Meet our Madrid Engineering Team

In today’s post, Juan Ramirez, Rodrigo Fernandez, and Vanessa Parga sound off on Taxfix Madrid. Established in 2019, the Madrid office is now a growing branch of tech talent for us. Learn more about our Madrid-based engineering team, how they’re driving value for our customers, and Taxfix culture.

What brought you to Taxfix?

Vanessa, software engineer — “I’ve been with Taxfix for nine-months. I’m originally from Venezuela where I studied computer science. In 2014 I moved to Spain to work for another company. Four years later I started to consider a change and came across Taxfix. I loved the product, I thought it was so innovative how they made the tax system easier for everyone. And overall the environment looked fresh and the technology was very fitting to what I was looking for.”

Juan, engineering manager — “I’m originally from Venezuela as well. I’ve actually been working with Taxfix since 2018. I had a small development company and Taxfix was my client.

“I first met Alex De Leon (Taxfix CTO) in 2015. We were both at the Madrid campus of Google for Startups with our own projects. We met there and shared an office for about a year and then we each went our own way. Then in December 2018, Alex contacted me about an opportunity to start an office in Madrid with his new employer, Taxfix. So everything just came together.”

Rodrigo, tech lead — “I was born and raised in Madrid. Before Taxfix I worked in consulting and then I had my own startup based here in Madrid. That’s how I met Alex as well, we were in the same batch in an accelerator program. The main reason for me to accept was Alex. He’s one of these people that you just say, ‘I have to work with this person at some point in my life.’ I’ve been with Taxfix for a little over a year now.”

What convinced you to join a German startup in Madrid?

Vanessa — “This is my first experience with a startup. I was really bound to the idea of a traditional corporate business but I was also really running from it because of all the bureaucracy. I was struggling to accomplish things that actually shouldn’t take that much time.

“It’s true that in Spain there are a lot of misconceptions about startups. People relate it with a crazy amount of work and no balance between personal and professional life, and I think it’s totally the opposite in Taxfix. Everything is very flexible and you don’t have to make that decision about spending your time personally or professionally. In the recruitment process, I got the feeling that they weren’t just asking about what I knew or my experience but also where did I want to go? That was the thing that I felt was different from all the other companies.”

Rodrigo — “My startup didn’t blow up like Taxfix did. So it was a way for me to continue that journey with another company, to experience this hyper-growth stage that I didn’t have in my previous startup. I also liked the product. It’s this unsexy idea of taxes, but I love the idea of being an anti-tax, tax software. They were thinking differently, which I liked.”

What makes working at Taxfix stand out?

Juan — “It’s very diverse. We’ve managed to create a team of very different people that work well together. There are many different personalities but at their core, everyone is helpful and respectful. Our Madrid team has people from Asia, South America, North America, and Europe.”

Rodrigo — “We have way more independence and autonomy than most. We can make our own decisions for most things. It comes down to trust. If you’re an expert in what you’re doing then you’re the best person to make that decision. It speaks volumes to the leadership team.

Also resources — you can have almost anything that makes you more productive. If you need a license, you can ask for it. If you need a course, you can ask for it. If you feel uncomfortable in your chair, they send you a nice lumbar support cushion. They are willing to spend on good tools and ergonomic furniture.”

Vanessa — “It’s fun, friendly, and easygoing. Not only on the personal level but on the professional level as well. We always have challenges and we always dedicate time to talk about the possible solutions. We have whiteboard sessions, we brainstorm together. It’s proactive. The company also truly cares about you. That’s something I haven’t experienced before. Especially in this hard time of coronavirus, it’s incredible. I see from my friends that a lot of their companies don’t care. And at Taxfix they’re asking ‘how are you feeling working from home? Do you need anything?’ They even sent us food for our end-of-the quarter celebration. It was crazy.”

How is the current Madrid team set up?

Juan — “We currently house two business-critical teams; Operations Product and Germany Mission 3. Operations Product focuses on creating tools that optimize costs linked to customer success and tax operations on a large scale through multiple countries. And Germany Mission 3 has the interesting task of experimenting with new features to improve the average revenue per user on the German market. Across the organization we work in cross-functional teams, so we have software engineers, product managers, and designers all working in Madrid. We’re currently creating new teams and looking for great colleagues to join us.”

Rodrigo — “We also have engineering communities within the organization that give us a chance to work cross-functionally. For example, if you love working on the web app then you can be in the web app community. Everyone can dedicate 20% of their time to working in a community that interests them.”

Can you tell us about the feedback culture at Taxfix?

Vanessa — “I think I’ve learned a lot about communication within my time at Taxfix. It’s not only the good stuff that you communicate but mainly the not-so-good stuff so that you can identify possible problems and find solutions.”

Rodrigo — “It’s so open and so ok to screw up every now and then. For example, a few weeks back I accidentally removed some services from the staging environment. If we had a different culture, people would have started blaming one another. But in this case, everyone came together to help. We just focus on making and delivering, not blaming.”

Juan — “You can see everyone challenges everyone. You’re encouraged to challenge things. We want to have open and safe communication. It’s not perfect but we keep working on that.”

How does your team impact the customer?

Juan — “We’re creating a product that’s accessible to everyone. It’s our mission to build a digital tax advisor for everyone. And it is actually for everyone. Anyone can use it in the countries where we’ve launched.”

Vanessa — “I think it’s really important, the effect we have on the final user. It really improves the lives of the people using it. It’s very cool to be part of that process and making it better and better for everyone.”

Rodrigo — “It’s real. People are getting back money and time. And those are two of the most important things people have.”

With our recent funding news, are there any plans to grow the Madrid team?

Juan — “We never really stop hiring. We have several engineering and QA roles open at the moment. We’ve hired a lot in the past few months — we’re a total of 17 now — and we’re planning for the future.”

What advice would you give to someone that wants to join the Madrid team?

Vanessa — “Have fun in the interviews, ask questions, and challenge. Don’t freak out!”

Juan — “Be curious and be honest.”

Rodrigo — “It’s not a one-way street. We want to learn about you, but the interview is also a good opportunity to learn about us and how we do things. Just by going through the process, you’re going to learn something.”

Interested in joining the Madrid Engineering Team? Check out our open roles.