Rika Minami on her journey from sales to leadership at Ericsson

Rika Minami is Head of Service Delivery at Ericsson in Singapore, leading large-scale customer programmes that keep critical network infrastructure running smoothly. Since joining Ericsson Japan in 2011, she has built a global career across solution architecture, pre-sales, and account leadership, working across markets and technologies.

She is passionate about continuous learning, building trust through transparency, and creating an environment where teams can succeed. As a leader and working mother, she values balance, growth, and leading by example.

Balancing work and motherhood

Every evening, Rika Minami takes time out to chat to her five-year-old son, look over his homework… and show him hers.  As Head of Service Delivery at Ericsson Singapore, Rika has a demanding job, leading large-scale customer programmes that keep critical network infrastructure running smoothly.   

But she always carves out family time, saying Ericsson’s flexible, trust-based culture makes it possible to balance life and work. And Rika believes that talking to her son about her work teaches him valuable life lessons. 

“I’m showing him that if you study hard and work hard, you’ll do well in life,” she says.  

It’s a philosophy that has shaped Rika’s own career, having started at Ericsson Japan in 2011. Over the years that followed, she progressed from sales into senior account leadership before stepping into her current position. During that time, she relocated from Japan, started a family and built experience across markets, teams and technologies. Here are some lessons she learned along the way. 

Ambition isn't a bad word

Rika comes from a technical foundation, having studied telecom engineering at Waseda University in Tokyo.  Throughout her career she has continued building on that technical depth, joining Ericsson as a Solution Architect before moving into pre-sales and account leadership. Today, she leads service delivery for a major customer in Singapore, combining her technical, commercial and operational skills.   

As the industry evolves towards AI-driven and autonomous networks, she believes there has never been a more exciting time for women to enter technology. 

“For a long time, I was often the only woman in the room. In some cultures, we’re taught to stay quiet or not push ourselves forward. But that is changing. Ericsson provides a lot of opportunities but it depends on how ambitious you are. I always say: be bold. Why not? We can do it too.” 

Growth comes from stepping forward

Looking back, the biggest shifts in Rika’s career came when she stepped outside her comfort zone. Moving from Japan to Singapore. Leading new teams in unfamiliar markets.  

“I struggled at first,” she admits. “New role, new region, new team. But we’ve achieved a lot, which I’m very proud of. We’ve moved from 4G to 5G, and now we’re talking about 6G,” Rika says. “The future is AI-driven, autonomous networks” 

That ability to flex across domains, from commercial to technical to operational, has allowed her to build skills that are both specialised and transferable. 

Engineers aren’t just working on connectivity, but on security and resilience, capabilities that are critical across industries. And for Rika, growth comes from constant learning.  

Build trust and balance will thrive

Telecom infrastructure is complex and high-stakes. In her current role, Rika balances customer expectations, business targets and the wellbeing of her team. 

“Everything is about balance,” she says. But balance, for her, isn’t about doing less. It’s about clarity and transparency. Transparency is number one,” she says. “If you raise your challenges early, people understand.” 

The culture at Ericsson means that transparency is encouraged, and that openness extends beyond project delivery. People are clear about priorities, whether that’s protecting workload or setting boundaries around their schedules. For Rika, this means blocking out an hour in her calendar every day to pick her son up from school. This is a small example, she says, of how the company’s culture makes it easier to balance work and life.  

Finding purpose in being a force for good

One of the reasons Rika was initially drawn to a career in telecommunications was its essential role in daily life. Mobile networks are invisible until they stop working. 

“If there’s no network, you can’t call the hospital or police. You can’t reach your family or run your business,” she says. 

Over the years, she has led major customer programmes, including complex 5G core deployments and service improvements that directly affected millions of users. But her sense of purpose today comes from little things, like seeing her team succeed. 

“When my team members achieve something, I’m even happier than when I achieved something myself,” she says. 

And every evening, as she sits down at the table with her son, the lesson continues. Work hard. Keep learning. Be bold. Build trust. Make an impact. 

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