Crew Q&A: Kelly Veira, Members Data Officer

What attracted you to Finder? How did you end up here?

I started at Finder almost 10 years ago. Back then our office space was tiny and we didn’t even have a jingle yet (it was quieter then too, funny that). I actually started in PR and publishing – since our team was small, if you wanted content to promote you had to write it yourself most of the time. I was a fresh grad, right out of uni and not really sure what exactly I wanted to do, which was kind of perfect for Finder since I was asked to do a little bit of everything. It’s been a huge opportunity for growth for me. I went in with a writing and cultural studies degree and came out of it (so far at least) with a role in data and working primarily with analysts and engineers! Finder has supported me whenever I showed an interest in a particular area of work and has helped me develop into someone with a pretty unique skill set.?

How would you describe what you do at Finder?

This one is a tough question to answer. I’ve been here so long and had so many hats on it’s hard to sum up succinctly. I’m currently the Members Data Officer which is a sort of catch-all title for the person that is involved with every facet of our member’s data - how we gather it, store it, access it and use it for analysis or to refine the services we offer to better suit user needs. I get to work with business stakeholders to find out what they need to know about our members, as well as with the engineers directly who help build out our products that gather or use member data. It’s a very flexible and dynamic role and I’m learning a ton while doing the job.

How has your career progressed during your time at Finder?

Very organically but also pretty drastically. I started writing content and promoting it to try and garner attention for the mobile arm of the business back when we had vertical-specific domains (mobilephonefinder.com.au was my first foray into publishing and SEO). When we consolidated into the one domain (finder.com.au) we also decided to try above the line promotions around the same time – which was scary for a business that had been 100% online until then. I got to work in the team that handled the media buying which involved a lot of stats and math around TARPs and ROI and sorting through data to develop personas for our media buying strategies. I kept going down that path and ended up working in the digital marketing team, eventually taking over Finder’s email and CRM system. My work kept getting more technical and I found I enjoyed that side of it so I asked to get training in that area, did a General Assembly JS course and since then I’ve picked up SQL and (basic) Python too. I’ve worked closer and closer with our data team until last year it just made sense to officialise it and now here I am, the Members Data Officer in the Finder Datalytics team.?

Favourite Finder value?

Empower people. It’s built into the foundations here and it’s at the core of our mission statement – we want to help people build their wealth and save money through education and supporting them as they make important financial decisions. But more than that, I love knowing that we empower each other, as a crew, to get shit done. It gives me the warm fuzzies knowing that I get to support the people I work with as we build out this wonderful service.

Favourite Finder slack channel?

Oooo tough one. We have so many great ones! #music-is-life was up there during covid lockdown – we ran a daily playlist challenge where everyone got to submit a song on a particular theme. I loved it while it ran, especially given the fact we all had to work from home and couldn’t go anywhere so it was great to keep connected and entertained. It ran out of steam though once we’d hit 115 different themes, which to be fair was over 6 months of daily playlists so it definitely had a good run. Lately though I never ignore a post in #dog-appreciation (Who could? Puppies are adorable!) and #a-novel-idea has started up again now that covid has died down a bit – it’s our Finder book club, and this next meet up (we call them Wine and Whines) is my book pick, The Last Unicorn. #thankyoucheers is great too if you just want to bask in some good vibes and feel the love that everyone at Finder is sharing.

What makes Finder a great place to build a career in technology??

Finder has the benefits of a large-scale business with an international footprint, while at the same time retaining that start-up vibe and flexibility. You’re supported with training budgets and amazing culture benefits like Life Leave and daily catered lunches in office, but at the same time your work means something and very often crew get the opportunity to turn passion projects into work streams on roadmaps. We don’t shy away from trying new things, giving them a red hot go and learning, always learning, in the process. We work with some best-in-class vendors and services but at the same time we take chances on other local start ups too and get in on the ground floor of emerging tech. A lot of our biggest successes started off with someone saying “hey, wouldn’t it be cool if …”. It can get hectic, not going to lie, but I can guarantee you won’t get bored.?