Building clarity, safety, and agility

Marcus Nilsson

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I’m Marcus Nilsson, VP of Engineering at Zenseact. I’ve been here about seven years, through a lot of changes in the company, both in terms of culture and product. Outside work, I’m into AI, golf, and skiing.

You’ve been deeply involved in designing our organization. What principles guided the design behind the current model?

We’ve built it around our core values: trust, collaboration, and innovation. Then clarity – people should always know who to talk to and what they’re responsible for. The structure shouldn’t get in the way of progress. Accountability should be simple, and decisions straightforward. And psychological safety is key. When people feel safe, they perform better.

Our organization is built to be agile and flexible. What does that mean in practice, for product development and culture?

For us, agility means efficiency and continuous improvement. We’ve done agile since the beginning, but how we practice it keeps evolving. It’s about asking the right questions, making good decisions, and adapting. It also means people have the freedom to act when they see what needs to be done. And it should be fun! We want this to be the best workplace people have ever experienced.

What are the main challenges of leading your organization?

Making sure everyone knows where we’re going, why it matters, and how we’ll get there. Spreading that clarity and keeping the pace across a large organization is the toughest part.

What are the opportunities?

We’re on the edge of big breakthroughs as a tech company. The real opportunity is working with brilliant, humble people every day, and learning something new from them on cutting-edge topics.

What makes you smile at work?

The people. Of course it’s the people. We’ve built a team from many countries, with transparency and curiosity at the center. People feel safe asking questions and acting on the answers. That combination – great people, tough problems, and openness makes the work rewarding.