Internships provide a valuable arrangement both for those who are starting down a career path and for the companies that interns work for while getting that start. While many interns work for only a short period of time, their contributions and their experience are meaningful and long-lasting.
At Signifyd, our interns gain valuable hands-on experience before graduating from college or university. They tackle real-world challenges and, in many cases, join us again after graduation! In return, Signifyd gets fresh new ideas from talented and hard-working employees while continuing to cultivate a culture of internal promotions.
What follows are just a few of the inspiring stories from Signifyd interns, some of whom are now full-time employees.
Lizbeth Mejia: junior designer in Belfast
I started my internship at Signifyd in May 2021; and it lasted one year before transitioning to full-time. My first few projects involved creating office graphics and digital documentation assets. What stood out most was the collaboration and support I received from my colleagues, who were always eager to help me learn and work with me on these designs. Another standout aspect of my internship was the variety of projects I got to work on, each with its own scale and complexity. This isn’t something you find in every internship, and it really made my experience that much more enjoyable.
Seamless move from intern to full-time employee
I was honored to receive a full-time offer, and even as an intern, I felt like a valued team member as my opinions were considered alongside other employees. The support I received from my manager greatly influenced my decision to go full time and the transition was seamless. I continued to work on similar projects from my internship and even had the opportunity to maintain our digital assets management tool, a responsibility that made me feel like a valuable member of the team.
When searching for internships, Signifyd immediately stood out as I was drawn to the brand image. I did additional research on the company’s culture which confirmed my instincts that it would be a great place to work. I recently had the opportunity to go on maternity leave and Signifyd was so supportive, which reinforced the company’s dedication to its team members’ well-being and work-life balance.
Aidan Cassidy: data scientist in Belfast
I was in my second year at university in July of 2021 when I started my Signifyd internship. I worked full-time for the summer. I then continued working one day a week while I finished school before accepting the full-time position I hold now. Having the flexibility of working one day a week while finishing my studies was super helpful and it was great to know that after school I would be able to start at a job that I already liked.
The start of my internship was a lot of learning about how Signifyd operates and our internal tools. After the initial learning period, I began to work on developing model features and working on tasks for specific merchants. One thing that was really great about the internship was that I wasn’t expected to know everything when I was just starting out and everyone was really supportive in getting me up to speed. I learned about the different aspects of the modeling pipeline and things that weren’t covered in my classes. It was great to be able to actually do the work instead of just reading about it in classes.
Internships can provide a running start
I really enjoyed the culture and team during my internship so I was very excited to come back as a full-time employee. Since then I have continued to work on models and feature engineering. It was great to already have the context of what I would be working on when starting full-time and getting to use everything I learned during my internship in my current day-to-day.
Desmond Madden: graduate software engineer in Belfast
I was an intern for about two years while finishing my degree before moving to full-time in 2023. I originally joined the team that automates billing for customers and really enjoyed it. Early on I worked on a reprice project and added logic to endpoints. About four or five weeks into my internship I was writing code that was actually being used by Signifyd.
At Signifyd interns have a significant impact
As an intern, I was given a lot of freedom and learned a lot of software development skills including designing, testing and deploying to customers. It was very fast-paced and I liked that I wasn’t working in a sandbox environment. Most companies wouldn’t give their interns that amount of trust.
I was very keen to move to full-time and felt like I had been working towards that during my whole internship. There is a great developer culture here and I received a lot of really good feedback from the team to help me improve. I tried to pick up as many new skills as possible which really helped.
Anna Flannagan: risk intelligence analyst in Belfast
My internship started in July of 2021 and initially lasted about a year. It was later extended and I was able to work one day a week as I finished school. As an intern, my main objective initially was to approve and decline orders throughout my training. This gave me a good initial indication of how fraudulent activity looks and what falls within the range of bad or good online behavior. As a business information technology student, I was able to use some of the programming and analytics from modules within my university degree to transfer over to the problem-solving / investigative work that was required here. I was able to analyze large data sets and code rules when necessary to mitigate fraudulent behavior.
During my internship, I built strong friendships with my team, which was incredibly motivating. With nearly two years at the company, I had an understanding of my role’s expectations and the support from the risk intelligence team ensured a seamless transition.
Skills from an internship transfer to university and beyond
I developed analytics and decision-making skills, boosting my confidence as an analyst. These skills proved invaluable during my final year of university. Time management, adaptability, critical thinking and effective communication were other vital skills I transferred to my degree, enabling me to achieve the necessary grades and excel in my full-time role which includes analyzing and monitoring risk for my own assigned clients!
Signifyd’s culture was ultimately what made up my mind when the decision time came for an internship. I wanted to work somewhere in which I could grow and develop. The core values of Signifyd exemplified this. Among Signifyd’s stated values are “curious and hungry” and “roll up your sleeves.” Those two values were the ones that resonated with me the most as I transitioned from university to the workforce.
Brian Chung: business development intern in the U.S.
During my internship at Signifyd as a business development intern, I had a valuable and enriching experience that left a lasting impression. The internship experience provided me with a comprehensive understanding of the business development process and the intricacies of the ecommerce industry. I had the opportunity to work with a team of professionals who were not only knowledgeable but also passionate about staying at the forefront of industry trends. The mentorship and guidance I received from my colleagues and supervisors were instrumental in my professional growth.
Caroline Mitchem: business development intern in the U.S.
Throughout my internship at Signifyd, I was given the opportunity to work on various projects that showed me how to become a successful business development representative. With the amazing support from the BDR and sales teams I learned how to communicate directly with clients, research accounts effectively, create value propositions and prospect new contacts.
Signifyd helped me develop networking and communication skills beyond what I ever could have imagined. I was able to work on account maps, prospecting, cold calling, emailing, company profiles, account vetting, a vertical cheat sheet and an analysis of a sales and marketing campaign that we worked on with our partners at Adobe. While this internship was fully remote, I never felt alone. I always felt supported by and connected to everyone I was working with.
A culture of teamwork promotes interns’ success
Having the ability to network with numerous different people from various cross-functional teams allowed me to learn about Signifyd and how different departments operate within the company. The environment that managers and upper-level executives have created within Signifyd is one of support, diversity, respect, and openness. Thanks to the support and training from the entire BDR team at Signifyd, I was able to create a significant outbound opportunity within my first week of contacting leads. I left this summer with new communication, time-management, professional and sales skills due to the amazing people at Signifyd who helped me grow into a confident, knowledgeable intern.
Are you ready to write your Signifyd story?
Signifyd’s internsserve as inspiring testimonials of the value that interns can bring to a company. They are not just temporary hires, but integral contributors who gain invaluable experience and collaborate on real-world projects. Their journeys reflect Signifyd’s dedication to fostering a culture of learning, growth and support. Interns are the future of an organization and their potential knows no bounds. If you are interested in becoming one of our interns, be sure to check out Signifyd’s careers page on a regular basis to apply!
