Raised with a sense of purpose, her core values are at work every day.
Meet a Veevan is a series that looks at the employees who bring us life. For this edition we spoke to Rachel Leeman-Munk, a senior software engineer working on the Vault product suite. Rachel’s family imbued her with a sense of purpose and through her work at Veeva she achieves this on many levels. This includes delivering stellar results with her team that impact Veeva’s products, helping those around her reach a higher level of personal success, and focusing on the importance of community inside and outside of the office.
What is your personal and professional background and how did you get to Veeva?
Rachel: Most of my early life and high school was spent in North Carolina. I was raised in the Quaker faith to embrace a sense of purpose and help others. My parents were wonderful role models for this and much more: my mother was a public health researcher and my father an educational researcher who started his career as a math teacher. Both of them help apply important research in the real world to improve people’s lives. Earlier in my life my father was also a stay-at-home dad so my mother could pursue her career.
In high school, I was really interested in psychology and went to Earlham College in Indiana convinced that would be my focus. But I loved math so I gradually switched and focused on applied math which led me to study computer science. I eventually decided to follow my instincts and love of web development and enter engineering, a traditionally male-dominated field. I’m glad I did for so many reasons, among them being able to support other women entering the field. My intro level classes were half women, but by the time I reached the end of my graduate work, I was only one of a few women. I’ve always been conscious of this and try to close the gap, whether it’s through my work at the Shodor Foundation teaching computational science to middle and high schoolers or the mentoring I do today for women engineers.
Staying close to my roots, I always wanted to be sure that whatever I did directly or indirectly helped people. I was greatly influenced by my gap year working in the Episcopal Service Corp. During that year I worked with an organization that focused on helping people with barriers to employment due to their criminal records, substance abuse history and other challenging circumstances. The experience left a mark and motivated me to work even harder to succeed so I could help others do so. I recognize the importance of financial support for these groups and am grateful that I can use my 2% from Veeva to expand my giving capacity.
After graduate school at Brandeis, I was happy to enter the working world and found Veeva through research. My significant other was working in San Francisco, so I was interested in moving west. I didn’t actually know what to expect and didn’t know anyone in the area, but from the start at Veeva, there were always people with whom I could chat and ask questions. My code buddy, Stephen Wan, was particularly supportive — whenever I asked a question he always gave me a reassuring smile and help. I’ve now been at Veeva eight years. My specialty was initially the front end but now I work with the full stack using the Veeva platform and focusing on data.
What’s unique about the work environment and culture at Veeva?
Rachel: It’s never boring at Veeva. Often, when enterprise software companies get big, they become too slow — having to go through too many channels to get the job done or giving you work that doesn’t mean anything. That never happens here. Every piece of code is used and I have a lot of proof that customers use what I do. Something in the Veeva work cycles result in us always doing something new — and we work fast. There’s never a chance to get sluggish or feel that your job isn’t worth anything. I always feel that the work I am doing matters and I matter.
I love my team and always have good interactions. Since my first day eight years ago, I have found that everyone is friendly, nice, smart and extremely invested in their jobs. No one shows up just to do their job and go home. We have passionate arguments about design and where products should go and want to make the software as good as possible. Everything at Veeva is moving and we are moving with it.
One good memory from early in my time at Veeva was being nominated for a special award by a product manager I didn’t even know. It was for a feature I developed for the Vault product that gave users a chance to perform a task inside a dialogue without having to navigate to a new page. This type of peer support is part of the culture.
In terms of leadership, there is minimal structured hierarchy. You can often find the CEO moving around the cafeteria to sit with different groups and the GM and SVP’s have open office hours. You will always be heard when you have to work through a challenge or discuss a new opportunity. They are present and they care.
How will Veeva help you grow?
Rachel: I am an avid learner and a hobbyist — interested in everything. Outside of work, I enjoy singing in a choir, reading, cooking, playing board games, sewing, hiking and making quilts. I also provide life coaching through outside tech meetup groups. Veeva’s Work Anywhere program has virtually given me 1.5 hours more a day to experience personal growth through these activities and the work-life balance means a lot to me.
Professionally, I have plenty of room to grow and really appreciate the Open Transfer policy which makes it easy to switch teams or areas. Trying something new is as simple as setting up a conversation. Veeva values the person not the role. I often joke that I am still trying to figure out a five-year plan after eight years of working at Veeva and I openly share that with people I mentor. But I have already researched new areas, such as product management, and I know if I want to go in that direction that it’s possible.
I really enjoy the people part of my job which is unusual for a typical engineer. I particularly appreciate the chance to work on cross team projects where I can use these skills to help make things go more smoothly. People often come to me for assistance with issues and I actually like being interrupted to help! It took me a while to embrace this aspect of my professional persona, but now I see it as a superpower and want to share this side of the job with co-workers as a mentor.
What topics of discussion in the software engineering field are important to you?
Rachel: One of the topics about which I am passionate is helping other women engineers recognize their unique value, find ways to fit in and build confidence. One of the key issues I often see is how to handle ambiguity when you don’t have all the information you need. How you respond is a learned behavior from early in your life. I enjoy helping people develop new mental pathways to handle these types of challenges and I think these skills are critical to engineers and engineering managers.
What would you say to someone who was thinking of working here?
Rachel: Veeva has an incredible culture. I have made so many friends working here and I really love my team. If you join and like it here, you’ll have the opportunity to transition into different roles over time. You’ll never be stuck on a team or in a role. Veeva supports its employees’ growth, regardless of whether that role switch is the best thing for the company at that time. The friendship is real!
