BookBub

GREAT READS FOR GREAT PRICES PRICES📚

Our platform and tools help authors and publishers reach the right digital audiences, and help readers navigate finding accessible reads at the right price and with the right content through our suite of handpicked and algorithmic recommendations. We build exciting web and mobile products for our two distinct brands, BookBub (bookbub.com), which focuses on ebook discovery, and Chirp (chirpbooks.com), our audiobooks retailing platform.

Some of the features include providing unbeatable deals on both ebooks and audiobooks, offering handpicked recommendations, updates from readers’ favorite authors, and more book discovery features. Our team also supports authors and publishers in using data-driven best practices to develop a personalized and direct marketing approach. We offer a suite of marketing tools to help the publishing industry connect with our millions of engaged readers hungry for their next great book.

VALUES THAT HOLD OUR COMMUNITY TOGETHER💫

We aim to create a culture where employees feel good about their work, and their life outside of it. When thinking about our culture and our business, we have four core elements that shape our thinking:

Diversity, inclusion, and belonging: We’ll delve more into this subset of values below, but essentially, we believe that strong companies need employees with a range of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences in order to truly grow and flourish. This means making a commitment to keep building and improving our environment, so that it’s an inclusive environment where all people feel safe and comfortable showing up. Our work here is often informed by employee input, which is gathered through a large annual survey, along with smaller surveys and listening sessions. Once our priorities for upcoming work are laid out, specialized project teams start digging in. Overall, diversity, inclusion, and belonging are woven into our day-to-day work, and into how we approach our business decisions as well. Part of our commitment is accepting that this work is never done, and ensuring that this is an ongoing, iterative process that we keep driving forward.

Transparency & communication: Keeping open and honest streams of communication is a big part of how we approach work. This means that annual and quarterly goals need to be widely shared, which we do through weekly company-wide meetings and quarterly kickoffs. During these meetings we dig into key metrics and milestones, input from readers and partners, and product plans and strategy. There’s also always dedicated time to ask questions or share thoughts during meetings, as well as dedicated written communication channels for feedback and open encouragement for one-on-one questions or idea-sharing.

Long-term focus: We’re driven — but we believe that achieving our vision is a marathon, not a sprint! Our goals, plans, and projects are designed with long-term impact in mind, so that everything ties back into our top-level mission of book discovery. We want to take the time to make thoughtful, intentional choices, and to dig into data instead of always prioritizing rapid growth. Our teams work to strike a balance between being agile and project-focused, and taking our time to make informed choices. When we pace ourselves and take the time we need to meet goals, we’re also able to set a healthy balance so that work doesn’t come at the expense of our well-being.

Collaborative decision-making: Our teams always strive to work collaboratively and cross-functionally. Developing products, mapping strategy, and designing plans are all shaped by teams put together across disciplines, to get as many perspectives and skill sets possible involved in the process. We want to make sure that each team has the opportunity to work on projects and goals, and shape the choices we make that keep our work moving forward.

THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY AT BOOKBUB🌍

Diversity means having a group of people together who’re working towards the same goals, and are bringing with them a range of ideas and perspectives. Diversity comes from having a team where people belong to different communities, often shaped by identities such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic status, nationality, and more, along with their unique lived experiences.

Diversifying our organization is definitely a constant, ongoing process that shapes a lot of our work. From broadening where we source candidates from (and redefining what our prerequisites for roles are), to thinking about how we can influence the industries we work in, to ensuring that we offer meaningful opportunities to people across all identities, and ensuring representation across substantial, leadership roles, diversity plays a role in all aspects of our employees’ experiences at the company. Both the tech and publishing industries have a long way to go in terms of diversifying organizations, and we keep that in mind during our everyday work. In 2020 we launched our Anti-Racism Merchandising Initiative, which includes working groups focused on effecting specific change within our business and the publishing industry as a whole. This includes making sure that we’re not only promoting books by authors of color at equal rates as compared to white authors, but also that we’re actively working with our partners to see more books by POC authors submitted to us. You can also learn more about our Anti-Racism Merchandising Initiative here.

We also want to seek change beyond our organization by partnering with organizations such as We Need Diverse Books (WNDB), which aims to increase representation and diversity in children’s literature. This past year, we’ve sponsored awards with WNDB for authors who work to feature a more diverse range of main characters, and we’ve provided programming for their internship cohort of individuals looking to join the book industry.

OUR EQUITABLE PRACTICES⚖️

We believe that equity lays the foundation for diversity: diversifying our organization and the industries we work in can’t happen unless there is equitable access to opportunities, not only for people to get their foot in the door at organizations, but also to grow and develop within those organizations. Inside our company, this means making sure that everyone has access to hands-on support from managers and mentors to explore opportunities that feel right to them, both for their present roles and, also for their long-term careers beyond that. Specifically in the tech community, we’ve also partnered with community organizations such as Hack.Diversity, which supports people looking to jumpstart tech careers from non-traditional backgrounds.

ENSURING INCLUSIVITY AMONGST ALL GROUPS OF PEOPLE👋🏿

Building a more diverse organization and creating equitable access to opportunities are crucial first steps, but the most meaningful change comes when employees of all identities actually feel included. Inclusion to us means ensuring that everyone feels like they belong in our organization—and in every meeting, at every project, and every social event—and can meaningfully and authentically participate. We try our best to create culture and norms where each person is comfortable sharing ideas openly, learning from one another, and holding one another accountable. We believe that’s what makes a healthy and happy company culture, and that can’t truly happen unless everyone feels like they can speak up, push back, and ask questions.

Working to create a safe space for everyone runs the gamut from fundamental institutional structures, such as being an Equal Opportunity Employer, to setting the standard that our team members treat each other with exceptional thoughtfulness, kindness, and respect, who will be expected to grow and learn from one another. Our team members all start by going through foundational training such as an unconscious bias workshop, and our expectation is never that one session will be enough. Instead, through consistent diversity & inclusion programming, such as panels with authors of color and candid conversations about race and equity, we work to build a culture where people can keep pushing themselves to broaden their thinking, and learn how to best support others in our community.

HOW LEADERSHIP SUPPORTS EMPLOYEES🤝

Building a safe space also means always keeping in mind that our employees are people first. Beyond just creating a safe environment in our immediate space, creating a true sense of safety means trusting people to manage their time, and giving people the flexibility and support needed to navigate whatever life has thrown at them. Whether that means changing a work schedule, or leaning on teammates for some extra support, or whatever else might be needed, our leadership works to make sure people can feel safe asking for help, and know that we’ll do our best to meet them where they’re at in the moment.

We always want to make sure that employees can lean on their managers, team members, and mentors for support, and we work to create open streams of communication for sharing feedback, developing goals, and exploring new opportunities. All employees have regular check-ins with their managers to discuss current work, interests, and ideas. Everyone also has annual reviews, which is a more formal opportunity to engage with your manager from a long-term perspective about key career topics like performance, career development, and compensation.

For our team, being a part of the changes that the tech industry needs to see means holding ourselves accountable—to making an everyday commitment to support both our current and incoming team members, and actively seeking to welcome new people from identities that aren’t necessarily well-represented here already. To help us achieve this, besides setting our own internal goals, we’re committed to being an active contributor and learner among the community of tech companies that are striving to do this, too, and to listening to the community organizations that are helping champion this progress.

INTERVIEW PROCESS🗓

We know that by joining our interview process, you’re trusting us with your time and energy — so we always do our best to create a smooth and enjoyable experience for our candidates. A typical interview process with our team includes an introductory phone or video call, a round of face to face technical interviews and a take-home exercise, and a round of less-technical conversations with some future team members. The round of technical interviews will give you the opportunity to demonstrate your skills in the coding language and environment in which you’re most comfortable, and we’ll always check in with you to make sure that we provide accommodations to help you interview at your best. The less-technical conversations will be an opportunity for you to get to know our company and culture even more, and to help us get a sense for what types of work you’re most interested in.

We always aim to be mindful of your personal time commitments, deadlines, and availability, and work to be as flexible as possible. Our team will also work to get you updates promptly, and keep you informed about our process.

BENEFITS💰

Our team offers flexible working hours, a flexible remote work policy, and take-what-you need paid time off. Every person on our tech team has the option to take a “heads down,” meeting-free day each week, so they can focus their full attention on solving deep technical problems. We want to empower everyone to manage their own schedules and time, because each person knows how they work best.

We also offer a range of customized health, dental, and vision insurance plans across several carriers that can be matched to employee needs. A monthly benefits supplement is also included so that coverage is provided at a significantly reduced cost.

We also have a slate of life planning benefits, to support our employees for whatever their futures hold. This includes 12 weeks of paid parental leave, family medical leave, life insurance, employee assistance program, short- and long-term disability insurance, and legal assistance. All employees also receive competitive pay, stock options, and 401k and flexible spending account (FSA) options.

Our team’s private office space is located within the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC), a coworking space that all team members (regardless of whether or not they’re predominantly remote) have access to. This membership comes with a bundle of perks such as gym membership and restaurant discounts!

A link to our careers site [here](careers site "careers page") 🎉