Strategy without adoption is just a nice document

Roberto grew up in Spain, studied mechanical engineering in the UK and gained experience at BMW. But engineering was just the starting point. His curiosity for business, strategy and people led him to PwC, where he now works as a Senior Technology Consultant, helping companies navigate large, complex changes. 

How did you get from engineering to consulting?

From a young age, I was drawn to maths, physics, cars and anything to do with how things work. So mechanical engineering felt like the natural path. I moved to the UK at 18 to study at the University of Bath, and in my third year I did a placement at BMW Group in Oxford.

I enjoyed engineering, but I knew I did not want to spend my whole career in a design office. The technical foundation gave me a way of thinking, but I wanted to work closer to business and people. In my final year, I joined 180 Degrees Consulting, a student-led non-profit consultancy. That was my first real taste of consulting, and it really clicked for me. It sat at the intersection of technology and strategy, and I thought: this is the space I want to be in.

Why did you choose Prague and PwC?

After five years in the UK, I was ready for something new. I am half-Czech, half-Spanish, and I had always wanted to explore my Czech identity more. So Prague made sense both personally and professionally.

PwC had been on my radar for a while. At university, I took part in a PwC Strategy& case study challenge, and I enjoyed the way the problems were framed: ambiguous, data-heavy and requiring structure and clear communication. Then, during the interview process, the conversations felt very human. The people I spoke to were genuinely curious about my background, my thinking and what I wanted to achieve. That gave me confidence that this was a place where I could grow on my own terms, not just fit into a corporate mould.

How would you explain what you do in Technology Consulting to someone outside consulting?

I help companies navigate large, complex changes. Usually, that means situations where they are implementing new technology, rethinking how they operate or trying to align different parts of their business around a shared direction.

In practice, I work with senior leaders and help turn their strategic priorities into something concrete. What matters is that decisions are not just made at the top, but actually land with the people who need to change how they work day to day.

What do you enjoy most about Technology Consulting?

Coming from engineering, I naturally enjoy breaking down messy problems and building structured solutions. But what I love about Technology Consulting is that we are not purely strategy and we are not purely implementation. We get both.

Some weeks, I am with senior executives discussing transformation priorities. Other weeks, I am rolling up my sleeves with project teams, making sure things actually get delivered. It is never a case of just recommending what to do, handing over an 80-page deck and disappearing. I like seeing that recommendations stick and have real impact.

How has this work helped you grow?

When you first join, the challenge is absorbing everything: being proactive, asking the right questions, making yourself visible and learning as fast as you can. As you grow, you carry more responsibility, and during busy periods you have to be quite strict about prioritisation.

PwC is a great training ground. The expectations are high from day one, but the opportunities to grow match that intensity. The biggest accelerator for me has been direct client exposure. Very early on, you are in contact with senior stakeholders. It teaches you how to communicate clearly and confidently, how to read a room and also how to say no.

On top of that, I am still working on my Czech. I grew up hearing it at home, but I never formally studied it, so navigating professional situations in Czech is still a work in progress.

How important are the people around you?

I genuinely believe that the people around you can either take the whole experience to the next level or ruin it. And I have been very fortunate in that regard. Many of my colleagues are people I am happy to call friends outside of work. When there is a personal connection between people, everything tends to work more naturally.

What helps you clear your head outside work?

I love cooking, travelling, exploring Prague and spending time with my family in Spain whenever I can. Sport is also a huge part of my life. It helps me decompress and meet like-minded people.

Through an active childhood, football and futsal, running has always been part of my life in some form. Over the last year, after a few sports injuries, I decided to take a more structured approach. I signed up for my first marathon in Prague in 2025, started researching training methodologies and built my own plan using heart rate data and AI. I train six days a week, run around 95 to 110 kilometres per week, and I ran the Prague Half Marathon in 1:14:57, which I am really proud of.

Running has taught me to be comfortable in situations that are not comfortable. There are moments in training when your mind is telling you to stop, and you have to keep going. I think that translates into work as well. If you have built a certain tolerance for discomfort, you do not panic. You keep moving forward and trust the process.

What would you say to people whose path is not exactly traditional?

Do not feel like your path needs to be linear. I grew up in Spain, studied mechanical engineering in the UK, interned at a car manufacturer and ended up in Technology Consulting in Prague. None of that was part of some big plan.

But every step gave me something I still use today: the engineering mindset, international experience, languages, curiosity. If your background is not traditional, I think that is a strength, not a weakness. Bring your fresh perspective, be curious, work hard, build relationships, and the opportunities will come naturally.