Meet the team: Project Manager Isadora Naffin Kniess

We are delighted to welcome Isadora Naffin Kniess to Annertech as our newest project manager. Isadora brings a wealth of experience in managing complex digital projects, a strong background in Drupal and a genuine love for building lasting relationships with clients. Based in the beautiful city of Porto, Portugal, Isadora is a brilliant addition to our fully distributed global team. Our Head of Content, Alison Visser, sat down with her to find out more about her career, her hobbies and how she handles a household run by a cat.

Alison Visser: To kick things off, tell us a bit about yourself and your career journey.

Isadora Naffin Kniess: I'd describe myself as a naturally curious person who enjoys learning, solving problems and helping people navigate complexity together. 

My career has evolved across sales, operations and eventually project management. Looking back, the common thread has always been working with people and helping things move forward. 

I love connecting ideas, finding opportunities, solving problems and making things a little easier for people around me.

Alison: Where do you live?

Isadora: I'm originally from the south of Brazil, in a state called Santa Catarina, and I've been living in Porto, Portugal, for the last two years. Before that, I lived in the United States for a couple of years, so I've been fortunate to experience a few different cultures and places along the way and call different places home.

Alison: What made you decide to move to Porto?

Isadora: We were living in Orlando, Florida. It was always meant to be a temporary chapter for us, mainly to improve our English, experience life in another country and explore a bit.

After the US, my husband and I knew we wanted to experience life in Europe while continuing to build our careers internationally. Portugal felt like a natural next step. 

Sharing the language made the move easier, but it also offered the lifestyle we were looking for, a slower pace of life, easy access to the rest of Europe, and a chance to experience a different culture.

We chose Porto because we fell in love with it from the beginning. It's a stunning city with so much history and character and, two years later, I still think it's one of the most beautiful places to live. Although I admit to being a bit obsessed with Scotland. I used to work as a house sitter to make some extra money for travelling, and have done this in various countries, including in the UK. We spent almost a month there, and I fell in love with Scotland. It’s been three years now, I’m still not over it. I loved it so much! 

Alison: How many languages do you speak?

Isadora: Portuguese is my native language. And I work mainly in English. I can get by with really bad Spanish, but I'm hoping to improve it over time.

Alison: What are your favourite things to do outside of work? Do you have any hobbies?

Isadora: I love being outdoors, especially on a sunny day that isn’t too hot. You can often find me walking along the Douro River, exploring a new place in the city or nearby cities, or sitting in a coffee shop with my husband and just talking and watching life happen around us.

I also love books and browsing bookstores, no matter how busy life gets. Books are usually where I go to recharge and reset. They're a bit of a safe place for me.

One of the things I enjoy most is learning about different cultures, the history of places and the story behind them. Living in Europe has been particularly special because I've had a chance to visit places I've read about for years and see them first-hand. That has been awesome.

I also recently started learning padel, although the jury is still out on whether it will be a long-term hobby or just my latest experiment. We'll see if I'm any good at that, right now I'm just going for the laughs!

Alison: I hear you have a couple of pets keeping you company at home too?

Alison: What is your official job title at Annertech, and what will you be doing day to day?

Isadora: I joined Annertech as a project manager. My role will focus on helping projects move smoothly from discovery to delivery, supporting clients, coordinating teams, managing priorities and helping ensure we are delivering work that meets both clients' goals and user needs.

Alison: How has your first week been?

Isadora: It's been a lot to take in – in a good way! I've mainly been using the time to get familiar with how Annertech works and the first project I’ll be taking on.

I've been reading through the contract, tender documentation, discovery material, and internal processes, trying to understand not just what needs to happen, but why things happen in a certain order. One thing that's really stood out to me is how much preparation goes into discovery before you even sit down with a client.

Alison: You mentioned that Annertech's discovery process resonated with you. Why do you think a thorough discovery is so critical to a project's long-term success?

Isadora: What I really like about Annertech’s approach is that it feels designed to create a shared understanding before anyone starts making recommendations. The questionnaires, workshops, technical audit, analytics review ... each piece adds another layer of context, so by the time you're talking about solutions, everyone is working from the same blueprint.

I think that leads to much better conversations. Instead of jumping straight into features, you've taken the time to understand the organisation, what they're trying to achieve and the challenges they’re facing. That gives you a much stronger foundation for making recommendations that are right for the client, not just technically, but in a way that fits how they actually work and where they want to go.

And that really resonates with me. To me, the process isn’t valuable for its own sake, it’s valuable because it helps create better outcomes for clients. That's something I could already feel in my first week: there’s a real intention behind the way projects are approached.

Alison: Have you worked with Drupal or on Drupal projects before?

Isadora: Yes. Over the last four years, I've worked primarily on Drupal projects for universities, non-profits and mission-driven organisations. I've been involved in everything from redesigns and new website builds to ongoing support, migrations, governance, content strategy and platform evolution.

Alison: What would you say is your professional specialty?

Isadora: Building trust is probably the thing I enjoy most and the area I've developed the most over the years. Because of my diverse background, I naturally focus on understanding what people are trying to achieve and helping translate that into practical solutions.

I enjoy connecting business goals, user needs and the realities of day-to-day operations so that teams can make informed decisions and move forward with confidence. I like bringing clarity when things become complex, helping different groups understand one another and creating alignment around a shared goal. I'm usually at my best when I'm helping people navigate uncertainty and turning a complicated challenge into a clear path forward.

Alison: What are you looking forward to most about joining Annertech?

Isadora: I'm excited to learn from such an experienced team and collaborate with people from different disciplines, backgrounds and perspectives. One of the things that attracted me to Annertech was the culture of knowledge-sharing and the focus on building meaningful, long-term relationships with clients.

Having lived and worked in different countries, I've come to really value the perspectives that come from different cultures and experiences, so I'm especially looking forward to learning from the people around me and contributing my own experiences along the way.