Since the beginning of the year, I've been working in the company's corporate projects office (CPO), which assesses potential acquisitions. My specific role is to assess how we might integrate target acquisitions into the organisation. That means taking many different perspectives into consideration - people, systems, skills, contracts and so on. As a team we have to conduct exhaustive due diligence exercises, asking all the right questions to mitigate risk and ensure that any transition is smooth and painless.

I enjoy what I do, especially as it's a relatively new role - it gives me the opportunity to make it my own. But I also like the fact that it touches on virtually every aspect of the business. Having been focused on systems and products for a number of years, now I get to consider HR, legal, finance and sales issues. That gives me a more holistic view of the organisation and how we do business, as well as greater internal visibility for myself. It's a big challenge - when you're faced with the prospect of integrating two sets of people so that the company continues to get the best out of everyone, there's an enormous amount at stake.

The fact that we have an acquisitions team says a lot about the company's philosophy. It's totally geared towards growth - and on an international scale, too. Our potential acquisition targets typically have a global impact, which adds another dimension to my job; I regularly talk to regional directors and functional heads in all the countries where we operate, or where we'd like to operate.

The company culture is great - I've spent time in a number of our offices, and they all feel incredibly open and friendly. Voicing your point of view isn't just ok - it's encouraged. There's a real mixed background in terms of where everyone has worked before coming to Lumesse, but that makes for fresh, more creative perspectives. That wouldn't suit every company - but here, because there's always something new happening, and because positive changes can take place so fast, it's regarded as the norm. In some organisations, change often makes people sit up and take notice - at Lumesse, it's only if nothing much was changing at all that we'd probably all notice and ask ourselves why.

My journey has been different to other people doing similar roles to me. I worked as Lumesse's US financial controller for four years. I'd previously been a user and advocate of one of the company's products, so I was familiar with both the business and its people, which was a big plus point. Since February 2011 I've been doing full-time consulting on customer implementations, as well as wider customer account management. I mainly cover the US, Canada and Mexico, but I have responsibility for South America too; in fact, I'm looking forward to a trip that's coming up soon, when I'll be heading to Peru to deliver training there for one of our US customers.

What appealed to me about coming to work here was that the company works in a truly global environment. I studied international business at college, and my degree was in accounting, so this seemed the perfect next step for me, especially with my interest in software and technology. And by getting face-to-face customer contact, I'd be able to use all my skill sets.

My job is to advise customers on best practice, helping them make the right decisions during implementation and beyond, perhaps suggesting upgrades or new products or modules that would fit neatly with their talent strategy.

I like the multinational aspect of working at Lumesse - both externally with customers and internally with colleagues. Because we all come from so many backgrounds, there's always a fresh perspective on how people have approached various business challenges and processes in the past, or their ideas for overcoming new challenges. It's quite a melting pot. So when I'm gathering requirements or information from customers, or simply from colleagues, overseas, I have a better understanding of why things have to be tailored differently - and I find that discovering those ways is an interesting and fun part of the job.

I live a 45-minute drive from our office in Austin; I work from home part of the week when I don't have meetings or have to travel to customers. I achieve much more by being able to work out my own schedule, mixing in office time, customer time and working remotely - we have all the technology to make things like that easy, and even if I'm at home, the regular contact with colleagues in the States and overseas means I always feel part of a team.

Before my current role I'd been working in the implementation team for around five years, where my job was all about customising our talent management product for clients. I enjoyed the challenges and rewards of the work - but for a while I'd been thinking that it would be cool to move into a role where I was creating solutions from scratch. Transferring into the product team would give me exposure to new areas of talent technology while also gaining leverage from the skills I'd acquired while in implementation. Also, because of the nature of the implementation projects I'd worked on, I was well-versed in the talent management needs and priorities of HR teams at our clients.

Collectively Lumesse has years of experience. But culturally it still feels like a young and hungry business. The office is reasonably relaxed. But if I need to work from home - for instance, if I'm carrying out research or building certain aspects of the new product's functionality and need quite time, the company is fine about that.

One of my biggest achievements so far was successfully managing a complex implementation for a Scandinavian customer with over 40,000 employees. That involved a huge amount of formalising certain processes and methodology. But today I'm in the middle of my biggest challenge yet. I'm in charge of one of the key components of a company-wide project to develop a brand new product. To an extent we're in uncharted territory with many unknown factors to contend with, from the ease and effectiveness of the product to the familiarity of our offshore developers with routine HR requirements. The launch date is set for later on this year - it's a massive red letter day in my calendar.  So the pressure is on, but for me, that just adds to the appeal of my role.

I joined the company five years ago - I was specifically looking for a job with an international flavour, and that's what this one promised; I could see a certain journey lying ahead. And the more I learned, the more liked what I saw and heard.

As an example, there is support for individual development - but there is also an emphasis on taking responsibility for creating your own opportunities. If you show you are hard-working, then there will always be possibilities for personal growth. Within weeks of joining, I was leading a project in Germany. A few months later, an opportunity came up to lead an implementation project in Denmark, and follow it up with customer training. I had the skills and was mobile - so I was given that work, which led to further opportunities in Europe and relocation to London as an international project manager. My work took me to the US, South Africa, Ukraine, amongst many countries.

I've had exposure to management of amazingly complex, high-value projects for major blue-chip companies. I've been able to build my coaching and training skills, developing technical and commercial product knowledge and planning and effectiveness ability amongst my teams. Moving into a regional head of services role seemed to be a logical next step - and here I am, doing that in China. I've been supported by our fantastic Chinese team, who helped pave the way as I became accustomed to a totally different business environment. I couldn't have imagined just how different it is to anything I've had exposure to in the past - but it's been totally rewarding and enriching. I now run a team of 18 across our Asia Pacific business, so I'm less hands-on than I was at the start of the project - but that's also because my team have grown tremendously as individuals, in terms of their capacity to manage client accounts and deliver consistently high levels of service.

I spent my first year based out of Shanghai, and now I'm in Hong Kong. It's not quite the rollercoaster it was when I arrived, as I've learned so much in such a short space of time. I certainly put in the hours - don't forget that because of the time zones, I can easily be talking to colleagues in Europe or the US when I'm not in the office - but I love it.

Lumesse is a great company with great opportunities. Wherever I've worked it's been informal but still businesslike. That's probably a big part of the appeal, even though who knows where I'll be working for Lumesse in a year or two years' time?

My job is to keep a watching brief on what's happening in our marketplace, from trends in HR technology through to whatever's flavour of the month in terms of initiatives or priorities for the wider HR profession - issues that might well evolve into opportunities to upgrade our products or introduce new services.

I also follow other vendors in the marketplace, on a global basis, from established players to new entrants. We operate in a very dynamic industry; I need to keep abreast of all the latest partnerships or acquisitions or mergers, as well as major contract wins or terminations. It's not a solo effort; I work with colleagues who have their own professional or informal networks on a local level, and people know to feed me leads they hear of, which I follow up and assess.

This job grew out of my prior role in the sales enablement team, which supports our customer-facing colleagues with tools and systems to identify business opportunities and inform decision-making. Staying on top of the market was part of my remit and was something I enjoyed doing. So when it became apparent that there was a role for a full-time, dedicated market intelligence function, I was pleased to be given the opportunity to  play to my strengths.

Because of the nature of my role, I talk to people who join us from elsewhere in the industry, so I get a good picture of what sets Lumesse apart. Much of it is cultural - here, everything is businesslike and competitive, but it's also supportive; it's easy to see how what everyone does fits into the overall business. Also, the company gets everyone together every summer to share successes and set goals, so it's not just a question of working alongside people in your team or office; we get to meet colleagues from other locations and countries. Lumesse both thinks and behaves globally.

From a career planning perspective, there are always opportunities to grow not just within existing teams but also across into other parts of the company. If particular tasks or projects emerge that are judged to be of value to Lumesse and our customers, there's a willingness to allow people to run with their ideas. My role is proof of that.

I'm looking forward to seeing how my role develops, but I know that will be partly dictated by how I use the responsibility I've been given. Yes, there are big expectations. But that's all part of the challenge - and in any case, it's clear to me that the support will be there.

I'm working on our next-generation talent management solutions. As a product manager my role sits between client-facing teams and the technical teams who build our products. Because I've previously worked in HR and resourcing roles, I have first-hand understanding of talent management systems from a user's perspective, especially as, prior to joining Lumesse, I was using one of its products. That gives me a valuable insight into what represents a leading-edge product in our market.

Before advancing into my present role I was Head of Resourcing.  My job spanned 19 countries, in Europe and Asia, with plenty of opportunity to travel, meet my overseas colleagues and learn about the global business, with high-level exposure amongst senior management. I had to understand each person's role - which taught me that, while every job in this industry is different, they all require an ability to adapt to change without being blown off-course. You need to enjoy constant challenge - if you're someone who just likes to coast, this is the wrong place for you.

One of the biggest things for me to get used to when moving into a product role has been that many people in my team are based overseas in Poland and India. Although, with my background in HR and recruitment outsourcing, that's been more of a natural step for me to make than it might have been. It helps that I understand the industry. I suppose there was an element of risk in making the switch, especially moving into such a technical role - but I've worked hard to learn the ropes and the reality has surpassed my expectations in terms of challenge and reward. It's been hard work and great fun - that's really what Lumesse is about.