International Women’s Day at Infineon Austria: Building a career, living a family life

Business & Financial Press

Mar 03, 2026
  • Three portraits of successful female employees: mathematician and computer scientist Madalina Berger, physicist Johanna Rössler, and economist Aiste Mikula
  • Work-life balance as a location strategy and everyday practice: flexible models, an international day care center, and a culture of cooperation secure talent in the high-tech environment

Villach, March 3 – On International Women's Day on March 8, Infineon Technologies Austria is once again focusing on the careers of successful women – this year with a look at how demanding jobs and a functioning family life can go hand in hand. The portraits of three Infineon employees show the decisions behind their choices and what can be achieved as a result: from applying for two jobs at once to returning to full-time work to family as teamwork. Madalina Berger combines mathematical and IT expertise with agile product development, Johanna Rössler translates physics into forward-looking product concepts and leadership, and Aiste Mikula, as an HR business partner, shapes the framework conditions in which teams can perform at their best. Together, they demonstrate that international experience, responsibility, and reliability are part of everyday practice at Infineon Austria and that female talent in the high-tech industry really takes off in the right environment.

Location factor: work-life balance

The compatibility of family and career is part of Infineon Austria's location strategy: In an international high-tech environment, it is a decisive factor in whether companies can attract and retain the best minds.

Christiana Zenkl, Head of Human Resources at Infineon Technologies Austria: "Talent flourishes when the right conditions and attitude are in place. Flexible working models, reliable childcare concepts, a culture of cooperation, and attractive career prospects are not an end in themselves – they make our teams productive and ensure our long-term innovative strength."

Current analyses by the Austrian National Bank (ÖNB) also confirm the economic benefits of diversity in practice: in a recent ÖNB study, a higher proportion of women on the supervisory board measurably increases profitability, market development, and the sustainable growth rate.

Successful model: International Day Care Center (IDC)

A key element is the International Day Care Center (IDC) in Villach. In cooperation with the Sonnenstrahl organization, multilingual childcare is offered with an international, bilingual, and STEM-oriented concept, long opening hours, few closing days, and continuous care for children from 12 months to school age. A total of around 290 childcare places are available at five locations in Villach. Since fall 2025, company daycare parents in Graz have been supplementing the offering. For international skilled worker families, this infrastructure is a clear competitive advantage.

Careers with responsibility: three portraits for International Women's Day 2026

Aiste Mikula – building bridges between business, culture and family

From Lithuania via Berlin to Carinthia: At the age of 19, Aiste Mikula boldly decided to go abroad and studied economics in Berlin – in German, working part-time, fast and straightforward. Personnel management emerged early on as her focus and passion. After working in recruiting, she joined Infineon Austria, initially on a temporary basis in Villach. After three years, Aiste Mikula deliberately chose Infineon and Carinthia as her new home. After the big city air in Berlin, Carinthia initially seemed like a change of culture and pace to her – smaller, more rural, network-driven. The second "language course" came locally: dialect, nuances and tone: everyday things that help to understand culture and build relationships. "Before I came here, I knew almost nothing about Carinthia, today I find it sensational." What has remained of the urban setting is the international environment in the company; "Intercultural cooperation is still the attraction today," says Aiste Mikula. In her private life, Carinthia has become her home: with her partner, four-year-old daughter and a clear desire to balance a challenging job and family life.

HR Business Partner – Power & Sensor Systems (PSS)

Since 2017, Aiste Mikula has been supporting several organizational units (including PSS and central development areas) at Infineon in Austria and is responsible for the generalist, holistic HR support of managers and teams. It is important to her to be visible and to have an open ear for everyone. Whether talent acquisition, development, change or individual concerns, she sees herself as a sparring partner for managers and employees alike. In a dynamic environment with growing demands, she ensures that structures are sustainable and teams can work successfully.

Compatibility: system + team + attitude

The key to Aiste Mikula’s return to full-time work after maternity leave: reliable childcare at the IDC including long opening hours, a bilingual environment and an outstanding pedagogical concept. Plus, flextime on both sides and a functioning family and company network. “You have to be bold and communicate openly. Seek support – in the team, in the family. A support network makes a lot of things easier.” Her conclusion: if the framework and teamwork are right, the willingness to spontaneously go the extra mile when the task demands it grows

Why Villach – also for international families? For Aiste Mikula, it is the combination of a challenging task, an international environment and a reliable infrastructure that counts. The IDC relieves parents of organizational pressure, offers linguistic diversity and creates scope to organize work and family in a stable way - and to enjoy both.

Johanna Rössler – physics, responsibility and an eye for the big picture

From Heidelberg via Australia and Switzerland to Austria: Johanna Rössler has consistently shaped her path along the lines of science, technology and application. Growing up in Germany, science was part of her everyday life from an early age. Her father, a physicist himself, took her to research facilities as a child – including a heavy ion research center where basic research and applied cancer therapy took place. Physics was never abstract for Rössler, but always effective.

She studied physics with a focus on materials science, supplemented by international stations – including a year abroad in Australia. This was followed by a doctorate in semiconductor technology at a research institute in Munich. At the same time, the family phase began: Together with her husband Clemens, also a physicist, she made conscious decisions early on – for family and career. The next few years took the couple to Switzerland. While her husband conducted research at ETH Zurich, Johanna Rössler herself worked at ETH at the interface of science, communication and technology transfer. A phase that still shapes her today: "I learned there how important it is to make research understandable – and how much creativity there is in science."

Deliberate double application – thinking family & career together

After seven years in Switzerland, Johanna Rössler and her husband decided to take the step into industry together – in a double pack, with the clear goal of both being professionally effective and having stable framework conditions for the family. They were looking for a company and location where they could optimally combine professional demands with everyday family life. The decision led them to Infineon Technologies Austria in Villach; short distances and the International Day Care Center (IDC) with its bilingual STEM concept and long opening hours became the central building blocks of successful compatibility.

Leading with trust

Johanna Rössler started in process integration, later switched to product development and increasingly took on project and team responsibility. Today, she works in a senior technical role where she is responsible for advancing new concepts, simulation and modeling approaches as well as development tools. Her management approach: an open, trusting team environment, with a focus on the balance between fundamentally new development and the smart use of what already exists. "We should work in a sustainable and future-oriented way," she says, "but also sharpen our instinct for solutions that can be implemented quickly. That way, we can also celebrate short-term successes on our path to long-term success."

Understanding work as a privilege

Rössler sees compatibility as the result of conscious decisions, not as a coincidence. "Three children, no grandparents in the immediate vicinity and two demanding careers this only works because the central hygiene factors are right: a shared work location, short distances, coordinated working hours and loving, high-quality childcare in the immediate vicinity," says Johanna Rössler, summarizing her concept for success. "That's exactly what we found in Villach."

Today, Johanna Rössler is working full-time again – with the awareness that the intensive family time of the past few years was not a matter of course. Her view of the future is clear and optimistic: "Being able to work is a privilege. This perspective gives me energy – and the desire to continue taking on responsibility."

Madalina Berger – mathematics, computer science and a career as a team sport

From Timișoara via Lyon, Linz and Berlin to Graz: Madalina Berger brings a distinctly international background to her work. Growing up in Romania, her path led her via France and several research stations in Austria to Germany and back again. She was influenced early on by mathematics and computer science – driven by a curiosity not just to apply things, but to really understand them. "I was always fascinated by technology because I wanted to understand why things work. This curiosity has shaped my entire career: from research to industrial development," says Berger.

From research to application

After working at the Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC) in Hagenberg and the Johann Radon Institute (RICAM) in Linz, he completed a post-doc at the TU Berlin (Institute of Mathematics) with a focus on algorithmic/computational mathematics. The step into industry was a conscious one: to where research is translated into real applications. She gained her first professional experience as a software developer in air traffic control. Madalina Berger has been working at Infineon Austria in Graz since 2016. After several roles at the interface of software development, testing and agile product organization, her current focus is on software and data engineering. There she designs digitalization initiatives with a special focus on automation and AI-supported solutions to make technical processes more efficient, robust and structurally advanced. Her trademark: a deep technical understanding, structure and a systems view of how tools, processes and teams come together to make complex products work reliably. "For me, a career means taking responsibility and creating solutions that really work," is how she describes her aspiration.

Compatibility as a team sport

Berger sees compatibility as a team sport – both professionally and privately. She and her husband (also at Infineon, in a management position) consciously share responsibility: early coordination, clear priorities and well-planned phases – from parental leave and returning to work with 30 hours to travel planning and pick-up and drop-off services. In this way, her two children are taught as a matter of course that family is shared and that both parents' careers are possible.

Regarding everyday life, she says: "A clear morning routine and a visual task board help you stay focused; buffer times and short energy stops (10 minutes of music) keep your head clear – and two afternoons without fixed activities are consciously family time.

Her tip for working mums (and dads): "You can have a lot, but not everything at the same time. Clarify priorities in phases, communicate openly – in the team, at home and with yourself. And allow yourself to readjust again and again."

About Infineon Austria

Infineon Technologies Austria AG is a subsidiary of Infineon Technologies AG, a global semiconductor leader in power systems and IoT. Semiconductors are essential for mastering the energy-related challenges of our time and helping to shape the digital transformation. Infineon's microelectronics drive decarbonization and digitalization and enable groundbreaking solutions for green and efficient energy, clean and safe mobility as well as a smart and secure IoT.

Infineon Austria pools competencies for research and development, production as well as global business responsibility. The head office is in Villach, with further branches in Graz, Klagenfurt, Linz, Innsbruck and Vienna. With 5,787 employees (including around 2,500 in research and development) from 80 nations, the company generated revenue of EUR 4.7 billion in the 2025 fiscal year (ending 30 September). With research expenditure of 721 million euros, Infineon Austria is the strongest research company in Austria.

Further information at www.infineon.com/austria

Press Photos

Aiste Mikula – building bridges between business, culture and family

Aiste Mikula – building bridges between business, culture and family

From Lithuania via Berlin to Carinthia: At the age of 19, Aiste Mikula boldly decided to go abroad and studied economics in Berlin – in German, working part-time, fast and straightforward. Personnel management emerged early on as her focus and passion. After working in recruiting, she joined Infineon Austria, initially on a temporary basis in Villach. After three years, Aiste Mikula deliberately chose Infineon and Carinthia as her new home. After the big city air in Berlin, Carinthia initially seemed like a change of culture and pace to her – smaller, more rural, network-driven. The second "language course" came locally: dialect, nuances and tone: everyday things that help to understand culture and build relationships. "Before I came here, I knew almost nothing about Carinthia, today I find it sensational." What has remained of the urban setting is the international environment in the company; "Intercultural cooperation is still the attraction today," says Aiste Mikula. In her private life, Carinthia has become her home: with her partner, four-year-old daughter and a clear desire to balance a challenging job and family life.

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Johanna Rössler – physics, responsibility and an eye for the big picture

Johanna Rössler – physics, responsibility and an eye for the big picture

From Heidelberg via Australia and Switzerland to Austria: Johanna Rössler has consistently shaped her path along the lines of science, technology and application. Growing up in Germany, science was part of her everyday life from an early age. Her father, a physicist himself, took her to research facilities as a child – including a heavy ion research center where basic research and applied cancer therapy took place. Physics was never abstract for Rössler, but always effective. She studied physics with a focus on materials science, supplemented by international stations – including a year abroad in Australia. This was followed by a doctorate in semiconductor technology at a research institute in Munich. At the same time, the family phase began: Together with her husband Clemens, also a physicist, she made conscious decisions early on – for family and career. The next few years took the couple to Switzerland. While her husband conducted research at ETH Zurich, Johanna Rössler herself worked at ETH at the interface of science, communication and technology transfer. A phase that still shapes her today: "I learned there how important it is to make research understandable – and how much creativity there is in science."

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Johanna and Clemens Rössler

Johanna and Clemens Rössler

Deliberate double application – thinking family & career together: After seven years in Switzerland, Johanna Rössler and her husband decided to take the step into industry together – in a double pack, with the clear goal of both being professionally effective and having stable framework conditions for the family.

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Madalina Berger – mathematics, computer science and a career as a team sport

Madalina Berger – mathematics, computer science and a career as a team sport

From Timișoara via Lyon, Linz and Berlin to Graz: Madalina Berger brings a distinctly international background to her work. Growing up in Romania, her path led her via France and several research stations in Austria to Germany and back again. She was influenced early on by mathematics and computer science – driven by a curiosity not just to apply things, but to really understand them. "I was always fascinated by technology because I wanted to understand why things work. This curiosity has shaped my entire career: from research to industrial development," says Berger.

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International Day Care Center (IDC) in Villach

International Day Care Center (IDC) in Villach

In cooperation with the Sonnenstrahl organization, the IDC offers multilingual childcare with an international, STEM-oriented concept, long opening hours, few closing days, and continuous care for children from 12 months to school age.

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Infineon Austria Head of Human Resources Christiana Zenkl

Infineon Austria Head of Human Resources Christiana Zenkl

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