Even as a surge of remote work opportunities spreads technology jobs across the US, Boston remains one of the country’s top tech hubs and a focal point for innovation. Companies large and small are looking to expand, and are hiring talented people to do it — Built In Boston alone has over four thousand jobs posted across over three hundred companies.
Today, Built In Boston sat down with employees from ten of those scaling companies to discuss how things have changed since they signed on, the exciting challenges they get to tackle and what sort of people they’re looking for to join their teams. Continue on to learn more about the workplace culture of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Nuance, Markforged, edX, ezCater, ActBlue, Bevi, Rightpoint, Soofa and MORSE.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I was recruited to the Federal Reserve through a colleague. I was surprised to learn that employees of the Federal Reserve’s Reserve Banks are not U.S. government employees, though the bank provides a lot of the same great benefits. My colleague was impressed by what he saw at the Fed, from the complex systems we build to the caliber of the people who work here. I took the opportunity he offered, and I’ve been impressed as well. After nearly four years with the Federal Reserve, I can honestly say that it’s been a rewarding journey. The bank encourages taking measured risks and continues to evolve its technology stack, which creates a culture of innovation and learning. It sounds cliché, but there is something to be said for having a genuinely nice place to work. Also, team members actively work to preserve this great culture by leaning into intense discussions with professional candor so that we bring out the best in our teams.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
I look for people who are open-minded and authentic. I also try to seek out diversity of thought. We grow as individuals and as an organization through a culture of learning — by being curious. Closed minds seek to reinforce what’s already known, blinding us to new or better possibilities.
As for authenticity, I’m looking for candidates who will say what they believe, even if it’s not necessarily what we want to hear. It’s essential that we challenge our own perceptions to build the best solutions. If my teams all hold the same values and beliefs, we will struggle to challenge each other, and we’ll struggle to grow. With that in mind, we need diverse thinkers from a variety of backgrounds. Skills can be taught — it’s our growth mindsets and our true selves that are an essential ingredient to our collective success.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
What motivates me — why I get up every morning — is the opportunity to help people however I can. While Nuance is an amazingly successful company, what attracted me most was the people who work here. Their shared sense of purpose, passion and commitment and laser focus on helping customers and patients is incredible and contagious. Since joining Nuance, I now have a greater appreciation for both the level of talent at Nuance and the profound impact of the tech we’re building.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
Qualities I look for in job candidates are that they are customer-centric team players who are also clinically and technically astute. I also look for people with a growth mindset and positive outlook. Those who are solution-oriented, energetic, fiercely competitive, passionate and committed to giving their all to innovate solutions that will improve the lives of patients both near and far are the ones I want to bring in to grow my team. Nuance’s greatest asset are our employees — our future success hinges upon the quality, character and dedication of each individual.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
Markforged developed a reputation of world-class engineering and best-in-class products throughout the engineering community in the greater Boston area — so when I had an opportunity to be part of that team, I took it.
I’ve been at Markforged for almost a year now, and I have not been let down. I am constantly surprised and motivated by our team and our ability to produce great products. Over the past year, we went public and doubled the size of the team — all while making great progress on new and exciting technology. Working here gives me the ability to grow my career while working alongside talented and passionate individuals.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
There are plenty of interesting challenges at Markforged, but the most interesting to me is growing the team responsibly. As we continue to hire and expand, we experience many of the same growing pains that most startups do as they transition into a more mature organization. But what makes it work is the team — if you ask a Markforged employee why they enjoy working here, I imagine the majority of the responses would somehow involve the people. As we grow, it is on all of us at Markforged to continue upholding the culture that makes working here so great. It is certainly an exciting time to be part of Markforged and I look forward to handling this challenge alongside a great team.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I joined Rightpoint based on experiences I’d had with some of the technology leaders on our mobile team. Over the three years I’ve been here, I've worked with many more leaders across technology and other practices, and continue to value the collaborative approach I always encounter.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
When I am growing my team, I look for people with a passion for building great experiences. This passion manifests in the way developers work — from partnering with product management and design to ensure the best outcomes are achieved for our clients to how a developer pays it forward by mentoring earlier career colleagues. This passion translates to a culture of caring for one another and for the results we deliver every day.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I was someone who wasn’t well served by traditional educational institutions — and after having a hard time with in-classroom higher education, I experienced how beneficial online learning can be for me and others like me. More than anything, I wanted to work at a company that was building a platform that was creating opportunities for learners worldwide to experience the transformative power of education.
Since I was hired, the global pandemic has changed everything. For one, work is now fully or mostly remote — and for people everywhere, the educational landscape has also changed. An entire generation of young people have had their learning journey completely disrupted and there’s a mountain of opportunity to help them get back on track with their educational and career goals. I could not be more excited about what we’re going to be building in the coming years.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
The biggest thing that I look for is curiosity. I like to hire candidates who have diverse and sometimes winding career paths, especially if it’s clear that time in different industries or roles has led a candidate to develop concrete, transferable skills and given them a broad-spectrum perspective that helps view and attack problems from different angles. The right candidate for me is one that understands that often the most important question is: “Why?”
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
EzCater was a company I admired for years — my first role was a technical recruiter at a Boston-based agency, and I got to know many of the local startups. I applied in January 2021 after Covid-19 had changed the landscape of many companies and ezCater was in rebuild mode. When I started, I was the third person on the talent team and the only recruiter focused solely on tech and product. Since I joined in February 2021, the team has grown to twelve recruiters and is still climbing. Saying a lot has changed would be an understatement, and I’m so grateful to be a part of a company and team that has supported me from day 1 through now.
I have evolved as ezCater has evolved, and have grown in my career tremendously — I had to dive in quickly and learn from doing. I’m fortunate to work with incredible stakeholders and executives who are passionate about hiring great people by way of an equitable and efficient process. We have great target goals and every team is dedicated to ensuring success. My love for ezCater has only grown since joining a year ago.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
The recruiting space is always an exciting place to be due to the challenging but rewarding work that hiring requires. Currently, we are facing an incredibly competitive job market where candidates are in the driver’s seat. At ezCater, we are embracing the market change with empathy and our people-first mindset. We offer candidates a hybrid workplace with remote candidates in thirty different US states. We offer flexibility around their days and the ability to effectively balance their personal and professional lives. We believe in the importance of autonomy and growth and provide our employees with internal mobility and career pathing opportunities — whether that’s interdepartmental movement or exploring roles in different departments and functions.
We are all humans navigating situations we never thought we’d be in, especially following covid — so we must be patient, empathetic and understanding. ezCater is full of employees that want our organization to be successful, so we encourage communication and transparency to ensure personal and career goals and company growth are both attainable.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
Over my career in tech I have recruited for large companies with massive product suites as well as smaller start-ups with groundbreaking platforms — but I never felt value or mission alignment to those products. I knew when I started considering new opportunities I would have one priority: Find a company doing work for good. I’d given through ActBlue a few times to support political candidates as well as grassroots movements that inspired me, so when I saw a role in a talent acquisition role pop-up on Linkedin, I applied immediately. I love working at ActBlue — each day I get to talk to passionate candidates and work alongside brilliant developers that are driven to make our democracy better.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
Hiring developers is always a challenge — the employment market is exceptionally competitive. Fortunately, we have fairly streamlined interview processes across our organization that allow us to move quickly and make interviewing accessible. When we speak to candidates, we look for technical adaptability — individuals that want to break things, make things, learn and grow together. Our employees also tend to have a vested interest in progressive political issues and grassroots movements.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I am an individual that loves using technology to try to change the world. I was previously working at a smaller green tech company and wanted to find a new challenge where I could make a bigger impact. When I joined Bevi in 2019 I started as the director of electrical engineering, managing a group working on our next generation product. Bevi is a great company with a lot of opportunity — and since then, my role has expanded to become the VP of hardware engineering, which includes managing our electrical, firmware, mechanical and R&D teams.
When you’re looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
The most important traits I look for are honesty and a strong work ethic. Bevi is a company with great values and a culture that empowers the team to do amazing things. Being honest allows our team to have open conversations — which allows us to trust one another. Saying “I don’t know” is just as important as knowing exactly how something works — being curious and asking why is core to how we operate.
Hardworking individuals are also great team members. They and we will do whatever we can to help the team and Bevi as a company to succeed.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I first applied to Soofa because I wanted to work at a company that valued community. Soofa embodies this belief both internally, by building an amazing culture, and externally by building and installing a product that makes communities better. In my time at Soofa, I’ve grown from a business development representative (BDR) role to account executive, and now team lead. Soofa is a place that will not only help you grow into new roles, but will also teach you skills and knowledge that will last a lifetime.
What’s your most interesting or exciting work-related challenge right now, and how are you overcoming it?
An interesting work-related challenge we are facing is creating custom advertising packages during high-profile events in areas with large Soofa Sign footprints — like Boston during the Boston Marathon. We are overcoming it by building out some amazing packages focusing on key locations — like our signs along the marathon route — and working together as a team to spread the word.
Why did you first apply to join your company, and how has your experience evolved over time since you were a new hire?
I first met MORSE in 2015 at a computer vision networking event while working for a recruiting firm. I got in line for pizza next to Adam Ray, one of the co-founders, who told me about this young company of 12 employees and their really cool R&D work for the military. There’s something unique at MORSE — the passion the team shares, and the care they put into every hire. Over the next few years, as I worked from the outside with the MORSE team to hire engineers, I learned great things about its culture, work and people.
Fast forward to 2020, when I joined MORSE as head of talent acquisition. I got to see for myself how wonderful the team of people truly is. There is a contagious desire across the team to do meaningful and interesting work.
Now, over two years into my career at MORSE, my role continues to evolve. We have built our internal talent acquisition team, and I have also gotten to stretch into new areas including marketing and employer branding.
As MORSE continues to grow, new opportunities constantly arise. What remains the same is the focus on maintaining a strong culture, an enjoyable place to work and an excellent team to work with every day.
When you're looking to grow your team, what’s a quality that you look for in candidates, and why is it important at your company?
“The smart team that is easy to work with” is one of our core values at MORSE. And it’s not just an aspirational statement — it’s how our customers have described us. It’s something we look for in every candidate.
It can be a rare combination to find, but it is so important for building the right team. In every interview debrief, we ask if each candidate meets these criteria. At MORSE, we’re always collaborating across teams, programs and disciplines. There is strong mutual respect for the intelligence of each individual here, but also an understanding that we all want to be easy to work with, assist each other in any way possible and make each experience a positive one.
This collective attitude of being easy to work with really pays off when we are facing deadlines, solving really hard technical problems, and deciding how to move forward in complex situations. It also goes a long way when we interact with our customers and end users.
