Check in with Head of Engineering, Seller, Heather Natour: One year after joining Opendoor
Heather Natour, Head of Engineering for Seller & B2B, joined our team just over a year ago — and what a year it’s been! From navigating one of the most competitive housing markets in history, to meeting consumer demand for more digital experiences, it’s been a busy year for Heather and her team. We caught up with her to hear about what she’s learned over the past year, some of the biggest challenges she faced, and what she’s looking forward to accomplishing in 2022.
It’s been one year since you joined the Opendoor team. What have you learned in that time?
What first attracted me to Opendoor was the opportunity to make a transformative impact on the home selling and buying experience. A year into joining the company, I’ve learned that the opportunity to revolutionize the real estate industry is real. The traditional experience is broken, and we’re making it simple, faster and more convenient for the millions of people who buy and sell homes every year. I’ve come to appreciate how complex of an engineering challenge that is — it takes a lot of work to think about the data differently, and create a better experience for consumers.
I’ve also learned a ton from my colleagues about managing hypergrowth in a sustainable way. In the last year, we more than doubled our footprint to 44 markets, we reached our 100,000th customer transaction, and we onboarded over 1,000 teammates. At the same time, we’ve continued to introduce new and innovative products and services for our customers. Managing this level of growth is most sustainable when all functions, from operations to marketing to engineering, grow at a similar rate. Within our engineering org, the same applies. For instance, we have very high-performing product teams but if there isn’t enough infrastructure support, challenges may arise. That’s why it’s crucial to be aligned across teams on the support needed so we can ensure there are enough resources to do so.
And third, I’ve learned that Opendoor teammates are truly as kind as they seemed in interviews. During the onboarding process, everyone was patient and generous with their time. The real estate industry is extremely complex, with many acronyms, metrics, and a broad set of things to know, and people go the extra effort to help you learn and get up-to-speed quickly. And that continues even now that I’m onboarded — people across the company are incredibly supportive. I hear from candidates during the interview process that they’re skeptical if people are as genuinely helpful and kind as they seem. But I can attest that it really is our culture.
This year was one of the most competitive seller’s markets in history. What was the biggest challenge(s) you’ve had to overcome? And why?
One of Opendoor’s biggest value propositions is convenience. When we buy a customer’s home, we manage everything from repairs to listing the home for sale. And the seller skips all the headaches and hassles of getting the home ready to sell, putting it on the market, and dealing with open houses. But in a competitive housing market, there can be a fear of missing out on a bidding war. One of our big initiatives this year was providing more insights into a homeowner’s equity to empower them with more choice and information about the value of their home. We also have deepened integrations with platforms like Realtor.com and NewHomeSource.com, meeting people where they’re at in their buying and selling journey and providing them with the option to get an Opendoor offer.
We also know that two-thirds of Opendoor sellers are also buyers, and there’s even more desire for the convenience of a well-timed move. Rather than having to manage double moves or even double mortgages, sellers who are buying their next home can time their home sale and the purchase of their next home. With our newest product, Opendoor Complete, we smooth over all the details and make the entire process convenient and seamless for the customer.
If you could give your past self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Aside from getting more exercise, my advice would be to pace yourself. I know it’s a marathon and not a sprint, but sometimes I get caught up in the excitement of the sprint. Also, find your love/loathe balance. When you’re spending more time on what you love, you’ll be happier, regardless of how much time you’re spending on it.
What project(s) were you most proud of this year and why?
We’ve done a lot of amazing things this year, from developing a new preliminary offer experience that provides home sellers with an initial offer in minutes, to introducing self-guided home assessments that can be completed in about 10 minutes, to integrating our offers into partner platforms like Realtor.com. We’ve completely redesigned how you can navigate the selling experience seamlessly with buying your next home and understanding your future buying power. All were incredible team efforts. But as an engineering leader, I’m most proud of the team’s ability to deliver all of that while also improving the foundational systems upon which these great products are built. Continuously improving our foundations to be more reliable, scalable, and flexible ensures we are better positioned to deliver on all the amazing things yet to come.
As you look ahead to 2022, what are you hoping to accomplish in the next year and beyond?
I’m extremely energized to see us do even more to meet the customers where they are in their moving journey, and to remove as much of the anxiety and burden from them that the traditional process demands. That includes consolidating selling and buying steps into one easy-to-use platform, and ensuring that we provide the most relevant products and services to each customer in any situation. And, it includes continuing to reimagine how we use technology to simplify the process of selling and buying, rather than automating the current process.
Interested in joining the team? We’re hiring engineers! Check out our careers page for open positions.
