Salsify

Alix Dangien is Product Manager at Salsify. After starting out in finance, Alix quickly discovered a passion for working on products in a dynamic startup environment.&nbsp;Career switchI have been in product management for about four years now. I originally started in finance, working for fintech startups, but I gradually realized that what I liked about fintechs was not really the finance part, but actually working on the new tools and products themselves. That is how I made the move to product management.&nbsp;At the time I was working in London, and I think it probably helped that British people are quite open to the idea of giving someone a chance to switch careers. This is probably less the case in France, because we are more focused on what studies you have done, so it would have probably been a lot harder for me to make the transition here.A culture of actionI interviewed for Salsify about 2 years ago while I was still living in the UK, and the whole interview process was really quick. After a phone interview, I boarded a train to Paris, and in one afternoon, I got to meet people from various teams : product, developers, sales, HR…, as well as one of the co-founders, which was perfect to get a rapide glimpse at the overall company’s culture.&nbsp;&nbsp;There is an incentive at Salsify for people to get things done without trying to reach for perfection: “good is better than perfect”. This enables us to act quickly and test whether our products work in real life, instead of over-analyzing and waiting. It is really motivating—people aren’t scared to try new things and just go for it. I also felt that very quickly I was trusted by my managers and given a lot of freedom in how I want to organize my work. There is no micromanagement whatsoever, which I love. At the same time, you can always let your managers know that you need help with something and they will take the time to support and guide you.&nbsp;Independent yet collaborativeAt Salsify Europe, there are three main R&amp;D teams that we call “tribes”, and within each tribe, there are one to three squads. Each squad is independent and consists of developers, an engineering manager, a product manager, as well as a QA and UX designer, sometimes splitting their time between two teams. This way, each squad can work independently based on its specific roadmap.At the same time, it is important to make sure we are all aligned, which is why we have tribes. We have dedicated meetings where the different tribes can align and discuss the squads’ roadmaps, so that we know what important product updates are coming up and anticipate how they will affect other parts of the platform.&nbsp;The R&amp;D team also organizes regular technical syncs, with product demos and presentations to share what the teams have been working on, and which learnings they obtained. So I would say that our tech structure is designed to be independent but also highly collaborative.&nbsp;Smart yet approachableThe values at Salsify are “We Care Deeply, We Are Empowered, We Take Action, We Are Positive Thinkers”, and these are truly reflected in our daily life as well. This struck me during my own onboarding, and&nbsp; I have heard several people say this as well: everyone at Salsify is willing to help if you are ever in doubt or need a question answered.It is definitely a company where you will be working with very talented people—the developers in my team are extremely smart yet still approachable and kind, which is incredible because I get to learn so much from them.

“I get to learn so much from our developers”

Julien Londeix