Open Book: Monika and Vineetha, 2 Senior Leaders, Reflect on 10 years of Learning

Open Book is a series of interviews for you to get to know the incredible people of Opendoor. Meet Monika and Vineetha, two India-based tech leaders with decades of experience innovating and empowering team members to grow.

Hi Monika and Vineetha! We’re excited to talk to you about your careers in tech. Can you share a bit about your background before joining Opendoor?

Monika: I’m an engineer at heart and by profession. I’ve spent my career working at established tech companies — from building health care products to creating platforms for finance — and have worked on many different domains. The common thread is using technology to solve problems. The first product I ever worked on was for property management, so joining Opendoor and working on a real estate domain feels like coming full circle.

Vineetha: It’s important to me to go outside my comfort zone. That’s why, after 11 years at a large tech company where I focused on engineering, delivery management and program management, I moved to the startup world. I wanted to see what the hype was about! I joined an Android device management product firm and led product management for two years. I always want to continue learning — going beyond the daily rhythm and cadence and being exposed to new things I don’t understand yet.

How did you know Opendoor was the next step for your career?

Monika: I’m passionate about building high-performing organizations. I’ve developed teams throughout my career, and I was excited by the opportunity to bring my experience to Opendoor. I was the first hire for the Consumer and Growth team in India, and I’ve focused on hiring people who are not only technically strong, but customer-focused. Being a quick learner is important too — both when it comes to understanding technical domains and learning the nuances of the U.S. real estate market.

Vineetha: When I interviewed with Opendoor, I had the opportunity to talk with Raji Subramanian, Opendoor’s CTO. Raji communicates her vision with clarity, whether she’s speaking at a high level or a more granular level. I’m extremely passionate about diversity and women in tech and thought, “Wow, it would be a privilege to work with her.” Everyone I spoke with at Opendoor made it clear they care deeply about Opendoor’s mission; that’s not the case at every company.

We’re so glad you both joined our team. Can you tell us more about what you’re building?

Monika: As a senior engineering manager, I lead the Consumer Tooling team in India. Right now, we’re focused on developing tools for agents who help customers List with Opendoor — where sellers get the certainty of a cash offer while listing their home on the market. Agents can use our tool to look at listings, change their status and manage the lifecycle of the listing. It’s exciting to help optimize this tool by adding new features.

Our challenge as a team is understanding what’s most useful and valuable for agents in the market. As our teammates onboard to the seller domain, we’re learning more about how to support and own the consumer experience in India.

Vineetha: I’m a product manager on the Tooling Platform team, which is part of the transaction and operations team at Opendoor. Our focus is building generic platform components that can be reused for Opendoor tooling, helping drive business operations. Our goal is to build smaller products that directly cater to teams with distinct sets of responsibilities, so they have everything they need in one place and can access information more quickly.

Last summer, we identified an opportunity to help improve efficiency and productivity in teams’ day-to-day work. Though it wasn’t part of our original roadmap, my team picked it up and ran with it. We built two slightly different versions of similar capabilities for two teams — the Experience Partner group and the Transaction Management group — while still maintaining the business nuances that were critical for each product.

That’s incredible. Looking back at the last decade of your career, what was an important lesson you learned?

Monika: Put the customer first when developing a solution — or even just thinking about technology! At the end of the day, we’re building products to help people. Keeping the customer at the center of everything creates a clear vision for the team, which is important for bringing people together and building trust with stakeholders.

Vineetha: It’s important to go outside your comfort zone. I wish I started doing it earlier in my career! Try picking up a new project, learning something new, or collaborating with a different set of teammates. It’s easy to get used to your routine, but ask yourself: is there something I could do differently? Is there anything I don’t know, but want to know? Checking in with yourself regularly will ensure you’re ready to grasp a new opportunity when it comes up.

Where do you believe engineers should focus their time and energy in the first 10 years of their careers?

Monika: Technology is an ever-changing field. Engineers need to continuously learn, be open to feedback and improve their skill set. If you spend the first 10 years learning — customers, industries, technologies — it becomes easy to work across different domains and business areas.

“Take more risks, but make them calculated. Embrace your ability to listen and absorb information like a sponge.”

— Vineetha

As women in tech, have you observed any significant changes in the industry in the last decade?

Monika: When I started working in the tech industry 19 years ago — especially when I started leading teams — there were many times I was the only woman in manager meetings. Today, I see many women leaders stepping into these roles. Opendoor is a great example of this. There are so many aspirational leaders, from our CEO Carrie Wheeler to our CTO Raji.

Vineetha: In addition to seeing more technical leadership roles being filled by women, I love to observe more gender diversity at every level. I’ve also noticed gender bias seems to be decreasing in tech as well, which is a positive shift.

What advice would you give female engineers hoping to chart a career path like yours?

“Don’t be afraid to seize opportunity. It’s normal to experience self-doubt, and up-skilling yourself is a great way to combat it.”

— Monika

Monika: When I moved from an individual contributor role to a manager, I wondered if I could handle it — from finding work-life balance to receiving support from my team. But I knew I was passionate about mentoring, coaching and empowering team members to grow their careers. I completed trainings, read learning materials and explored the different career paths in front of me. With that information, I knew what I needed to focus on and went for it.

Vineetha: Mentoring is still underrated; it needs to be a priority. Find a mentor — whether they are a manager or someone outside your organization — who complements your skills and will help you learn beyond your day-to-day tasks. Look for someone who is mid- or senior-level and can offer a different perspective when problem-solving.

Also, don’t give up. Try out all the possible solutions and knock on all the doors.

What’s your favorite part of being at Opendoor so far?

Monika: The culture and operating principles — they’re not just for show. We live them in our day-to-day work. Our principle, “one team, one dream” brings our team together through a shared mission and vision: innovating helpful products for customers.

Vineetha: I learn from every single person I’ve met at Opendoor — from more tenured to new teammates. Together, we adapt and do our best work, always finding new ways to deliver.

Thanks so much for a great conversation! What are you looking forward to ahead?

Monika: I’m excited to continue building the team here in India — developing innovative solutions and features that help Opendoor transform the real estate market. I’ve also led women in tech forums in the past, and I look forward to giving back to our community at Opendoor.

Vineetha: I’m looking forward to building connections with customers and using empathy to build the best possible experience for people who use Opendoor. We’re always thinking about how to deliver the most impactful solution across teams, which requires a different level of strategy. That’s what makes us different and helps us drive impact.

Interested in joining our team? Opendoor is hiring! Check out our current open positions!

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