Read “The State of Fraud 2023” report
It can be hard to say goodbye to Signifyd.
“Signifyd always stuck in my head after I talked to them,” said Ashley Ray, a growth account executive who was not a match for the first position she interviewed for at Signifyd. “The people were warm and welcoming – it felt real.”
And six months later, in June 2022, she joined Signifyd in her current sales role.
Like Ray, a number of employees and candidates have found that even when they thought their experience with Signifyd was over, the company’s culture and business model drew them back.
Colin McCloskey
“Signifyd is not an easy place to walk away from,” said Colin McCloskey, risk intelligence manager. He joined Signifyd in 2019 and left after two and a half years for an exciting-sounding opportunity at a large, more established company with former colleagues.
Five weeks later, he returned. These so-called boomerang employees and boomerang candidates point to several reasons they came back:
1. Signifyd’s positive work culture
Workers who have left and returned say the camaraderie, enthusiasm and transparency found at Signifyd are not easily replicated elsewhere.
“I missed the optimism,” said Mark Ingram, senior manager of software engineering. He joined Signifyd in January 2021 as a principal engineer and later became a manager. He left in the spring of 2022 and returned about a month later.
Signifyd has seen its share of employees who have left the company only to return — boomerang employees. And it’s experienced a similar phenomenon in which a particular role doesn’t work out in the hiring stage for one reason or another, but a later opportunity works out as a win-win. The top four reasons for such boomerang hires:
- Signifyd’s positive work culture
- Signifyd’s exciting mission and challenging work
- The talented people and opportunities for growth
- Signifyd’s strong commitment to providing work/life balance and flexibility
“Signifyd is open and transparent by default,” Ingram said. “That manifests itself in very small things that together have a big impact. For example, when you join a meeting, people have their cameras on and they’re willing to chit chat until the meeting starts.”
Mark Ingram
It’s the sort of atmosphere that attracts those searching for proof that positive work cultures are more productive.
Signifyd’s culture helps employees form connections with each other. In McCloskey’s case, he was able to talk openly with people at Signifyd as he weighed his decision to leave.
“I felt very much that the work I had done was valued and I was valued, and they didn’t want to see me leave,” McCloskey said. “But at the same time, they understood that opportunities sometimes present themselves.”
Doug Bailey
Even job candidates find themselves making lasting connections. When Doug Bailey first interviewed with Signifyd in 2019 for a North Carolina-based job, the process ended when Signifyd adopted a shift in hiring priorities.
At first, he wondered if that was just a polite way for them to tell him he had been rejected. But then the hiring manager asked to keep in touch — and Bailey joined Signifyd as senior enterprise customer success manager in May 2022.
“I always thought of Signifyd as the job that got away,” Bailey said.
2. Signifyd’s exciting mission and challenging work
The work itself is also a draw.
“The mission of the company really draws you in,” said Ian Ellis, assistant controller, who returned to Signifyd in March 2023 after nine months at a job — found through a former boss — that offered a promotion. “It’s an awesome product and service that we provide: allowing companies to grow without the risk of massive fraud attacks.”
Xavi Sheikrojan
Working at Signifyd offers employees a broad view of how the fraud landscape is changing.
“What are the next threats? How can you be aware of them and prepare for them?” said Xavi Sheikrojan, senior manager of risk intelligence. He helped start Signifyd’s Belfast team from 2018 to 2020, then left because for personal reasons he needed to take a job in Barcelona. He rejoined in September 2021, working remotely from Barcelona. “At Signifyd, I can see fraud patterns. It’s super insightful and feeds my curiosity.”
The challenging nature of the work makes it exciting, and employees know they’re part of something important.
“No two days are the same at Signifyd,” McCloskey said.
At the larger company he moved to, “everything was very mapped out — there’s not a lot of creative thinking that goes into your day to day,” McCloskey said. “At Signifyd, I get the freedom and flexibility to put my stamp on what I do.”
3. The talented people and opportunities for growth
Several of the employees who left — and even those who just interviewed — said they appreciated Signifyd’s high-performing employee base.
“Everyone was very thoughtful and sharp,” said Abby Hodge, growth account executive, of her interviewers when she first discussed working for Signifyd three years ago. She didn’t get the job, but she reconnected last fall and joined in January 2023. “The level of talent at Signifyd showed through their recruitment process.”
Ashley Ray
Ray also found that the interview process fostered personal connections.
“I think everyone wanted to talk to a person and not just go through the motions of an interview,” Ray said.
Ian Ellis
These opportunities for growth continue once employees join.
“There are a lot of smart people who work here,” Ellis said. “I’m never the smartest person in the room. There’s so much expertise here – it’s pretty impressive. It’s definitely a place where you can come and learn and grow.”
The company promotes coaching and mentoring opportunities, as well. Sheikrojan was able to meet with executives who visited the Belfast office when he worked there, for example.
“I have been able to grow a lot because of Signifyd’s leadership,” Sheikrojan said.
4. Signifyd’s unique emphasis on work/life balance
People at Signifyd work hard — but the combination of an efficient work culture mean schedules are flexible and allow for a rich personal life.
“I think you kind of lose sight of how important that is when you’re at Signifyd,” Ellis said.
Abby Hodge
Almost all the boomerang employees and candidates cited flexible schedules as a big benefit: “It’s an amazing draw,” Hodge said. The additional flexibility afforded by remote work is also key.
For some of the boomerang employees, the time away – even if it was short – helped them clarify what they want from a job. And for those who left and returned, Signifyd’s culture provided the sense that they were enthusiastically welcomed back.
“It’s like coming back home,” Ellis said. “After you leave Signifyd, you realize how good you had it.”
Feature photo by Getty Images
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