Apply Now: 9 Companies Hiring in Chicago
When Principal Engineer Eli Albert joined beverage alcohol platform Provi in 2017, he was drawn to the company’s small size and startup-like atmosphere.
And as the company grew, Albert quickly found himself growing along with it. “Now, I enjoy and actually embrace the challenges that come with a bigger team such as mentoring new developers, participating in architectural discussions and setting the culture of a growing developer organization,” Albert said.
Albert isn’t the only one who’s found excitement in new growth opportunities. In conversations with members of nine different companies around the city, Built In Chicago found that collaborative company cultures and a commitment to customers, as well as opportunities to advance professionally, are the reasons for accepting their positions and staying on as veteran employees.
And the good news to top it all off? These nine companies are actively looking for new talent.
What they do: All Campus works with colleges and universities to create value for their students and their online programs. Through course design, retention services and innovative technology, the company provides institutions with creative and customized solutions.
What was the deciding factor for you when you accepted your job at your current company, and why?
There’s not just one factor that attracted me to All Campus — it was everything together. All Campus has an excellent reputation for its company values. The people who make up the organization are high performers and they showed genuine passion for their work throughout the interview. It was important to find a company that I would fit in with the culture. For example, being kind and direct is how I try to live my life, and that matches our core values of “Show Kindness” and “Just Say It.” It was also clear that the people I met while interviewing truly embraced those values and it wasn’t just something they talked about.
The people who make up the organization are high performers and they showed genuine passion for their work throughout the interview.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
The Archa product has a lot of potential for growth and it’s exciting to be a part of it. As a project manager, I plan to help expand its reach by improving engineering predictability and efficiency. We have a lot of great talent in our software engineering team, and I love being able to create the processes and structure to support the work they do.
What they do: 8th Light is a consultancy with a mission to improve the quality of software. The company aims to bring a human-centered approach to software that prioritizes the person behind each screen including those who build and maintain it.
As a tenured employee, what has been the biggest reason you’ve stayed at your company so long?
I’ve had the opportunity to exercise my skills both technically and throughout the organization. I’ve been able to work across multiple languages and frameworks, and across the entire tech stack, from front end to infrastructure and DevOps. Making positive impacts and helping clients in ways that go beyond code is also essential to the work of a consultant, and a primary driver of what keeps me at our company. I’ve also enjoyed collaborating with and learning from amazing people who bring a variety of perspectives, opinions and skill sets to our company. It’s been rewarding to lead a team that not only provides engaged client service but is committed to the well-being of everyone else on our team.
I’ve witnessed the influence our people can have on our culture and future priorities.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
We’re continuing to let our values guide us through our growth. Every company will always have its challenges to work through, but during my tenure at 8th Light, I’ve witnessed the influence our people can have on our culture and future priorities. Our leadership team is open-minded about feedback or suggestions that help us operationalize care, increase collaboration and provide flexibility to accommodate a sustainable work-life balance.
What they do: Affinitiv is a marketing technology and social media company that focuses solely on the automotive customer lifecycle. Its mission is to drive the next-generation customer experience by partnering with OEMs and retailers to accelerate performance and inspire loyalty.
As a tenured employee, what has been the biggest reason you’ve stayed at your company so long?
My main motivation for staying with the company for over 10 years has been the culture. It has always promoted openness and pushed people to expand their boundaries and abilities. I’ve been blessed with numerous opportunities to not only advance within the company but also personally. I’ve had opportunities to grow, tackle new challenges and learn new and exciting skills.
I’ve had opportunities to grow, tackle new challenges and learn new and exciting skills.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
Affinitiv is a company that is forward-thinking. They’re not just concerned with the challenges and opportunities that face us today, but also with those that will face us in the future. Preparing and building for those challenges presents opportunities to explore new processes and technologies that are exciting and gratifying.
What they do: Enova provides online financial services through its AI and machine learning-powered lending platform. Through a variety of services, the company aims to serve the needs of non-prime consumers and small businesses who are frequently underserved by traditional banks.
As a tenured employee, what has been the biggest reason you’ve stayed at your company so long?
A key ingredient to Enova’s success is our commitment to data, experimentation and the idea that the “Best Answer Wins” — in fact, this is one of our five core values. I am proud to work at an organization that believes good ideas can come from anywhere and anyone, and where diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success. It takes humility and a deep commitment to a culture of experimentation to declare that leaders don’t have a monopoly on good ideas. We are able to put our egos aside to test, learn and let our customers guide us toward long-term success. We even have a saying, “Be Bold and Move Fast,” to encourage ourselves to take smart risks and always continue improving.
I am proud to work at an organization that believes good ideas can come from anywhere and anyone.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
One thing that positions Enova for long-term success is how well we adapt to and embrace change. Whether it’s changes in customer preferences or competitive landscapes, we leverage our analytics and technology to pivot quickly and continue providing value to customers. It’s invigorating to work in an environment that isn’t paralyzed by change, but rather inspired by it and seize constraints as an opportunity for innovation. For example, many of the changes we made to our processes for responding to COVID-19 have remained part of a program to support customers affected by health issues or natural disasters.
What they do: Mastery Logistics is a transportation management system designed to support logistics and supply chains. The company offers users access to MasterMind, a cloud-based SaaS solution that increases productivity and visibility within complex organizations.
What was the deciding factor for you when you accepted your job at your current company, and why?
The product and the people. Mastery is bringing to market a platform that is not commercially available today. We are building a transportation management system that companies and shippers deserve. When I understood how MasterMind was being built and how it was going to help operators execute their daily responsibilities, it was an easy choice. And then when I had the chance to meet the passionate team building MasterMind, that really solidified the decision. We’re a group that is motivated by the desire to provide the best product and customer experience.
If you look at what we have built in the last 12 months, it’s easy to look to the future with optimism and excitement.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
If you look at what we have built in the last 12 months, it’s easy to look to the future with optimism and excitement. MasterMind is going to impact all employees within an organization and a customer base that can help drive change that benefits everyone in the industry. What is unique about it is the opportunity to work directly with our customers’ stakeholders and users to collaborate as we build our roadmap. It comes with a lot of responsibility, but those responsibilities foster a great sense of ownership and pride in what we are building, where we are heading and the impact we will have.
What they do: DFIN is a risk and compliance solutions company. The company provides domain expertise and software and data analytics for every stage of its clients’ business and investment lifecycles.
As a tenured employee, what has been the biggest reason you’ve stayed at your company so long?
The biggest reason I’ve stayed at DFIN for so long (aside from enjoying my job in general!) is the autonomy I have over my schedule. Having this autonomy allows me to plan my days and weeks the best way that suits me, my goals and targets, allowing for a comfortable and flexible work-life balance. With this comes a feeling of trust and empowerment from management, knowing that I have a team behind me that is rooting for me as much as I am rooting for myself.
I have a team behind me that is rooting for me as much as I am rooting for myself.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
As technology is ever-evolving, I am incredibly excited to see what new technologies emerge and how our current product offerings evolve further. What excites me even more is knowing that I get to be on the team that brings these products to life with clients. Over the past two years, I’ve seen our platforms evolve greatly, so I can’t wait to see where they are in another two years as DFIN continues to grow as an industry leader.
What they do: BrokerX is a software solution for energy brokers that automates processes while providing tools for easy collaboration and communication in order to shorten the sales cycle. The company aims to align utilities, suppliers, brokers, agents and customers through trust transparency and innovation.
What was the deciding factor for you when you accepted your job at your current company, and why?
I’ve worked at companies in the past that have tried to disrupt their specific industry, but the unique thing about BrokerX is that it has a real opportunity to actually revolutionize it. Since many aspects of our industry are behind the times, it allows us to be creative in order to bring the tech to 2021 and beyond. Also, being that it’s a commodity-based industry, it allows for more stability, which isn’t the case with many startups.
I can’t wait to see what we deliver later this year, let alone over the next five years.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
I am most excited about where BrokerX is headed with our innovation. When I look at our product roadmap and see what we’ve already accomplished, I can’t wait to see what we deliver later this year, let alone over the next five years. There’s a lot of opportunity for our software to improve our partners’ processes even further. We’ve positioned ourselves to bring transparency and trust to our industry as well as empower our clients by automating their manual processes.
What they do: Provi is an e-commerce marketplace for the beverage alcohol industry designed to make ordering simple for bars, retailers and sales reps. With over 1,800 distributor catalogs available, the company consolidates ordering across a retailer’s entire portfolio.
As a tenured employee, what has been the biggest reason you’ve stayed at your company so long?
Over the last 10 years, I’ve worked at companies of all different sizes. When I joined Provi in 2017, it was a small company, which is what I really liked about it. Now, as the company continues to grow, I find myself growing with it. I enjoy and actually embrace the challenges that come with a bigger team such as mentoring new developers, participating in architectural discussions and setting the culture of a growing developer organization. Additionally, none of the other startups that I was a part of previously were growing nearly as fast as Provi. It’s an intoxicating feeling to know that everything you build is contributing to this ever-rising rocketship.
We’re at the point every successful startup gets to.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
I’m most excited about solving the scaling challenges that arise whenever a company like ours grows as fast as it is. And I mean that both from a technical and social perspective. We’re at the point every successful startup gets to. We’ve seriously examined the solutions of years past, reimagined how they need to work at much larger scales and are implementing our next generation of ideas. That applies to the team dynamics as much as to the code.
What they do: Ocient is a data analytics startup that’s working to build a SQL-compliant platform to process large amounts of data.
What was the deciding factor for you when you accepted your job at your current company, and why?
I accepted the position at Ocient for a variety of reasons. First, it’s a place where both the company itself and the founders and other executives have a proven track record of success. Second, as an engineer, I was impressed by the solutions architecture and delivery model because it’s very customer-driven with a strong focus on “proving before buying.” And thirdly, Ocient has top-quality talent. We’re all constantly trying to find new ways to serve our customers and solve common big data industry problems.
We’re all constantly trying to find new ways to serve our customers and solve common big data industry problems.”
Looking to the future, what excites you most about where your company is headed?
We have charted a course for revenue growth that will exceed my original expectations for the company, and this growth model is something that we are well-positioned to hit. Additionally, there are many ideas that we are pursuing that will drive major industry innovation as well as new innovations in database features.
