Editor’s Note:
“Focus intently on the well-being of your people as much as driving business objectives. People are your greatest asset. – Lynn Fraas, Chief Talent Officer.”
As the marketing ecosystem evolves rapidly amidst changing consumer behavior and hiring trends, we have not been standing still. Instead, Terakeet’s recruiting team has been doubling down and pursuing the industry’s best marketing talent.
Human Resources is the single greatest investment we can make right now. The expertise of our ‘Keeters, whether they come to us from college or from Google is the scaffolding we need to mature our organization, grow our customer base and scale our product offerings.
Not only are we continuing to hire for entry-level roles and internships, but we are also investing in a strategic framework of senior-level talent. This talent scaffolding is taking place across our organization, shaping our existing departments and sketching out the way forward for brand new ones. We’re also tapping more ‘Keeters than ever before for internal promotions to management roles in this remote environment.
It’s an exciting time to be at Terakeet! We are beyond thrilled to present a hiring update in the form of a multi-disciplinary roundup. Read on to find out more.
SEO
Much of our corporate strategy revolves around how we articulate our value to customers. It’s been our belief that our technical SEO team should be the keyholders of our strategy creation and execution. To do that, we wanted to make sure we were in a position to recruit the best SEO talent in order to create cutting-edge customer strategies, delivering on the value that we know each customer deserves.
To achieve this, we have promoted the following ‘Keeters to help us pilot SEO strategy ownership:
- Caitie Lyden to SEO Director
- Allie Kotula to SEO Manager
- Jim Plonkey to SEO Manager
- Krissy Ryan to SEO Manager
We are also pleased to announce that we have brought on board Andrew Hagemann as SEO Director. He joins Terakeet as a remote employee based out of St. Paul, Minnesota. Most recently, he comes from Ovative Group, where he served as SEO Manager for enterprise-level customer engagements (annual budgets exceeding $25 million).
Additionally, we recently brought Alexander Fuss on board as an SEO Manager. Alexander comes to us from Marcus Thomas, LLC, where he was also an SEO Manager. Prior to that, he held the same role at Sapient RazorFish.
We’re excited about the level of expertise Andrew, Alexander, and our internal ‘Keeters bring to Terakeet and our SEO department as it evolves!
Design & Dev
Earlier this quarter, our Co-Founder and CTO Pat Danial announced a new initiative centered around the formation of a new discipline that packages together UX, design, and front-end development.
This new team will be responsible for functional leadership, advancing our craft, and providing career development for front-end developers and designers – those at Terakeet currently as well as seeding the ground for future employees. As our business expands to include internal software, owned sites, and adjacent markets, design and development skills are becoming more and more critical to success. The front-end development and design team will become a part of our larger, also recently-formed Product group — which includes software engineering, Product Management, Terakeet Labs, and Perlu.
To head up this new discipline, we have promoted Krispin Dolbear internally to the newly created role of Manager, Front-End Development and Design. His new role consolidates our design department and paves the way for future growth in several key markets.
Speaking of key markets, another way Terakeet is centralizing design and development resources (as well as expanding our capabilities) is by committing resources to the field of User Experience (UX). We want to define what UX means, both for Terakeet and for potential customers.
One big first step was bringing on board Joseph Grgic as Senior UX Designer within our newly-minted Front-End Development and Design team. Joseph comes to Terakeet with an extensive background in UX design at some of the world’s leading companies, holding roles like Lead UX researcher and Designer at Signa and Senior UX Designer and Researcher at Google. We are confident that his experience will be invaluable to us as we define and execute on user-centric strategies.
Content
Terakeet’s content discipline is relatively new, with our customer-facing offering being around a year old. We have seen explosive growth in the number of content-specific projects we’re working on for our customers in recent months, and have identified this discipline as an important upsell or ground-level opportunity to work closely with global brands.
Our recruiting team pursued an executive-level hire to head up our content department as it continues to grow. We searched far and wide for the perfect candidate and were thrilled to find a Rochester-based content executive whose experience and vision checked every box.
We’re happy to welcome Amy Hatch to the Terakeet Team as our Senior Director of Content. Amy comes to us most recently from CVS, where she served as Senior Director of Content Strategy. Prior to her work at CVS, she served as Head of Content Strategy at Marketo, and at SAP as Global Head of Content Marketing. Amy has a treasury of valuable insights that will shape our content offering.
We’re also excited to welcome Rory Hyde to Terakeet as Senior Content Strategist. Rory comes to us from Unilever in London, where she worked as an editor. We can’t wait to see what these dynamic professionals bring to our thriving content team!
Product
Last but certainly not least, we have invested heavily in building out a Product group. This team will lead the positioning of Terakeet’s Enterprise SEO offerings so that we can market, deliver, and develop industry-leading solutions that support our customers’ growth objectives. The team will be highly engaged with customers to ensure our services and technologies continuously evolve to best meet their needs. The Product team will focus on strategy, innovation, and collaboration as it works across the organization to help us achieve our goals.
We brought Frank Fallon on board in late March as our Senior Product Manager to formally establish our Product Management department. He joined our team as a remote hire based in New York City. Even though switching jobs in the middle of a pandemic is an incredibly stressful experience, Frank made a seamless transition and is making an immediate impact on the way we define and improve our technology solutions.
We have also moved several high-performing ‘Keeters to our Product team, including:
- Tristan Amond to Product Manager
- Ron Ciernakoski to Operations Manager
- Corey Mallonee to Product Marketing Manager
Corey Mallonee is our most recent transplant to the Product team, transitioning from the previous internal role of Director of Creative. Corey has worn a lot of hats at Terakeet but has found the most fulfillment in projects over the years that define what we do and how we communicate value to our customers. So, after several very rewarding years leading the Creative team, the opportunity to join our fledgling Product group was too good to pass up. In addition to working to make our solutions and technology the best they can possibly be, as Product Marketing Manager Corey will shape the way we communicate about them. We have some exciting, innovative projects in the works, and we can’t wait for Corey to help us share that with the world.
We are proud to be bringing on and nurturing top-notch industry experts who will drive our business forward in 2020 and beyond. Furthermore, our ‘Keeters are proof that working remotely doesn’t have to impact your ability to be recognized for your work or to move up the corporate ladder. Terakeet is committed to stacking our teams with the most passionate, creative people in the industry, whether they are currently working here or waiting for their next big opportunity to make a splash.
We want to be a place where the best of the best come to work and thrive. We are incredibly proud of the work our people team have done – from our Chief Talent Officer Lynn Fraas laying the groundwork for our evolving company culture – to every single recruiter booked up with back to back virtual interviews. We would not be able to continue to grow during this time without your tireless efforts. Terakeet’s leadership team has a clear vision for the future – not only for our company but for the SEO industry at large. We can’t wait to see it unfold.
Let’s give a huge “Welcome aboard” to the astounding number of new hires we have brought on in the last several months!
To see some of our current opportunities, visit our openings page!