Opportunities Abound at These Colorado-Based Tech Companies

Compelling projects, company values and enthusiastic teams were deal-sealers for these eight leaders.
Written by Remy Merritt
June 29, 2021Updated: July 6, 2021

When on the job hunt, the volume of open positions and companies to work for can be overwhelming. Finding the right alignment of important variables — job responsibilities, salary, company values and location — is daunting, and jumping into the wrong company can send new hires right back into the applicant pool.

In a 2021 global survey, Deloitte found that a respective 44 percent and 49 percent of Millennial and Gen Z respondents considered personal ethics when choosing the organizations from which they would accept employment. It is no surprise, then, that these eight leaders were drawn to the alignment between company values and their own, as well as the paralleled enthusiasm from fellow team members.

 

 

Carolyn Frieband
Director of Operations • Parsyl

What they do: The pandemic opened many a layman’s eyes to the complexities of global health and the vast international supply chains that distribute life-saving supplies. The Parsyl team is on the frontlines of these efforts, developing technology to ensure the condition of critical shipments — from perishable foods to temperature-sensitive vaccines — is traceable at all transit points. 

Working toward a common mission: “Having the opportunity to join an innovative, mission-driven company is ultimately what encouraged me to join the Parsyl team. Parsyl’s mission to build a world where everyone, everywhere can trust the quality of goods they rely on, from the foods they eat to the medicines they need, is compelling and is present in both our daily work and long-term goals. I love working with a team of people who are driven by a shared purpose and work collaboratively to solve meaningful global problems. Not only is our mission present every day, but it’s supported by a shared set of operating principles that we apply to the way we think, collaborate and operate. This alignment across our mission and operating principles contributes to a deeply meaningful, engaging and fun team to be a part of.

Not only is our mission present every day, but it’s supported by a shared set of operating principles that we apply to the way we think, collaborate and operate.”

Guided by shared principles: “This past year has shown us that the complexity, fragility and importance of perishable supply chains requires new methods of risk management. I’m excited and humbled to be part of Parsyl’s efforts to develop products that protect the quality of life-saving goods like vaccines, diagnostics and medical supplies as they move through global supply chains. In my role as director of operations, I have the opportunity to develop systems and processes that support others’ work and help identify our most important goals and priorities. The challenges that we’re focused on require a commitment to critical thinking, a passion for innovation and an eagerness to collaborate with and learn from others. I’m so excited to continue working on a team that keeps these guiding principles front-of-mind, encourages each other to do great work and makes a meaningful impact on a global scale.”

 

 

Lee Ann McMicken
Manager, Procurement Planning & Performance • Prologis

What they do: As a partner to real estate customers across the globe, Prologis is delivering logistics solutions from acquisitions to sustainable development.

Foundational goals: “I chose Prologis because of the countless new capabilities they were developing and the opportunity I would have to help create and build them from the ground up. As a supply chain major, helping build procurement best practices spoke to all my biggest career aspirations. I was excited to learn the ins and outs of operations for an established, global organization and determine how the newly developed procurement function could best support its goals. I was also drawn to the Prologis culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and serving the community through programs such as the Community Workforce Initiative, which teaches key skills to logistics workers in the communities where we operate.

A cleaner, greener future: “I am most excited about Prologis’ focus on sustainability and innovation. With our expansive portfolio, I feel we are well-positioned to truly make a change in the logistics industry by developing sustainable buildings, helping our customers enhance their environmental performance and partnering with innovative companies that accelerate progress toward a greener future. Whether it be solar panels, electric vehicle charging, or more efficient HVAC systems, procurement plays a big role.”

Giving Back

Prologis' Community Workforce Initiative teaches key skills to logistics workers in the communities where the company operates.

 

 

Chris Kinsella
SVP, Sales • brightfin

What they do: The scope of IT-related activities has exploded in recent years, making it tough to track expenses from various mobile, telecom and cloud vendors. The platform created at brightfin gathers data from disparate systems across multiple streams and displays it in actionable dashboards. 

Merging bright minds: “I chose to join the brightfin team for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the opportunity to create a cutting-edge brand with three leading Telecom Expense Management (TEM) companies was just too good to pass up.

The second reason was the team. Not only did we bring together many bright minds through the merger, but we also recruited some incredible new talent to lead our organization. Each company brought strong individual cultures, and the collective group is already locked in on achieving our overarching goals while ensuring each of our team members succeeds. 

Lastly, brightfin is a global organization with a small, family company feel. In my career, I have often seen global firms morph into large bureaucratic institutions. With the culture we already have in place, I have full confidence that won’t happen at brightfin.

Bright horizons: “We're evolving, which is always an exciting time to be a part of a company. Traditionally, TEM companies are seen as one-trick ponies. They are retained by an organization to lower their mobile and fixed-line expenses – and they’re good at it. At brightfin, we are taking things way beyond TEM and broadening our technology into the IT Finance Management (ITFM) market. This expansion of technology and services will provide deeper insights into all IT spend and allow organizations to make better decisions on spending.

We're evolving, which is always an exciting time to be a part of a company.”

We’re already making big impacts with leading organizations such as Volkswagen Group of America where we’re managing their mobile, fixed and cloud expenses. We just recently published a video on our website where the VW team discussed their move from manual spreadsheets to automated expense allocation, which was met with a lot of excitement from the industry. Our technology and growth roadmaps are all pointing toward more growth in the ITFM space to ensure that we’re the best possible partner for our clients.”

 

Silas Rioux
Lead Software Engineer • Hotel Engine

What they do: With more than 170 employees serving more than 25,000 businesses, Hotel Engine is arming customers with a powerful, intuitive, integrated hotel booking platform.

New hire excitement: “I joined Hotel Engine because of the unique culture. In my interviews, it was easy to see how much everyone on the engineering team enjoyed working together and how excited they were to bring me on board. After being here for almost two years, I know the culture is one of the things that will keep me here long term. The relationships I’ve built with my coworkers are incredible.

After being here for almost two years, I know the culture is one of the things that will keep me here long term.”

Scaling with speed: Hotel Engine is a team of driven individuals who move fast. We have a lot that we want to achieve throughout the rest of 2021 and 2022, and to accomplish those goals we are scaling very quickly — including the engineering department. It’s exciting to be part of a company at this stage of growth and to see first-hand how our department directly impacts our products, the user experience and the company overall.

 

Vaghar Haghiri
Director of HR Operations • Druva

What they do: Druva delivers data protection and management for the cloud era. Their cloud platform is built on AWS and offered as a service, delivering globally accessible, scalable and completely autonomous enterprise data resiliency. 

Value-based growth: “At Druva, there is an incredible amount of excitement and anticipation for what the future holds. I see the energy and willingness to be the best each and every day in the way our employees apply our company values. I feel the overwhelming amount of support from our leadership to continue to lead us on a path to success, and to continue making a global impact with cloud data security.

There is an incredible amount of excitement and anticipation for what the future holds.”

My role as director of HR operations is to ensure that all people, systems and processes support the company through our continuous growth. To do so, we must scale with the company and proactively look for ways to improve and support our talented people.

Some key initiatives in my role include launching our new global onboarding process, building out our business intelligence infrastructure, and redesigning our performance and merit review process. I am excited to be leading these programs, and I look forward to the positive outcomes they will bring to our people and the organization.”

 

Kinjal Popat
Senior Manager of UX Design • Xactly Corp

What they do: Founded more than 16 years ago, Xactly Corp has been building expertise in using data to drive revenue. They’ve enabled thousands of global companies to empower millions of sellers in achieving higher and more efficient revenue.

Interviewing with CARE: “The deciding factor started with the job description itself. Job descriptions at Xactly are unique in that we share the expectations of the role for the first year. This gives visibility into the CARE values at Xactly: Customer focus, Accountability, Respect and Excellence. During my application process, these values stood out in the job description and throughout the interviews.

The interview process and speaking with the team felt like a conversation. Learning about the company's vision and meeting the cross-functional teams gave me a peek into the team culture and opportunity at Xactly. 

Core Values at Xactly Create CARE

  • Customer focus
  • Accountability
  • Respect
  • Excellence

Building their teams: “The UX team’s mission at Xactly is to create delightful experiences that drive positive business outcomes by building empathy and leveraging empirical data. As the head of UX, I'm excited by the opportunity to craft our customers’ experiences by modernizing our user interfaces. Our goal is to enable our users to be more efficient and productive with our products by improving the user experience and conducting user research to be a data-informed organization.

We have many talented UX designers and researchers who are strategic system thinkers and pixel perfectionists. The projects the UX team have delivered in the past two years have resulted in greater business outcomes and increased collaboration. Xactly plans to continue to invest heavily in UX and product management in the coming years.”

 

Chris Schedler
Senior Account Manager • Location3

What they do: Founded in 1999 and located in the heart of Denver, Location3 provides digital marketing solutions for franchise systems and multi-location businesses.

Diving into dedication: “The deciding factor was the opportunity to jump in and make an immediate impact, knowing that leadership and senior management were willing to guide me through the learning curve of starting a new role. I’ve stayed because we can see a direct correlation between our clients’ success and the work we do. We get to support entire corporations by doing what we love.

I love how adaptive my company is.”

Navigating the future: “I love how adaptive my company is. Asking what the future looks like is a tough question in unprecedented times, but knowing you have full confidence that your company will be able to navigate any storm is peace of mind that’s invaluable to any employee.”

 

Carrie Lorenz
Senior Full-Stack Developer • A2Z Sync

What they do: A2Z is helping car dealerships successfully transition to a one-person sales model by providing a software platform along with operational readiness assessments, intensive in-dealership training and ongoing technical and training support. 

Synced against stagnancy: I've chosen to stay at A2Z Sync because of the high caliber of my teammates. Collaboration and pairing is key to our team dynamic, and I'm constantly learning and growing from interactions with my coworkers. Everyone is willing to work together to find the best solution, and constant feedback from pairing and code reviews makes me a better developer. It's impossible to stay stagnant with all of the great minds in this company pushing each other to grow. Collaboration isn't limited to the engineering team, as I find myself learning from interactions with our quality assurance, product and client services teams. Also, it's a testament to everyone's skills that we can collaborate so effectively while working remotely.

We're encouraged to learn and adopt new technologies and languages to keep the application and our skills cutting-edge.”

The polyglots behind the platform: I'm most excited about working on an application that's helping transform an industry in a way that's entirely different from all other automotive web applications. We're growing our code base quickly, and there are many opportunities to work on new and exciting projects. We're encouraged to learn and adopt new technologies and languages to keep the application and our skills cutting-edge. While there's plenty of legacy code, there's also opportunity to refactor and work on new functionality from scratch. Also, integrating with third-party systems is an exciting challenge.

 

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