Customer spotlight: hiring with Artsy
On what it means to interview with Artsy, work at Artsy, and build with Artsy
Last month our Senior Talent Partner Emily Marmoy-Haynes shared how happy she is being able to power the hiring process at our client Artsy, which made us reflect on how far we’ve come as a business by treating our customers as partners. But this interview blog is not about the success of ACELR8, it’s about what makes Artsy a great place to work at.
Before we dive deeper into the topic here’s the excerpt of our conversation with Emily:
After this conversation, Emily took matters into her own hands and sat down with Artsy’s own Executive VP Product & Engineering Sam Rozenberg to show everyone why Artsy should be the next step in your career.
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Building the future art marketplace
Emily: Hi Sam, what is your role at Artsy?
I’m an Executive Vice President Product & Engineering.
Emily: What attracted you to join Artsy and why do you still love working here?
Sam: I was attracted to join because of the combination of:
- The mission of the company and the business opportunity. The ability to use technology to open up access to art, especially after seeing that success at Spotify and connecting artists to their audience. Doing that as the marketplace is very important and as a business model, works best as everyone is incentivised and aligned. When the collectors, partners, and galleries etc. are happy, the artist is paid more whereas traditionally you see in a lot of companies, that what is best for the user is not always best for the company.
- Artsy is made up of an amazing group of people who are doing it in the right way — positively, humility, and lack of ego
- There is a huge complexity to the art world, instead of building something for millions of users, there are so many dynamics between galleries, different types of collectors, and artists for example. The market is so opaque and complex so it is rewarding to tackle that challenge as a company.
Same reasons why I still love working at Artsy but I would add, that it is also working! When I joined, it was a fun challenge with a 50/50 chance of success, and now we have demonstrated our track record and proven success!
Emily: As you well know, Artsy is growing the PDDE team in Berlin. Why do you think someone should join Artsy?
Sam: Artsy is still at a size where anyone joining can have a transformative impact on the art world.
We are a leader in the space and doing so well, but are still small enough that an analyst, engineer, designer, product manager joining us now can look back and say “I was key to transforming this”.
For instance, at Spotify I was part of the music recommendation team building transformative features, it is so rewarding to look back and know that you contributed to this effect. Artsy is even smaller than Spotify was at that time so anyone joining us can create a real impact for our collectors and partners.
Emily: What is your favourite memory at Artsy?
Sam: I have lots of great memories but the most salient one is from my first 2–3 weeks at Artsy. I absolutely loved the interview process, I met a lot of nice people and came in with very high expectations of the company and people. I was almost thinking is it too good to be true?
I spent time in the first few weeks having a lot of coffees and lunches with the team and I saw that niceness and empathy is actually the baseline at Artsy.
It was not that I met a few nice people in the interview process, it is actually how everyone behaves day to day. This left a lasting impact that I had joined an amazing team! Want to experience how amazing the team is? Listen to our weekly WAYAHDYGH engineering podcast to get to know the people behind Artsy.
Emily: What is your favourite book?
Sam: It’s a tough one! I have been reading a lot of French literature recently. The Mystery of the Yellow Room (in French Le mystère de la Chambre Jaune) is a mystery novel written by French author Gaston Leroux. I felt inspired after watching Lupin on Netflix to reread the book. I had read it before as a kid, but I couldn’t put it down when I read it again recently!
Emily: How did the pandemic change your working habits?
Sam: I moved to Bolder, Colorado out of New York to be closer to nature and to have more space with my family. I also used to enjoy commuting to the office, it was a 30–40 minute walk, or sometimes cycle, through Soho and the East Village. The time commuting was really important to switch on and off for work and time to prepare for the day whereas now that instant disconnect is much harder when you are at home.
Emily: How would you describe Artsy in 3 words?
Sam: Just 3 words, that is tough! Artsy is kind, ambitious, and transformative.
Emily: Sam, finally, how would you describe working with ACELR8?
Sam: Working with you and the ACELR8 team has been a great experience. First and foremost, the team has delivered results and helped us build an outstanding engineering team in Berlin. Just as importantly, the team did it with a level of kindness, care and empathy that I’ve never experienced with any external team. This strong value alignment with the Artsy team has been key to our successful collaboration. ACELR8 is setting the bar very high for the team we’re trying to build in house.
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Interested in joining Artsy? Take a look at their most recent job postings.
Getting ready for an interview and have the nervous jitters? We have your back! Here’s what you can do:
- Research the career page of your potential employer
- Practice your pitch
- Read this post to make your next interview a positive experience
