From Senior Technical Manager to Country Office Director in just three years

Before her nomination to Country Director, Arum had been working in the climate and energy space, helping to implement projects for clients like the Asian Development Bank, and the United Nations Office for Project Services.

Her journey in development all began with a passion for making a difference, which resulted in endeavours such as co-founding the “1001buku” initiative, a non-profit organisation dedicated to collecting and distributing books to libraries across Indonesia.

Arum’s advocacy eventually led her to contribute to the Indonesia delegation during the 2007 United Nations Climate Conference in Bali, and experience that only fuelled her commitment to environmental causes and laid the groundwork for her eventual success at NIRAS.

“I’ve done different kinds of projects involving policy and advocacy, monitoring and evaluation and scoping studies. But all of them, I believe, have been related to the climate and energy sector, which really has been my expertise in the last 20 years or so,” she says.

A rewarding place of work

With such experiences under her belt, it is to be expected that Arum would develop into a strong career-oriented leader.

She attributes her successful approach to juggling work and life to her own mother, a mechanical engineer and former university lecturer.

"Growing up and seeing my mom, I knew early on it’s possible to be a good mom while being a career-oriented leader,” she says. “I wanted to be like her.”

“I have to admit, it’s not easy to balance work and family life,” Arum says. “But what makes it possible to juggle the two is how flexible NIRAS is. Not many companies have that.”

This flexibility, alongside the fulfilment that comes with working on project that contribute to the sustainable development goals, is what makes working for NIRAS such a rewarding experience for Arum.