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At ACI, engineering isn’t just a discipline—it’s a mindset. Few people embody that more fully than Martina Power, whose 19-year career at ACI worldwide has been shaped by a willingness to move toward discomfort, embrace challenge, and build trust through consistent delivery.
As we celebrate Engineers Week 2026—a global recognition of the people who design, build, and secure the systems that keep our world moving—we also celebrate leaders like Martina who turn engineering into impact. This year’s theme, “Transform Your Future,” highlights how engineers shape opportunities and strengthen communities through every problem they solve.
And this celebration couldn’t come at a more fitting moment: ACI has been recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best Employers for Engineers 2026, an honor awarded based on surveys of more than 28,000 engineers evaluating professional development, culture, workplace flexibility, and overall satisfaction.
Together, these milestones reflect the engineering-first culture that has propelled both Martina and ACI forward.
Learning by leaving the comfort zone: A career built on curiosity and courage
Martina joined ACI in 2006, when the company opened its first office in Ireland. Payments were new to her, but the opportunity to build something from the ground up wasn’t. That instinct became a theme: helping launch the Limerick office, contributing to the development of ACI’s first European data center, and leading engineering teams delivering real-time payments systems across continents.
The most important transition? Moving from software engineering into data center operations, a domain where she no longer had all the answers. This kind of environment doesn’t happen by accident. It grows from a trust-driven culture, something deeply connected to ACI’s strategy, where transparency, collaboration, and customer‑centric engineering are the foundation for long-term success.
From engineering complexity to customer reality
Today, Martina leads Global Professional Services for ACI’s payments software business—a role at the intersection of engineering excellence and customer trust.
“It’s not just solving technical problems,” she said. “It’s understanding what actually matters to the customer.”
She points to a global bank that faced mounting challenges last year. The solution wasn’t a major system overhaul—it was consistency: frequent conversations, listening deeply, and adapting priorities to address real pain points.
“That’s how trust gets built,” she said.
Shaping what comes next through a culture of growth
At ACI, engineering is more than code, systems, or architecture. It’s a culture—one powered by curiosity, resilience, and a willingness to leave the comfort zone in pursuit of something better.
Martina’s journey is a reminder that growth rarely happens where things are easy. It happens when organizations create space for people to stretch and when people, in turn, embrace that stretch with intention.
As we celebrate Engineers Week 2026, we also celebrate the engineers who power our future, transform our industry, and strengthen the trust our customers and communities place in us every day.
Martina’s story highlights how trust from cross‑functional teams—and the guidance to try new things—can help you grow beyond your comfort zone. Her commitment to truly understanding customers continues to guide her work.
This feature is one of three ACI 2026 Engineers Week spotlights. Explore the stories of Jeff Hill and Santhosh Pederedla.
Interested in growing here? Explore ACI engineering roles.
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