Women who build what's next - The flow guardian
Behind every seamless payment is a team making sure trust, reliability, and real people are at the centre of the technology. Step into the world of building payments across the Nordics and shaping a more inclusive future in tech along the way.
This is a reflection from Andrea Zajicova, a developer in Vend’s Payment team, sharing what it means to build trusted, seamless payment solutions across the Nordic marketplaces. She highlights both the technical complexity behind reliable transactions and the human impact of creating inclusive, trustworthy technology — especially as a woman in tech.
What do you actually build - and what problem does it solve?
I’m part of the Payment team at Vend, where I help build the magic that lets you send and receive money on FINN (in Norway), Blocket (in Sweden), DBA (in Denmark), and Tori (in Finland) without thinking twice about it.
Our job is to make payments feel effortless, and if something goes wrong with a payment or invoice, we make sure it gets sorted, and the user gets proper help.
What’s the most technically complex or high-stakes part of that work?
Technically, the most complex part is handling distributed systems and failure scenarios. Payments involve multiple services and external providers, so we must ensure that transactions remain consistent and end in the correct state, even in the presence of timeouts, retries, or partial failures.
But the highest stake is trust. Well-functioning payment solutions build confidence between users, and that trust is fragile. We need robust, reliable flows and strong support systems because if something goes wrong, it affects real people and real money.
What do you like most about your job?
In the spirit of International Women’s Day, one of the things I value most is being part of a shift in tech. Being a female developer is still relatively new in the tech and business world, and I’m proud to help shape what that looks like
I like the idea of leaving footprints for the next generation of girls to follow. Initiatives like Introduce a Girl to Engineering at Blocket are powerful examples of how we open doors and make tech feel accessible to young women.
Is there a message you would like to send from your position to women on International Women’s Day?
Be yourself and stay true to who you are. As a woman in a professional world that is still often male-dominated, you might feel pressure to adapt or blend in. But you weren’t hired to be the same as everyone else; you were hired because you bring something unique. Something that is just you. Honour that. That’s your strength.
What excites you most about where this technology is heading - and how it could shape the future?
What excites me most is how payment technology can become both smarter and more inclusive. The future of technology isn’t just about speed; it’s about making sure everyone feels safe using it.
I love knowing that what I build works for everyone - whether you’re tech-savvy, elderly, have diverse access needs, or feel unsure about digital payments. And when we have diverse voices in the room where we make decisions, we build better solutions for all.
If we do our job right, the technology fades into the background. It just works, and people can simply trust it.