Career Talk - Johannes Schweigl

Name: Johannes Schweigl

My Previous Position at Swarovski: Head of Gems Business (GB) Engineering

My Current Position at Swarovski: Head of Gems Business (GB) Production

Number of years at Swarovski: 18

Country of residence: Austria

When and how did you decide to join Swarovski?

In 2006, there was a job opening for the position of Calculation or also known as Simulation Engineer within Daniel Swarovski Wattens (DSW) technical development department, which I applied for.

What are you doing in your current position at Swarovski?

I oversee the technical and disciplinary management of employees in Cubic Zirconia Production (Gems) and colleagues in Apparatus Engineering. My approach is rooted in empowering individuals, a mindset I have carried with me from my previous role – an ethos which drives continuous improvement efforts in Cubic Zirconia (CZ) production processes, where we actively take ownership, collaborate, and support projects for ongoing development.

Working as one cohesive team, we consistently strive to push boundaries and embrace new challenges, what also makes us very happy - and we firmly believe that happiness is a choice, and we choose to embrace it in our work environment.

What did you do in your previous position at Swarovski?

In my previous position, I was responsible for providing technical expertise as well as leading a team. I successfully led development and engineering projects aimed at establishing production systems and played a key role in implementing project portfolio management – which fostered an agile project culture within the organization. I also actively implemented development projects and provided technical expertise to the development department at our manufacturing site in Thailand. Throughout the Gems Business organization, we have been very focused on empowering our people.

How did this career move within Swarovski happen?

The development of my career actually happened because positions became available, and I put myself forward as a candidate. In my opinion, it is important to take one step at a time to eventually achieve sustainable development. It is all about welcoming the challenge to learn as it is beneficial for myself and my direct environment.

What does career mean to you?

For me, career means personal development, learning to contribute, and seeing how we can overcome new challenges and achieve success as a team. Next to the collaboration with my colleagues, it is also important to me to keep up to speed on the technical foundations needed for the job.?