Leader in the Spotlight: Päivi Kautiainen
Strong teams do not happen by accident. Päivi Kautiainen believes they are built by making talent visible, creating trust and helping more women see engineering as a place where they can grow.
For Päivi Kautiainen, leadership starts with something simple but powerful: creating an environment where people feel they belong. That belief runs through the way she leads as Director of Technical Services at Underground Drilling. It is there in the team she has built, in how she speaks about inclusion and in her commitment to helping more women find their place in engineering and leadership.
Building belonging
Her management team today includes an equal number of women and men. For Kautiainen, that balance is not about targets alone. It is about choosing people for their skills, mindset and potential, then making sure the environment allows them to thrive. “It is about choosing the people with the best skill set for the position, while not letting biological or cultural features affect my decisions,” she says. “Diversity happens automatically if you just let it.”
It is about choosing the people with the best skill set for the position, while not letting biological or cultural features affect my decisions
That perspective has been shaped by experience. When Kautiainen joined Sandvik 15 years ago as a safety management engineer, she was looking for a new challenge. She found it in machinery manufacturing, and the move opened the door to a career shaped by technical depth, global collaboration and steady development.
Today, she works to help ensure that equipment in underground drilling fleets around the world performs as it should. The role brings together customer focus, technical expertise and close teamwork across markets and functions. What stands out most for her is the purpose in the work: solving real problems and helping customers succeed.
Making space for more women
At the same time, Päivi Kautiainen is passionate about encouraging more women to enter technical and managerial roles. She knows how much it matters to see what is possible, especially early in a career.
“It would be great to see more young women with a technical or managerial education find their dream job in our industry, just as I did,” she says. That message matters in an industry where technical vacancies still tend to attract more applications from men. Kautiainen represents another side of engineering: ambitious, collaborative and open to people ready to grow.
She also knows how important encouragement can be along the way. Support from peers has played an important role throughout her own journey, giving her the confidence to explore new opportunities and take on new responsibilities. It is one reason she values connection and support among women in engineering so highly.
“Maybe it's not true, but I have a feeling that the expectations on female leaders are different than on male leaders, and that we have to prove ourselves even more. That's why it's so important that female managers find a way to network and discuss what it's like to be a woman working in engineering,” she says.
The power of everyday inclusion
Her leadership has been recognized with the Sandvik Diamond award for building diverse, innovative, creative and high-performing teams. For Kautiainen, inclusion is not an abstract idea. It lives in everyday choices that make people feel welcome, respected and part of the team.
“It's often the small things that matter most, like not speaking Finnish in a room if there is even one person who does not understand the language. Or asking a colleague to join you for lunch. A small gesture can mean a lot and can make all the difference between feeling included or excluded,” she says.
That attention to people is part of what makes her leadership resonate. It shows that technical excellence and human awareness belong together. Strong teams are shaped by trust, openness and a willingness to recognize what each person brings. “I guess my biggest drive is to win. The most challenging part of my job is that I can't be in several places at the same time. But with a great, experienced and competent team like the one I have now, I'm confident that we can continue to succeed,” she says.
By building an inclusive team and helping others take the next step, Päivi Kautiainen is helping shape a workplace where more talent can thrive, and where more women can picture themselves in engineering.