Swati Ramgopal, Director – Fidelity Fund and Investment Operations (FFIO) Technology, at Fidelity Investments, India, has had a thriving career at the company for over a decade. In this interview, she talks about what drew her to Fidelity, how the firm has supported her career growth, and some of the lessons she has learned along the way.

Tell us about your career journey.

My association with Fidelity began soon after I completed my engineering course at Mumbai University and launched my career at Infosys as a middle-tier developer supporting Fidelity’s Defined Benefits Retirement platform.

I learned a lot about the retirement domain and data over the next five years working at Fidelity’s office in North Carolina. This experience enabled me to transition into a Data Analyst and Modeler role, where I led a team on a key platform migration effort.

I officially joined Fidelity Investments, India in 2013 supporting the Fidelity Institutional Asset Management (FIAM) investment management and distribution technology teams in India. I continued to deepen my data skills and led multiple data transformation projects within the Asset Management Technology team in India.

In 2018, I expanded my role by leading the application and data engineering teams for the Fidelity Fund and Investment Operations (FFIO) technology group. In this role, I supported the reference data, index data, and holdings and trades platform that provides operations technology support to Fidelity’s Asset Management and other internal customers such as Fidelity International (FIL), Strategic Advisors, Inc., and Geode Capital.

Over the past 17 years, I have had the opportunity to play several roles, from that of lead developer to a data functional lead, program manager, and more recently an engineering leader across different business functions at Fidelity. These experiences have helped me gain a deeper understanding of Fidelity’s financial services businesses.

What made you join Fidelity?

In the early days of my career, I got the opportunity to experience Fidelity as a customer and that gave me an insight into Fidelity’s culture. Having known this company for close to 18 years now, I can confidently say there cannot be any other better workplace than Fidelity.

Fidelity’s people-first culture drew me to the firm back in 2013. Its emphasis on forward-looking technology and being one of the very few financial services firms that invest so much in technology were factors that convinced me this was the right organization for me. The combination offered me a perfect balance of being able to learn more about various business and technology domains, while experimenting with technologies that were relevant to the business.

Could you tell us about your current role at Fidelity?

In my current role in FFIO Technology, I lead a team that provides fund and security reference data solutions and index data management solutions to advisors of different Fidelity companies – Fidelity Management and Research Company (FMR), Fidelity International Limited (FIL), SAI, and Geode Capital. We are organized as product teams that directly serve our customers to help them build and manage investment products. We design and deliver data solutions that support the efforts of Fidelity’s Asset Management business to have a competitive edge in the market.

In my portfolio, we have a forward-looking data strategy for acquisition, management, and distribution to service Fidelity’s enterprise data needs. We leverage cloud services to ensure that we build platforms and solutions that can help drive our business processes faster with a keen focus on our customer needs.

We do all of this with a diverse team of enthusiastic employees across multiple locations in the US, Ireland, and India. I feel grateful to work for an organization like Fidelity that is invested in building a diverse workforce and harvests an inclusive culture, thereby enabling its employees to bring their best selves to work each day.

Tell us about some of the attributes and aspects that define you as a successful leader at Fidelity.

At Fidelity, we are encouraged to embrace the company’s leadership principles, which are foundational to our thriving culture. One of my favorite leadership principles is “Tell it like it is”. This principle allows us to bring our authentic selves to work. We also promote a culture of innovative thinking and nurture inclusive behaviors to enable employees to think and work across the organization. I am, as a technology leader, grateful to work for an organization that values people and has deep integrity in everything we do.

What has been your most memorable moment at Fidelity so far?

Fidelity has given me several opportunities to explore new areas within technology and leadership that have shaped me to be who I am today. While it is difficult to pick one defining moment from a career spanning almost two decades, the most recent one would be the opportunity to contribute to the COVID-19 response team in 2021. It was an especially fulfilling experience, since it enabled me to serve the community in a small way.

What is the best advice you have received as a professional?

“Focus on your strengths and make sure your improvement areas do not limit your growth.” I have been practicing this tenet for a few years now, which has enabled me to learn and grow as a technology leader at Fidelity.

Tell us about the attributes you would look for in a person you would want to hire for your team.

Enthusiastic, curious to learn, empathetic, demonstrating inclusive behaviours, active listener, confident, and yet humble are a few of the attributes I would look for in a candidate.

Describe a hurdle that you were proud of crossing.

I have been fortunate to have a wonderful support system outside of work comprising family and friends who have helped me balance my work life and personal life. With such a wonderful support system, nothing has seemed like a hurdle to me so far.

Your favorite quote/ saying/ song.

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” – Viktor E. Frankl

This quote resonates with me as I persist in my practice of being mindful and present in every moment, as I live each day.

My taste in music is widespread, with my favorite genres being old Hindi music from the 1960s and 1970s, classic English rock and western country music.