Can You Tell Us About Your Role at GlossGenius? 

I am responsible for the core product teams at GlossGenius, notably the booking and payments experiences. My team also helps beauty professionals increase their earnings and makes sure we’re keeping up with the increasing number of professionals using our platform.

As our team size has grown, we have been increasing our focus on product quality and engineering excellence. This is an area that will be crucial for the future scalability of our product and our business, and we want to make sure that we set a good foundation here.

Try GlossGenius free for 14 days!

What Have You Found To Be Unique About GlossGenius So Far?

GlossGenius is very unique in that we are extremely customer-centric. This is one of our key differentiators and I am proud of the work we put into serving our customers. Our designers and engineers work closely together to craft solutions that are intuitive for beauty professionals. We conduct a ton of user research and we listen closely to our community. It is truly humbling to be part of such a mission-driven company.

How Do You Foster Collaboration And Innovation On Your Team?

Fostering collaboration and innovation within our engineering team is crucial to our growth and success. We start first by building an inclusive and diverse engineering team. The diversity – whether in terms of background, expertise, or thought processes – is the foundation of our innovation.

Then we create an environment that encourages open dialogues and a growth mindset. I believe in creating a culture where engineers at all levels feel safe to voice their opinions, ask questions, and challenge the existing status quo.

Finally, as we rapidly evolve our team and our products, we are bound to have setbacks – but I think of those as learning opportunities and I strive to nurture a culture where risks are embraced and not feared.

[CTA_MODULE]

We Are So Customer-Centric – How Does This Affect Our Approach To Engineering? 

Being customer-centric at GlossGenius isn't just a tagline; it deeply influences how we approach engineering. There are a few ways that I see this in our day to day work:

‍Quality and reliability: We understand that our professionals rely on GlossGenius for their livelihood. So we consistently place a huge emphasis on building a system that's both reliable and performant. Every downtime minute or slow-loading page could potentially affect our customers' businesses.

‍User feedback and rapid iteration: Every feature we develop or improve starts with listening to our users. User research plays a critical part of our product development process. In addition, we prioritize fast iterations on our product whenever possible and respond to user feedback quickly. If we find that a particular feature isn't resonating as expected, we're not afraid to go back to the drawing board and keep iterating.

‍Data-driven decisions: With the increasing number of professionals on our platform, we have invested heavily in the power of data analytics to understand user behavior, trends, and areas of improvement. This ensures our engineering efforts are always aligned with creating the most value for our professionals.

What Are Some Ways Your Team Is Raising the Bar?

Raising the bar is one of our core values, and it starts by the way that we recruit and build our team. We keep iterating on our interview processes, and ensure we're onboarding individuals who are not only technically adept but who also align with our values and mission.

We continue to evolve our systems and tools to make sure we are on the forefront of technology. Recently, we aligned on a new service oriented architecture that will be built using Kotlin. Finally, we place a heavy emphasis on continuous learning and development.

We've instituted regular tech talks and hackathons, and we encourage our engineers to attend conferences and meetups. This constant learning environment ensures that we're not only keeping up with the scale of our business growth, but also surpassing it.

What Does A Day In Your Life Look Like?

No two days are the same and this is part of the fun of being in a startup like GlossGenius. Some days are smooth sailing and some days are filled with millions of things that require my attention. Between team meetings and 1-on-1s, my days are sprinkled with spontaneous brainstorming sessions, coffee chats that turn into deep cultural discussions, and moments where we celebrate wins, big or small.

The dynamic nature of GlossGenius ensures that, while the structure of my day might remain similar, the content is always evolving. And that's what keeps it exciting!

[CTA_MODULE]

‍GlossGenius is actively hiring across many departments – check out our open roles here.  

Additionally, below is some recent press you may be interested in:

• TechCrunch: GlossGenius Increases Valuation, Raises $28M in Series C Round of Funding
• GlossGenius Named a Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startup 2023
• GlossGenius Named to the Forbes Fintech 50
• GlossGenius Named a 2023 BuiltIn Best Places to Work Winner
• BeautyMatter: GlossGenius and the Power of Customizable Beauty SaaS‍
• Fast Company: The 10 Most Innovative Retail Companies of 2022