Aug 11, 2022

Redeem now As startup layoffs persist, Flexport is hiring from entry-level analysts to directors. A hiring executive told Insider the company is looking for applicants who see the bigger picture. Senior managers at the startup can make more than $200,000. Layoffs have hit the logistics tech sector in 2022 just as they have in almost every other category, but so far, Flexport has resisted the trend. The San Francisco-based senior startup in the relatively young field of freight and logistics tech has a high-profile incoming CEO and continues to hire, with more than 250 jobs across the globe advertised. The founder and current CEO, Ryan Petersen, announced in June he will transition out of the job by the end of the year, with the former Amazon consumer chief Dave Clark taking over. Petersen will take the role of executive chairman. "With Dave coming on board, in five years Flexport is going to be known hands-down as the world's best supply-chain company," Petersen said on CNBC in June. Since its 2014 founding, Flexport has grown to a top-20 freight forwarder in the red-hot transpacific lane from Asia to the US. Its more than 2,000 employees spend their days wrangling supply chains , which in recent years has meant dealing with every possible thing that can go wrong as cargo travels across the world. Connecting technical work to that broader mission is a vital skill, especially in more senior roles, Shanthi Nanne, the company's senior engineering manager, told Insider. In addition to problem-solving, willingness to learn, and curiosity, Nanne — who's responsible for building out the engineering team — looks for candidates who understand what's important to Flexport customers and measure their own success in those terms. "Being able to translate your success to customer impact or business impact helps me understand that they really care for their users and they understand the problem space," she said. Supply-chain experience isn't a prerequisite, Nanne said. Flexport has a one-week intensive training that gives all employees a crash course. Nanne hadn't worked in the field before she joined Flexport in 2019. "As a consumer, it's so easy to click on a button to order something and it arrives in a day or in a week at your doorstep. Going through this one week of boot camp made me realize how complex the workflow behind this is," Nanne said. Flexport is taking a "thoughtful and strategic" approach to hiring in the current tenuous economic environment, a spokesperson said. Account executives and engineers are top priority. Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2021 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to see how much Flexport paid those employees. Here are the numbers. Engineers