ChatGPT is now a go-to tool for students conducting research, job seekers writing cover letters and developers writing code. Of course, there are limitations to OpenAI’s tool. For example, if you ask about New York tech companies to know you’ll get a top-10 list of some of the biggest names in tech. It’s a good starting point, but ChatGPT doesn’t seem to understand that market cap and name recognition aren’t the only things that make companies notable.
We’d argue that culture is an important part of the criteria, especially when that culture centers around professional development or helping employees find community with their colleagues. A case can also be made for companies with holistic perks and benefits packages that help employees find success in the office and thrive outside of it.
ChatGPT is a great tool if you want to read one-sentence descriptions about some of the biggest names in tech that have an office in New York. If you want a more diverse list filled with everything from publicly traded companies to startups, information on what makes working at each one unique and the most recent news they’ve made then continue below to check out Built In New York’s 11 featured companies of March.
What Northwestern Mutual does: Northwestern Mutual is a financial services company whose offerings include financial planning, insurance and investments. It also operates an innovation lab, two venture capital funds and an accelerator program for Black entrepreneurs.
A community of colleagues: Built In recently interviewed Pujish Amin, a principal product manager, about what makes Northwestern Mutual a great place to work. Amin spotlighted the company’s culture, which he described in one word as “diverse.”
“Whoever you are, you can find a community here,” Amin said. “On our internal Slack platform, we have thousands of different communities that exist, from our employee resource groups to gaming and sports communities. It’s also part of my goals to look at who I’m adding to my team. I want diverse employees from varied backgrounds and experiences to add to the diversity of thought on our team.”
Senior year: Northwestern Mutual currently has five senior-level positions open across its engineering, product and design, and UX teams. This includes a senior director of product management, senior director of software engineering and a senior systems software engineer. Of the four open roles, the senior experience designer position is eligible for remote work.
What Alma does: Alma is a mental healthcare company. In addition to helping patients connect with therapists, its platform also helps mental healthcare providers manage and grow their practices and accept insurance as payment.
The team in one word: Libby Perold is a senior manager of product design at Alma and has been with the company — which was founded in 2018 — for more than three years. When asked by Built In New York in an October interview to describe the company’s culture in one word, Perold chose “thoughtful.”
“It describes three qualities I recognize and admire in my colleagues,” Perold said. “First, they seek to understand one another and lead with empathy and acknowledge how our work impacts all people. Second, they stay open-minded and humble and are willing to be wrong and to learn. Finally, my colleagues put empathy into action.”
Out-of-towners welcome: Alma is hiring across teams and is a remote-first company, meaning you don’t have to move or commute to be the company’s next director of sales, senior application security engineer or DE&I coordinator. Remote work perks include a monthly stipend for a desk at a coworking space, Wi-Fi and snacks along with one-time financial support to set up your home office.
What Ro does: Ro is a healthtech company that virtually connects patients to doctors who can prescribe medications for sexual health, weight loss, fertility and more.
The engineering plan for 2023: Ro currently has open roles on its engineering team, including an engineering manager position for its recently launched iOS app and a site reliability engineer role. Built In New York spoke with Plum Ertz, director of software engineering, back in November to learn more about what the team will be working on this year.
“We’re five years old now, and certain parts of our codebase have baked-in assumptions left over from an earlier phase of our business that is now outdated,” Ertz said. “In 2023, we will drive quality through focus and re-architect many of our patient intake, provider review and fulfillment flows to remove hacks and build a solid foundation.”
Body by Ro: Ro has expanded its offerings with the launch of the Ro Body Program, which is designed to help treat obesity. Patients are given an at-home diagnostic testing kit that healthcare providers use to create a personalized treatment plan, which features ongoing coaching and education from nurses and can also include medication.
What TaskRabbit does: TaskRabbit is a platform that connects people who need help with assembling furniture, moving, household tasks and more with freelancers.
It’s raining stipends: One of the highlights of TaskRabbit’s perks and benefits package is the handful of stipends it offers to help employees thrive at work and in their personal lives. These include stipends for professional development, internet and home office equipment, wellness and family planning stipends that help cover costs for fertility treatment, surrogacy and adoption.
The next rung: TaskRabbit has a handful of openings for mid-level and senior professionals looking to take the next step in their careers. This includes a senior Ruby on Rails software engineer requiring more than five years of experience, a senior CRM marketing specialist role asking for between three to six years of experience and a director of strategy and planning position where applicants should have more than 10 years of operations experience in tech.
What Cherre does: Investors, insurers and startups use Cherre’s real estate data platform to get increased insight for deals, expedite underwriting and build new technologies and tools quicker.
Down with data?: Cherre is currently hiring for a senior data engineer and a senior database performance engineer. As a senior data engineer, you’ll develop server-side services that ingest, organize, analyze and display real estate data and insights. The role requires seven to 10 years of engineering experience and a strong grasp of Python, data warehousing and database technologies.
The senior database performance engineer will focus on improving query performance and contributing to architectural decisions. Applicants should have seven to 10 years of engineering experience and a work history that includes SQL and large-scale transaction and analytical database technologies.
Returning to work: While Cherre offers a home office stipend for remote workers, the company also tries to make life easier for those who want to come into the office. The office is pet-friendly and catered lunch is offered a few times each week. There’s a flexible work schedule in place and team members can lower their commute cost thanks to available commuter benefits.
What Axio does: Axio’s cybersecurity platform is designed to make cyber risk more tangible to companies by quantifying their vulnerability in dollars and cents.
A serious Series B: Axio is currently hiring across the board, and this growth is fueled by the $22.5 million Series B the company closed late last summer, which pushed its funding total to $30 million. “We are ecstatic about securing this Series B investment round, which now gives us the means to meet the growing global demand for cyber risk quantification,” CEO and co-founder Scott Kannry said in a press release.
Engineering culture: Axio is hiring for its engineering team, which the company describes as having a culture of autonomy and ownership. Schedules are flexible and meetings are kept to a minimum in order to keep the focus squarely on innovative and quality code. Experimentation with the newest technologies is also encouraged, as is the increased use of automation.
What YOOBIC does: Frontline workers in retail, hospitality, grocery stores and more use YOOBIC’s digital workplace platform for communication, task management and training. The company’s customers include Lidl, Vans and GameStop.
The sales skills you need: YOOBIC is growing its sales team and has openings that span across experience levels, from a business development representative role to a senior customer success manager position. Back in August of 2022, Built In New York spoke with Jenna Goldstein, head of strategic accounts for North America, about the qualities she looks for in prospective salespeople.
“We want teammates who think strategically as well as tactically,” Goldstein said. “Our sales executives are excellent in building relationships with executive-level leaders at major retail companies, navigating webs of leaders and managers across large organizations and engaging the right people at the right time based on their needs, responsibilities and authority to close deals.”
Addition by acquisition: In September of 2022 YOOBIC announced its acquisition of Heystan, a Paris-based knowledge management and digital training platform for the catering and hospitality industries. The acquisition was the company’s first, and CEO Fabrice Haiat shared the strategy behind it in a press release.
“By welcoming the Heystan team into the YOOBIC family, we’re expanding our ability to deliver agile, tech-forward solutions to help quick-service restaurants and catering workers take pride in the value they create and better serve their customers while driving real bottom-line results for their employers,” Haiat said.
What Fidel API does: Fidel API is a global financial infrastructure platform that enables developers to build programmable experiences at the moment a transaction occurs on any payment card. Its tools are transforming how merchants and users interact by powering real-time, event-driven engagements, best-in-class loyalty and rewards programs and revolutionizing processes from reimbursements to expense management.
Less talk, more action: Employees taking ownership of ideas and seeing them through is incredibly important to Fidel API. In fact, Meredith Altenhofen, VP and Head of Global Business Development, named “bias toward action” as the most important trait she looks for in candidates in an August 2022 interview with Built In New York. Here’s why.
“Fidel API offers an incredible opportunity to build, test and learn,” Altenhofen said. “You need to take chances, test your impact and adapt your approach based on your learnings. This requires a high degree of flexibility, collaboration and measurement in your work but also yields a great deal of fun.”
Go global: Fidel API is headquartered in London with offices in Lisbon and New York City and remote employees around the world. They take pride in having a global team and working on global products. There is also unlimited PTO, which makes it easier for team members to visit their work friends and manage work-life balance to recharge and unwind.
What Carbyne does: Carbyne’s cloud-based emergency call management platform enables dispatchers to speak with callers over video and chat and provides access to additional data points for first responders, including precise location information.
Check into the C-suite: Carbyne is hiring a chief operations officer, a role that requires prior experience as either a COO or CEO. Carbyne’s COO will be responsible for daily operations, setting KPIs for all departments and driving growth via new partnerships with governments and enterprise companies.
Welcome to Miami: Carbyne recently announced a partnership with the Miami-Dade County Police Department, which will be using the company’s cloud 911 technology. The partnership enables callers to speak with detectives via video or chat and for emergency workers to pinpoint their exact location. Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cavine commented on the tie-up in a press release.
“Enhancing public safety is my top responsibility as mayor,” said Levine Cavine. “By working with Carbyne, we’re giving our police and first responders more tools to prepare for the unexpected, respond to emergencies and ensure the ultimate safety of our residents.”
What Albert does: Albert is a banking app offering checking and savings accounts, budgeting tools, financial advice and more.
Time to grow: Patrick Franklin is a prime example of career growth at Albert. Franklin joined the company in January 2018 as a UX specialist and business strategist, a position he held until 2019 when he completed his MBA and became finance director. Franklin provided a snippet about the company’s approach to professional development to Built In New York.
“Albert supports career growth by prioritizing personal development and fostering an environment in which people have the opportunity to show their strengths,” Franklin said. “Anyone can volunteer to lead or be a part of a project or initiative, providing valuable experience and promoting personal growth.”
Wealth and health: Albert’s perks and benefits package is full of highlights and includes a health plan covering up to 99 percent of out-of-pocket expenses, a monthly $100 wellness stipend and six weekly meals provided by meal kit company Factor. The company also offers relocation assistance, a 401(k) program with a 4 percent match — from day one — and up to $100 a month in commuter benefits.
What Clyde does: Clyde is an insurtech company that enables online merchants to offer extended product warranties to customers at the point of sale and provides technology that automates claims resolutions.
Movement and meaning: If Maslow developed a hierarchy of needs for tech workers, career progression through meaningful work would very likely sit near the top. Clyde understands this and gives employees the ability to grow their careers through engaging work, as relayed to Built In New York by Joseph Arquillo, senior manager of people operations.
“Clyde provides a career framework that helps employees easily navigate their career by offering visibility and giving a sense of meaningful progression,” Arquillo said. “Our goal is to prevent employees from feeling stagnant and avoid the subsequent risk of them looking for progression opportunities elsewhere.”
Concrete DEI initiatives: Clyde works to walk the walk on DEI. That work includes developing hiring practices that promote diversity, building an inclusive culture and participating in trainings to combat conscious and unconscious biases.
