Staff Data Engineer, Shiftsmart

Labor force participation is at an all-time low in the United States, and companies across the board are struggling to combat the shortfall. Shiftsmart’s solution is a dynamic labor marketplace, matching workers on their platform to temporary gigs, and helping companies fill gaps without committing to, or having to attract, full-time talent.

• Execution Is Binary - We #GetShiftDone. We take immense pride in both the quality of our work and our relentless determination to deliver on our commitments. If we say we are going to do something, we do it. We own the outcome with an unstoppable mindset through the finish line and are impatient to move the ball forward. This means we work really hard, execute with urgency, and ruthlessly challenge timelines for anything important. As a result, we do not defer responsibility to other teams or individuals. Instead, we take the problem as far as we can and only when needed ask others for help. Each time a crisis or opportunity emerges we take the hill as one team, because we are allergic to the words “it can’t be done”.
• Missionaries, Not Mercenaries - We before me. We believe in our mission to build a better world for workers. We understand why our work matters and take seriously how it impacts our customers and our partners. This belief permeates everything we do from the strategic to the mundane. We are energetic, ambitious, and want to win. We constantly raise the standards for ourselves and everyone around us. We show up for our customers, our partners, and most importantly our teammates, and make every effort to build lasting relationships with each of them. We do not measure success based on our titles or the size of our empires. This also means we put the needs of the business before the details of our job descriptions. Rather than fight for a bigger piece of the pie, we fight to grow the entire thing and recognize this is how to grow our careers too.
• Inputs > Outcomes - We work really hard. Fundamentally changing how labor works is not easy. It often requires long days, late nights, and weekends to deliver on our commitments. We lean into this challenge. We focus on the process. We think in terms of value chains and appreciate that a bad process with a good outcome is simply dumb luck. We lead with data. We use facts, not fiction, to build narratives and make decisions. To do this we prepare written memos in advance and resist the urge to engage in endless water cooler what ifs, because we value the time and attention of our teammates. We hire and develop the best. When we decide to hire a new team member, we do so because we believe they will increase the talent density on our team. We view ourselves as leverage maximizers rather than inconvenience reducers and strive to increase the output of everyone we interact with.
• Honesty Over Harmony - We share the truth even when it is painful. We do not, however, share the truth callously to hurt people’s feelings or make them look bad. We also assume positive intent. If someone is not delivering in a way that we need, we ask them and tell them before assuming the worst. We embrace mutual feedback. As people leaders we care more about our team’s growth and success than how much others like us. As individuals we seek, accept, and apply feedback. We do not give or take feedback personally because we understand it enables us to learn and grow. We tell the truth to ourselves. We reject a pollyannaish view of our world. Instead if something isn’t going well that we are responsible for, we call it out. And when someone calls out their own truth that may be less optimal, we don’t punish them for it. We have the meeting in the meeting. If something is broken or we disagree, we call it out and say something in the moment even if it feels uncomfortable to do so. This means that if something is broken, we do not just accept it and complain later.
• Invent & Iterate - We are inventors @ heart. We categorically reject the phrase “that is how it’s always been done”, and constantly discover new and better ways to do more with less. This means we are resourceful and often do things that don’t scale, only to create ways to scale them later. We’re builders. We think BIG. At every level of the company, we embrace big, hairy, audacious, and transformative goals. We fear lack of progress and incremental thinking more than failing to deliver or falling short of an audacious goal. We believe courage means to try without fear and learn without ego. We do not let perfect get in the way of better. When faced with the choice we prioritize delivering something, even if imperfect, over endless debate and alignment. We embrace good mistakes.