

If you’re an ambitious person and want to expand your horizons and grow your career, a relocation can be a fantastic way to do that. You can stay in one department or one business for a very long time and begin to feel a bit siloed. By relocating, you’re injected into a new business with new people who have a different way of thinking. This will challenge you and your outlook. You will see more opportunities because you have a different experience of how you can help shape that business.

There's also a personal side to it, experiencing a new place, new people, different cultures. That broadens how you think, which is important as you grow into more senior roles.

For me, that combination of professional and personal growth has been incredibly valuable.