We invite you on a quest
“The hero’s journey always begins with the call. One way or another, a guide must come to say, ‘Look, you’re in Sleepy Land. Wake. Come on a trip. There is a whole aspect of your consciousness, your being, that’s not been touched. So you’re at home here? Well, there’s not enough of you there.’ And so it starts.”
Joseph Campbell, The Hero’s Journey
WHAT
WE VALUE
We value a bias to action. Execution reveals blindspots and allows one to course correct.
We conduct ourselves with a sense of urgency. We have a bias to action.
We take pride in delivering work product at a quality and velocity that inspires.
Mentor and support one another. Celebrate the victories along the way.
Listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.
Disagree and Commit - Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable. Once a decision is determined, we commit wholly.
A written culture forces us to put our thinking, processes, and decision-making down in writing.
It de-emphasizes meetings that clutter the calendar and encourages team members towards better thoughts and better understanding of what’s important and how goals are related.
We look for servant leaders with an ownership and growth mindset. Growth over comfort. Journey over destination.
We believe the fundamental unlock on growth is the ability to attract and develop leadership at all levels.
Everyone leads. We lead ourselves, lead others, and lead always.
Orientation
We value execution over the perfect strategy. Execution reveals blindspots and allows one to course correct.
We conduct ourselves with a sense of urgency. We have a bias to action.
We take pride in delivering work product at a quality and velocity that inspires.
Humility opens the mind to continuous learning and growth.
We consciously guard against self-deception by subjecting reasoning to scrutiny.
We own our mistakes and shortcomings. Ownership leads to better accountability, decision making, and integrity of thought.
Mentor and support one another. Celebrate the victories along the way.
Listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully.
Disagree and Commit - Leaders are obligated to respectfully challenge decisions when they disagree, even when doing so is uncomfortable. Once a decision is determined, we commit wholly.
Servant leaders create more than they consume and always leave things better than how they found them. A servant-leader focuses on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong.
The servant-leader puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.
A written culture forces us to put our thinking, processes, and decision-making down in writing.
It de-emphasizes meetings that clutter the calendar and encourages team members towards better thoughts and better understanding of what’s important and how goals are related.
Open Positions
Interview
Process
The desire to change companies can come from different places; regardless of where it comes from, making a switch is an overwhelming process.
We think that making this process transparent will help you focus on yourself and deliver your best performance.
The interview process is about getting to know each other. You’ll learn about Lumida and we’ll learn about your background, your motivations and interests, and how you solve problems.
Chats
1 or 2 preliminary phone calls or virtual chats, generally with a recruiter and/or the hiring manager, to assess your fit and expectations for the role. These calls are designed to exchange preliminary information on you and the role.
Interviews
Structured interviews with people from different teams. Interviewers will ask you open-ended questions to know how you think and what motivates you. We use guidelines to ensure fair assessment of candidates and appreciate their distinctiveness.
Challenge
We ask you to solve a problem you would encounter in your job. This could range from writing code to solving a case study and, depending on the role you are interviewing for, it could be performed on your own time or during the interview.
Frequently Asked Questions
We seek high potential individuals that have a burning desire to make an impact.
We believe unlocking potential is achieved thru skills acquisition, applied experience, and coaching.
We surround ourselves with people that we can learn from and inspire us to take up our game.
We look for critical thinking skills, rapid learners, excellent communicators, an ownership mindset, and a standard of excellence.
Excellence | Bringing out the best in yourself and others
- Performance that inspire others
- Pride in your work product and accomplishment
- Passion for personal growth and making an impact
Critical Thinking | Clarity of thought & action
- First principles based decision making
- Articulation of key distinctions and core decision making criteria
- Synthesis of ambiguous or conflicting information
Communication | Simple, concise, and precise
- Listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully
- Frames the headlines and summarizes trade-offs in a situation concisely
- Passes information up and down to ensure we’re all synced
Extreme Ownership
- Acts on behalf of the entire company, not just their own team
- Takes extreme ownership for everything that impacts the mission
- Holds oneself and others accountable
High standards | In how we work and whom we hire
- Thoughtful written communication
- Goes the extra mile to package, finish, and polish
- Discerning eye for talent and high-quality work product
Passion
- Ability to learn rapidly thru self-study and coaching
- Competitive drive & urgency
- Tenacity and perseverance
Today, we have offices in NYC, Boston, and Miami. We also have remote colleagues and are open to flexible arrangements.
We believe that building complex products from scratch, serving high-stakes customers, mentoring new talent and establishing a culture is best in an in-office environment. Simply put, we can move faster working together.
We find a lot of value in the the “in between” moments. Those are moments for collaboration, learning or just vibing.
That said, we recognize that for certain roles and more seasoned professionals, the work can be done just about anywhere.
We plan on having regular quarterly off-sites to bring teams together.
We are a big fan of off-sites. We run these quarterly. Our CEO provides a ‘state of the business’ and does an ‘ask me anything Q&A’. We establish OKRs and make sure to celebrate and team building activities.
Team building thru sports and games include mountain biking, white water rafting, playing Mafia, karaoke or running mini off-sites next to major industry conferences.
We also have regular ‘lunch & learns’ (including via Zoom) which are informal ways for folks to get to know one another. Sometimes this might be around a Friday afternoon organized around an online group game, or a short ‘guess and learn’ personality test, or a fun icebreaker.
We use a mix of synchronous and asynchronous execution to find the best organizational flow.
Synchronous Execution
Each Monday we have an ‘All Hands’ sync. Generally the CEO kicks it off to provide an overall view of key priorities. Team leads do a round-robin focused on wins & misses, goals for the week, identifying blockers or areas where help is needed.
Team leads have a daily “stand-up” run in a similar round-robin format. The back half of the stand-up are focused on reviewing deliverables. We use a written work culture so the emphasis is on google docs rather than PowerPoints to capture key ideas. We also have a high velocity culture and a ‘bias to action’ - so we don’t wait for a meeting to seek clarity or get stuff done.
Everyone should expect to have a regular 1:1 with their manager. Culturally, we do keep the feel of the environment flat. We recognize we are all learning from and leading each other. Although there are reporting relationships, the execution feels more like a sports team where everyone is leading, playing a key role, and contributing to business objectives in a unified way.
Asynchronous Execution
We use a mix of tools including Slack, Coda, Google Suite and others to execute asynchronously. We pick up the phone, chat at the water cooler, or get informal lunches.
Joseph Campbell
- The Hero’s Journey (Wikipedia)
- The Hero’s Journey Explained
Extreme Ownership. A 10-minute video summary
Management Philosophy
- Ben Horowitz, The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- Frank Slootman, Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency and Elevating Intensity
- Andy Grove, High Output Management
Leadership
- Doug Conant, Youtube: How to Lead With Integrity
- Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Youtube: Leadership is a Choice
- Jamie Dimon, Youtube: View from The Top GSB Interview
Culture
- Patty McCord, Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom & Responsibility
- Jocko Willink, Extreme Ownership: How US Navy Seals Lead & Win
Personal Effectiveness
- James Clear, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
- Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
- Kim Scott, Radical Candor
- Dandapani, Youtube: Unwavering Focus
- Chris Voss, Never Split the Difference: Negotiate Like Your Life Depends on It