Delivery service DoorDash is expanding in Seattle in a huge way. The San Francisco-based company announced that it’s building an engineering team in Seattle, which involves plans to hire 100 engineers in the area during the next 12 months. The company’s director of engineering, David Azose, announced these plans in a blog post last week.
DoorDash is one of the many food delivery apps that’s grown to be a national name. The company was founded in 2013, but this year’s COVID-19 pandemic has significantly boosted its business, as more people rely on delivery to get food and groceries. Earlier this year, the company raised a $400 million Series H funding round and reached a valuation of nearly $16 billion.
Recently, DoorDash has been looking into ways to expand beyond food delivery. An example of this is DashMart, which the company announced in August. DashMart is the result of a national partnership with convenience stores including 7-Eleven, Walgreens, CVS, Wawa and others to deliver the goods you’d expect to find in those stores — like ice cream, dog food or cough medicine.
Azose wrote on the DoorDash blog that the Seattle team of engineers will help get DashMart off the ground and fuel its expansion across the United States. Seattle engineers will also work on DoorDash Drive, the company’s logistics platform that helps merchants deliver goods, groceries and food to their customers. Last-mile delivery is a profitable space, and DoorDash’s new projects target that growth opportunity.
Despite the local hiring push, DoorDash employees are still working remotely due to the pandemic. Azose acknowledges this in the blog post and says this will likely remain the case for the next few months. However, the company is currently working on securing a Seattle office to give its engineering team a physical workplace to return to. The post also said DoorDash will continue to prioritize company culture, naming goals like promoting diversity and inclusion, making an impact and creating a fun environment.
“On a personal note, I’m incredibly excited to have recently joined DoorDash to help it expand into the Seattle area. I’m a builder at heart and have been impressed by the execution prowess and innovation that DoorDash has pioneered in the delivery space,” Azose wrote. “I’m also a huge believer in the value that gig work provides for earners around the globe and see DoorDash as playing an increasingly critical role in protecting and evolving flexible work models that millions have come to depend on; all while creating significant value for businesses and merchants on the platform.”
