Teamwork makes the dream work: How Talent and Data Engineering at Chime build more diverse, equitable, and inclusive teams

Sai Sundar believes that nobody wins as an individual — we all win as a team. He’s our Director of Data Engineering, and when he joined Chime, with his core belief in mind, his number one goal was to build the best possible team.

“My charter was to bring the best engineers to Chime to help us achieve our vision,” he says. But to do that, he knew he wouldn’t succeed alone — he needed a team to support that goal. So he partnered closely with our talent team. “To hire my team, I had to partner with and align myself with someone passionate about finding the best engineers — that’s why my partnership with Courtney is crucial.”

Courtney Clavon is Sai’s partner in Chime — hiring the best data engineering team for Chime. She’s a technical recruiter on our talent team and has worked with Sai to grow his team mindfully and optimize for hiring underrepresented talent.

Finding alignment in the engineering-recruiting partnership

For Courtney and Sai to start achieving their goals, they needed to get aligned. The first step was understanding the whole system that they were working with within Chime: our data engineering organization. “We looked at what’s already been built, what needs improvement, and what that means for our data engineering needs,” Sai explains. Then they set out to plan the team they needed to hire.

Next, they had to openly acknowledge that building a team isn’t a one-person job and start to build a relationship. “I believe in building a partnership so strong that your recruiter could be your hiring manager,” Sai says. He now says that Courtney could sit on a panel and be the hiring manager if needed.

“If talent and engineering don’t get aligned closely, you’ll never achieve your goals.” -Sai Sundar, Director of Data Engineering

Part of building the relationship between engineering and talent involves honesty — about what you’re looking for and feedback when things aren’t working. To that end, Sai and Courtney set up daily syncs to check in on what’s going well, what could be improved, and how priorities are evolving.

Finally, Sai and Courtney got aligned on the vision for hiring the team. “With ten open roles, we’re not looking for ten unicorns,” Sai explains. “Each role will be filled by someone with a certain skill set, and, at the end of the day, the whole team will be able to solve a puzzle together.”

What this means for Courtney and her sourcing team is that candidates don’t need to be able to solve the puzzle themselves — they don’t need to know everything. Instead, they need to work as a team and use their individual strengths together to achieve a goal. “The team has become more of a jigsaw puzzle itself — I’m always looking for someone whose skills will fit with the others on the team instead of looking for the same person over and over again,” Courtney says.

And looking for people who fit together — rather than fitting a certain bill of skills — helps bring diversity of thought and skills to the team, something that both Courtney and Sai have always wanted to do. With alignment on the vision, a close partnership, and an understanding of the broader organization’s goals, Courtney and Sai could start hiring their dream diverse team.

Creating an inclusive culture where diverse candidates will succeed — in order to hit goals

“Sai has aggressive OKRs for the year, so he’s got to build a team that can help him succeed in hitting those goals,” Courtney explains. “Data affects every team at Chime and is crucial to our ability to scale, so his need to grow his team is mission-critical.”

With a need to grow his team and a mind for hiring a diverse group of engineers, Sai always starts with what’s important to candidates. “By focusing on what candidates are looking for, we start the dialogue early and can set them up for success in the long run,” he explains. Being transparent upfront — both about what the candidate is looking for and what Chime is hiring for — helps set the tone for the relationship throughout the hiring process and beyond. It also empowers candidates to focus on what they’re looking for — like involvement in a CRG, for example.

Courtney and Sai have also built in inclusive practices when it comes to evaluating candidates. Part of the evaluation, for example, for engineering manager candidates, is to understand how they’ve established inclusive environments within their own teams and how they’ve given those they managed a seat at the table.

Another part of the evaluation is to understand candidates’ potential — not just the skills they have at the time of interviewing. “Instead of looking at someone as too junior, Sai and his team will evaluate a candidate’s existing skillset and ability to learn,” Courtney says. “That way, we’re interviewing to actually hire rather than just check some boxes.” This is a central practice that has allowed them to hire a diverse team and focus on creating a team that’s always building each other up.

And even if blockers to hiring a candidate come up in a debrief, Sai will always ask, “Okay, but do you think this person is coachable? Can they be mentored?” This approach facilitates a stronger discussion and encourages everyone on the team to think holistically about candidates instead of just cutting them off if they don’t meet one part of the hiring rubric.

Between Sai and Courtney, honesty is the best policy — always. By being honest about challenges, wins, and trends they’re both seeing, they work together better and ultimately hire a better team. “Sai’s team has made recruiting for them so much easier because we are just honest with each other — no sugar coating or avoiding the truth, which helps us all do better at our jobs and reach our goals faster,” Courtney says.

Sai’s hiring approach is also reflected in the way he manages his team, which is in keeping with his commitment to honesty: he always wants to hear everyone out. “I try to make sure people’s voices are heard, because I think that’s the biggest contributor to inclusion,” he says. “In our weekly meetings, everyone is encouraged to share their opinions — I never want anyone to have to think twice before they chime in.” By giving everyone a voice, Sai makes sure they feel valued and actively contribute to the team’s success.

The proof’s in the hiring

Building a diverse team hasn’t been smooth sailing — after all, data engineering is a male-dominated field and the current global pandemic adds another layer: “Statistically, female candidates are more loyal to their jobs, and when you add the current situation, transitioning jobs isn’t at the top of most peoples’ list,” Courtney explains.

But even with the deck stacked against them, Sai and Courtney have hired four out of thirteen women to join the team.

They credit their success to putting in the daily work: “We’ve been working on this day in and day out since the day Courtney joined Chime,” Sai says. “We spend a lot of time and make a conscious effort because it’s important that we hire a diverse and highly capable team for the organization to succeed.”

So they talk every day, even if they don’t have hiring updates, because maintaining a connection between the two is crucial to keeping honest lines of communication open and continuously iterating on their process.

“Hiring diverse candidates is a process,” Courtney explains. “It takes time, dedication, and a deep partnership with your internal teams.” Sai adds, “We’re lucky to have each other to foster an inclusive culture internally and then find the best folks to join us.”

Want to join Courtney or Sai’s team? Check out our open positions on our careers page.