At Sendle, a Growth-Minded, Humble and Hungry Team Eyes Further North American Expansion

Devon Johnson wanted to see if Sendle lived up to its values; now she’s helping the company realize expansive goals while growing her skill set.

Written by Built In Staff
Published on Sep. 15, 2023
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 When leaders at small business delivery service Sendle seek to scale up their team, they specifically look for candidates who exemplify their idea of the “5Hs.” 

That means they are humble, honest, happy, hungry and high-performing.  

These are the qualities that Sendle’s data and analytics department saw in Senior Data Analyst Devon Johnson when she interviewed with the company this summer, and they’re qualities that Johnson was looking for in prospective teammates too. 

Pairing those traits with a mission-driven approach to helping small business owners compete on shipping costs, Sendle seemed like a perfect fit for Johnson. Still, Johnson knew that it was one thing for a company to promise a principled workplace and another to put those principles into action.

“I paid close attention during the recruiting process to see if Sendle stood up to the test,” Johnson said. “Through my interactions with Sendle employees, I found that the company has a solid rooting in its commitments and that each employee embodies the culture with a sense of purpose and belonging.”

Now in her third month with Sendle, Johnson is hard at work creating and managing dashboards, performing ad-hoc analyses, and providing data and insights to all aspects of the company.

“On any given day, I might need to put myself in the shoes of a marketing director, a financial analyst, and then a customer success manager to ensure the analysis I provide is appropriate for the respective context,” Johnson said. 

 

​  The Sendle team pose in front of a large plaster equestrian statue
Sendle

 

Ultimately, Johnson said, she is prepared to develop her skills and meet the challenges that will arise as Sendle grows its presence in the North American market. 

“I’m excited for my own opportunities for growth to expand alongside Sendle’s growth,” Johnson said. 

 

How have you hit the ground running since you joined Sendle?

I actually got to dip my toes into the world of Sendle during the recruiting process by working with a data set to provide results for a panel of interviewers. It was a ton of fun for me to get a real sense of what the job responsibilities would look like. As it turns out, my first project after joining the team was performing a deeper-dive analysis on that same topic from the interview. This gave me the chance to allow my curiosity to guide my understanding of Sendle’s business levers and to learn the ins-and-outs of our data warehousing platform. I absolutely love to solve problems. 

Going forward, I’m excited to continue answering questions of all sizes and complexities by whatever means necessary. That will likely require working with tools and techniques that are new to me, which I’m excited to learn.

 

A Sendle package being received by a customer
Sendle

 

What pleasantly surprised you after you joined the Sendle team?

Before joining the team, I didn’t realize just how recently Sendle expanded into North America. Since Sendle only launched in the U.S. in 2019 and in Canada in 2022, I get to have a hand in building out a solid foundation for our measurement, evaluation and reporting of these newer business segments. 

I think one of the most important things an organization can do early on to prepare for successful growth is to make decisions that allow for scalability. I can tell that all the teams at Sendle embrace that attitude and keep future growth in mind during every decision.

 

What aspect of your professional growth are you most excited to evolve?

As the business expands and gains more complexity, I will have opportunities to learn and use more complex modeling tools to help drive the business forward. At the same time, I have a ton of room to dive into each area of the business in further depth. From fraud detection to network management, each function employs their own lingo and cares about different key metrics. The better I can understand each of these, the better I can serve my stakeholders and tailor my work for the intended audience.

 

Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Images provided by Sendle.