Lately, tech headlines have been unpredictable. Economic anxiety, workforce reductions, social media takeovers and more seem to dominate the front pages.
Fortunately, there’s some good news — companies are still hiring. Built In Chicago has over 6,000 job listings across 400 companies. Today, we’ll highlight the companies expanding their teams, and get a peek at what makes the work fulfilling.
Take the stalwart pharmacy and retailer Walgreens, which has over 150 job openings spanning a range of technologist roles working on projects that impact millions of lives around the globe.
Surekha Durvasula, vice president of analytics platform and data engineering at Walgreens, has worked with her teams on a dashboard to help track and slow the spread of Covid-19 variants, such as omicron, along with a clinical trial enablement product.
Walgreens, Echo, Attain (formerly Klover) and project44 are all hiring right now. Take a look behind the scenes at these featured companies, and check out their job postings on Built in Chicago!
Walgreens is a pharmacy and retailer.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Passionate. I find that it is one word that is common to the entire company and the DNA of who we are. In the stores, our pharmacists are passionate about serving our patients; at corporate, on the technology team, we are passionate about creating digital experiences and delightful products that meet the needs of our customers, partners and patients.
In December 2021, we were approached by our clinical research team to create an omicron dashboard that would inform the Center for Disease Control, our patients, hospitals, research organizations and community healthcare centers about the spread of omicron. My team rose to the challenge. They worked nonstop to deliver the dashboard by December 25. They moved and enriched data and delivered the dashboards that enabled visualization of omicron spreading across the United States.
The team was passionate about not only delivering on time but also ensuring the accuracy of the information — critical to mobilizing emergency response across the country. My team not only delivered a great dashboard but it was also something that could continue to be updated as different variants were discovered over time to impact the health of our communities.
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
The coolest project I have worked on in my entire career is clinical trial enablement. Most trials are not representative of all communities and are conducted on a very small population sample. Additionally, many trials are not viable because of the huge drop-off in participation, making trial results untenable. My team and I are working on identifying patient cohorts digitally through the aid of an unbiased recruitment engine that enables Walgreens to match diverse patient populations to trials, creating a great alternate care option and increasing the efficacy of drug introductions based on real-world evidence. This work saves lives and offers hope.
This work saves lives and offers hope.”
Professionally this work has allowed me to meet a diverse mix of clinical trials experts, PharmD colleagues and product teams. It has also offered plenty of challenges in creating algorithms from data that was originally collected to dispense drugs to now being contextualized to recruit for clinical trials. Most importantly, it has given me real insight into the impact of our work in shaping the lives of those in our communities.
Echo Global Logistics provides tech-enabled transportation and supply chain solutions.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Collaborative. Leaders from across departments encourage collaboration throughout the business to ensure products, customer service and employee engagement are all above and beyond expectations. As a technology-focused company within the transportation space, it is imperative that our technology teams collaborate with both the sales and operations departments, as these teams utilize and sell our products each day. Echo is a Fortune 1000 company, so collaboration is key for employees to feel connected and supported for success.
To me, this is exactly who Echo is: a large team working together to continuously innovate, improve and pursue our core value: ‘Better is the only option.’
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I have been with Echo for 13 years, with the entirety of my career in the client sales department. It’s a great team where I continuously feel challenged and engaged by the work. We are allowed to make mistakes, learn from them and collaborate with those around us to improve. Echo also has a diverse workforce with ample opportunity for mentorship from across the organization.
We are allowed to make mistakes, learn from them and collaborate with those around us to improve.”
Additionally, in my time with Echo, I have experienced solid company growth, both organically and through large acquisitions. As the organization continues to evolve, my responsibilities have increased. This has allowed for rewarding experiences that have been pivotal to my professional growth.
Attain is a data company powered by its consumer-facing financial services app, Klover.
Describe your company culture in one word.
Purpose. This culture is born out of our mission to democratize modern financial services. Attain provides access to millions of consumers’ consented purchase data, which marketers can use to precisely target audiences, gather insights and measure performance.
I picked this word because we as a company have a clear purpose, and each individual has an important purpose as well. We’re a small team, therefore everyone plays a key role, has a purpose and has the autonomy to get their job done.
Everyone plays a key role, has a purpose and has the autonomy to get their job done.”
This culture translates to our hiring — we focus on expanding our organizational skill set so each hire brings something new to the table and has a distinct purpose. I find this approach to be incredibly rewarding knowing the purpose and skill set my colleagues and I bring to the team.
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
The coolest project I have worked on recently is the product my team and I are currently building: Attain’s data platform. This product did not exist when I started, so having the opportunity to scope, design and build this product from scratch has been an amazing learning experience for my professional journey.
At the beginning of the scoping phase, staring at a blank page was daunting. But I was reminded of some great advice from a mentor who told me to get back to basics: who’s buying, what are their problems, why now, why our product.
This simple framework has given me a lot of clarity and it’s been the basis of some amazing collaboration across the organization, as the answers to those questions have provided focus to other cross-functional teams. Removing the propensity to over-complicate and getting back to basics is a lesson that I’ll use throughout my professional career.
Project44 is a platform providing advanced visibility for shippers and logistics service providers
Describe your company culture in one word.
In thinking about project44’s culture, many words come to mind: passionate, fast-paced, motivating, energetic, innovative and connected. However, based on my personal experiences, I would describe pt44 as abundant with opportunities. When I joined the team two years ago, I was an intern with curiosity about the professional world. Fast-forward to the fall of 2022, I’ve grown alongside p44; from people intern to talent attraction and development coordinator, and, most recently, talent programs specialist.
I’m very appreciative of my growth at p44, and it really comes down to the opportunities I’ve been given to practice ownership as an individual contributor. Throughout my time here, the larger people team has transitioned from seven to 34 team members, and our processes have adapted in turn as we continue to grow and evolve. Being a part of this transformation early in my career is an opportunity I would not have had anywhere else. I’ve learned the importance of working outside of my comfort zone, and have been given the chance to dive into projects that continue to enable my personal growth due to the environment of opportunity at p44!
Being a part of this transformation early in my career is an opportunity I would not have had anywhere else.”
What professional growth or development have you experienced in your time with the company?
At p44, I’ve had the opportunity to work on various innovative and unique initiatives. Being early in my career, the ability to practice ownership and experience cross-departmental collaboration has had an immense impact on my development. I’m extremely grateful to work alongside a team that values growth and possibility.
One of the initiatives I’ve had the chance to work on is passport44, a global exchange program that fosters an experience for team members to collaborate, engage and build relationships across various settings. Passport44 permits team members to travel to a global p44 office of their choosing and work within that location for up to two weeks. Once accepted into the program, team members receive a stipend to support their experiences.
Designing passport44 was definitely a new ballgame for me! I met with stakeholders across the organization to enable program deliverables and gained insight into successful project management. Further, I had the opportunity to infuse creativity within the program's development and exercised agility when it came to receiving feedback. As a result, I grew professionally into a talent programs specialist.
