When picturing your perfect workplace, certain factors immediately come to mind: an exciting and challenging role, a supportive culture and interesting problems to solve are all crucial boxes to check. Finding a position that meets this criteria can be difficult, but we spoke to 10 Chicago companies who offer all that and more.
What they’re up to: Flexport is a freight forwarding and logistics platform that companies can use to ship their goods by land, sea and air. Senior Engineering Manager Uri Benaya said taking pride in the company’s accomplishments is something that unites team members.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
As a technology company in the freight space, we are working on digitizing the extremely complex and fragmented freight forwarding industry. It’s not an easy task, but our team’s passion for our mission — making global trade easy for everyone — makes the work we do a fun and rewarding challenge. Our team members have a strong sense of ownership over their projects and every feature we are working on.
Our team members have a strong sense of ownership over their projects and every feature we are working on.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
The freight business hasn’t caught up to the internet age and Flexport is a large business with a great product-market fit, but when people join they are still surprised by how big Flexport’s opportunity really is. Understanding the vastness of the space and the size of the addressable market could be overwhelming, but through a clear decision-making process and rigorous research, we are able to focus and develop the right product for all of our users.
What they’re up to: Rally Health provides a data-backed, personalized healthcare management platform that helps its users meet goals. Senior Engineering Manager Matt Miner said team members are given leeway to personalize their professional experiences at the company and work in ways that suit them best.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
Drive. The engineering team at Rally is always improving its craft, process and quality of what we execute and deliver. We shift and evolve to make sure that we’re doing the best job possible, while keeping an eye on repeatability and team stability.
We want folks that we can bring in and trust to solve problems without unnecessary oversight or bureaucracy.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
We have a high degree of autonomy. We take hiring seriously. We want folks that we can bring in and trust to solve problems without unnecessary oversight or bureaucracy.
What they’re up to: Motorola Solutions develops communications technology for first responders and emergency situations. Despite their high-stakes product offering, Vice President of Human Resources Kathi Moore said team members are encouraged to speak their minds and crack a few jokes. And at their core, they are proud of the work they do and the assistance they provide customers during critical situations.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
Every employee on my team is analytical, collaborative and results-oriented. However, I think the shared trait that stands out most to me is emotional intelligence. I’ve really pushed my team members to develop a deeper sense of self-awareness so that they can express their opinions and feelings in a healthy way – this is crucial to building a strong team. Also, a healthy sense of humor makes working together much more enjoyable.
Knowing that we are making the world a better place by creating safer cities and saving lives creates an increasingly prideful culture.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
I think the most surprising fact about Motorola Solutions is that we’ve been innovating and excelling as a company for over 90 years, yet we have the energy, pace and excitement of a startup. Our employees are proud of who we are and the customers we serve, which helps us maintain this enthusiasm over such a long period of time. Knowing that we are making the world a better place by creating safer cities and saving lives creates an increasingly prideful culture.
What they’re up to: FTD, Inc. knows the joy of receiving gifts and floral arrangements, so it’s no surprise that Brand Marketing Manager Kristin Byrne said friendliness is a trait all team members have in common.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
Tenacity. We do not close our doors — every hour is an opportunity to optimize, strategize and execute a better experience for our customers. Retail requires a sense of persistence because the competition is tough, and new competitors emerge every day. Also, we are running a company that is over 100 years old. Being tenacious about remaining relevant in a new age industry is a trait we all embody and seek out in new team members as well.
We are a company of builders — not only of a business but also of a great and inclusive culture.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
We are all real-life friends. My coworkers are people I grab lunch with outside of office hours. We are fostering a fun, results-oriented, team-building culture here that has rooftop happy hours and everyone comes. We are a company of builders — not only of a business but also of a great and inclusive culture.
What they’re up to: VillageMD knows that better data analytics means better care delivered to patients. Director of Engineering Sonja Broach said empathy and the desire to create real impact are underlying sentiments present on her team, whose members are given the freedom to own their projects and advance their skills.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
My team builds full-stack applications that enable VillageMD care teams to deliver on value-based primary care. The engineering team is laser-focused on delivering value for our customers. In order to realize that, we move pretty fast with a bias toward action and pragmatism. Everybody that works here aims to make sick people less sick and generally cares about other humans.
We’re a flat-leaning organization that actively makes decisions to evolve our teams and architecture.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
Our engineering culture is a lot of fun. When you research what we do, you may not get a great feel for how we operate as a tech company — this is because of the emphasis on clinical. We’re a flat-leaning organization that actively makes decisions to evolve our teams and architecture. Individuals take ownership and have autonomy to innovate. We try to be diverse and remote-friendly, value continued learning for engineers and leaders and spend a lot of time collaborating.
What they’re up to: You might not have heard of SDI Presence, but they’re the company that’s keeping your city running behind the scenes. Program Manager King Sedore said SDI helps companies optimize their digital environments through its IT and managed services work, which includes keeping transportation running smoothly for travelers.
What’s the one trait all the members of your team share?
Our people come to work every day not only because they enjoy the work they do, but also because SDI has created a high-trust culture and comfortable work environment that yields high-performing teams. We are a team of different backgrounds and attributes that complement each other. Together, we share a purpose and that is to contribute to our success by delivering exceptional results for our clients, on time.
We are a team of different backgrounds and attributes that complement each other.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
SDI supports the IT system infrastructure that keeps the city running. We manage the physical security systems at Chicago O’Hare and Midway International airports and provide IT infrastructure support for the city’s transit systems. We also provide systems management, maintenance and production support for a local water utility firm and manage more than 244 million square feet of property information throughout the United States.
What they’re up to: You might be surprised to know that Caterpillar, international manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, has been involved with IoT for two decades, and the Cat Digital division has been leading that charge. Product Manager of IoT Applications Brent Steffen said his team loves uniting around technology to overcome customer challenges.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
My team is outcome-focused. They are passionate about the results our users are after and how to best design features to deliver them. Our challenge is to help our customers be more successful with Caterpillar solutions than with any other provider. We get excited when we make our user base more efficient and productive and when we help our customers use digital solutions to improve their workflow. We love nothing more than when one of our users says, “That is exactly what I’ve been looking for.” That is the fuel that keeps us coming back for more.
We have our engines on Carnival Cruise ships and on nuclear submarines.”
What’s one thing about your company that would surprise a lot of people?
We have our engines on Carnival Cruise ships and on nuclear submarines. Our back-up power generators were used to keep Wall Street going after September 11th and to support the rescue of the young soccer players trapped in a cave in Thailand. In Chicago, our construction equipment helped build the original Soldier Field, the Chicago Civic Opera House and the 1933 World Fair.
We have a storied past, but our future could not be brighter. Many people are surprised to know that we have been in the IoT business for over 20 years, and we are on track to have close to 1 million connected assets communicating to us worldwide by the end of 2019. This data, the insights generated from it, and the digital solutions our customers depend on every day makes up one of the fastest-growing areas of our company.
What they’re up to: Yello offers companies a personalized platform they can use to meet their recruitment goals. Director of Sales Development Mallory Moran says an open floor plan helps the entire staff work with and learn from one another more efficiently, which lends itself to helping her team attain the quick results they strive for.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
Successful business development representatives at Yello share a sense of urgency as a common trait. Despite the strategies a BDR utilizes to execute their prospecting plans, they all do it with urgency, not stopping until they find success month after month.
Rooms for privacy are abundant but outside of focused meetings, the company works side by side.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
No one has an office, not even our CEO. Yello values collaboration and input from all levels of the team. Rooms for privacy are abundant but outside of focused meetings, the company works side by side.
What they’re up to: As a financial institution comprised of many business segments, Wolverine Trading offers clients proprietary trading, asset management and other services. Principal Quantitative Analyst Nate Pomeroy said team members rally behind a sense of camaraderie, kinship and a desire to evolve their skills — all of which are supported by official company events and organizations.
What’s one trait all the members of your team share?
Each member of our quantitative team often has sole responsibility for working with our licensed professionals on a strategy or system, but we organically make decisions as a group. Across the firm we believe that expertise and experience grow from an open, collaborative environment. This manifests both in our day-to-day workflows and in initiatives like our internal education department, management seminars and Women of Wolverine program.
Across the firm we believe that expertise and experience grow from an open, collaborative environment.”
What’s one thing that would surprise people about your company?
The firm prioritizes integrity, most recognizably in the interpersonal relationships we build with other Wolverines. Sixty percent of our nearly 400 employees have worked at Wolverine for at least five years or more since finishing their education. More often than not, we are friends as well as colleagues. We catch up at firm-sponsored monthly parties, annual beach volleyball and Whirlyball tournaments, and tons of other events.
