corporate insights
I N T E R V I E W
M A R I A S E G U R A C A R R A S C O studied Mechanical
Engineering in Spain, majoring in internal combustion engines. She completed her
Master’s degree in renewable energies, and started as a Development Engineer
at AVL more than 22 years ago. Here she led the team for Fuel Injection Systems
and has been the Product Manager and Key Account Manager for High-Power
Systems since 2020. She is responsible for business development, market evalu-
ation and R&D planning in the field.
AVL managers Maria Segura Carrasco
and Andrea Leitner discuss how to awak-
en an interest in tech among young girls,
how to assert oneself as an expert in meet-
ings, and why women need to be involved
in innovation and engineering.
focus: Which career moment shaped you
the most? What are you most proud of?
Segura Carrasco: A turning point in my career
was my first project as a project manager at
AVL, and I saw how satisfied the customer
was at the final meeting. Later, I was respon-
sible for the Fuel Injection Systems team;
there, too, I really enjoyed working with
the technical team. Since 2019 I have been
Product Manager for High-Power Systems
– a challenging but amazing task.
Leitner: While I worked in the AVL research
section, a European research project coordi-
nated by AVL began, focusing on safeguard-
ing and testing automated driver functions.
My boss asked me to take on the overall
project coordination. At first, I thought I
knew too little about the subject, and be-
sides, I was very young and had never led a
research project before. But then I thought,
let me try! I had to coordinate 70 partners
from diverse fields and was invited to con-
ferences to introduce the project. In the end,
it was a huge success.
Female Powered
Innovation
The importance and value of increasing gender
diversity in the tech-industry is a well-known topic,
yet women are still underrepresented in tech-
focused roles