Meet Emily Jacobs, Data Engineer at Gopuff

Gopuff has assembled an entrepreneurial and award-winning team of experts across engineering and technology, supply, growth, marketing, business development, finance, and more. With experience working at leading organizations like Airbnb, Amazon, Anheuser-Busch, Comcast, Lyft, Target, Uber, and Walmart, the Gopuff team brings decades of experience across industries. Today, we’ll get to know one of those team members: Emily Jacobs, a Data Engineer at Gopuff.

Emily is passionate about constantly innovating to improve the customer experience. She was hired as Gopuff’s first full-time Database Administrator for our inventory team and is now a member of our growing data engineering organization. Her work supports various Gopuff teams, enabling efficiencies across the organization. 

Aaron Held, Gopuff’s Director of Engineering, recently interviewed Emily to learn more about her background and experience at Gopuff – read on for their discussion!

Interested in joining our team? Check out our careers page here! 

Aaron: To start off, can you tell us a little bit about what you like to do in your free time, what hobbies you have?

Emily: I actually have over 25 different hobbies! One of my absolute favorites though is cycling, especially long-distance bike rides. I’ve done the BP MS 150 in Texas and the Bike MS: City to Shore Ride in South Jersey, both very challenging and very rewarding! I love a personal challenge that pushes me to achieve new goals and I think this carries over to my work life, too. 

Aaron: Tell us a little bit about your career history – what led to this point?

Emily: Prior to joining Gopuff, I worked in the finance and energy industries. In my first role, I started on the help desk and then moved into a database developer role. Increasing responsibility has led me to new roles as a tech lead and then as senior manager of data services. I’ve always loved keeping up with how tech has changed since I started my career and I jump at the opportunity to evolve or learn new skills. Along the way, I realized I was more passionate about providing hands-on contributions as a subject matter expert within teams and I’m really glad to be able to do this now at Gopuff. 

Aaron: What gets you excited about your work every day?

Emily: The opportunity to contribute value to other teams, to improve processes and the customer experience is what I love most about working here – it’s amazing. There’s so much growth at Gopuff, so there are countless opportunities to contribute knowledge to others in addition to gaining knowledge from teammates. There’s such a talented group of people here with different backgrounds and so many years of experience, there’s a lot to learn. Every day is amazing.

Aaron: Can you tell us about a memorable project you’ve worked on?!

Emily: I actually came onboard at Gopuff to support the development of our warehouse management system, but when the opportunity arose to get involved with the BevMo! integration, I jumped on it. It’s been really fun to work cross-functionally with many teams on that project and to be able to turn something around so quickly that had such a big impact, bringing Gopuff to customers in California in a completely new way.

Aaron: As you of course know, we’re a customer-first business here at Gopuff. How do you put the customer first in your own role?

Emily: The data engineering team supports everyone internally, and that work has external effects. We’re constantly looking for ways to improve data streams, how can we make a given team or their work more efficient. A key piece of this is considering how these data streams can and will impact our customers, then developing solutions based on this information.

Aaron: What do you look for in new team members? What advice do you have for others just starting out in their career?

Emily: You need to work hard and have a strong sense of ownership and dedication. Everyone on our team – and I think at Gopuff in general – truly owns their projects. You have the opportunity to drive change and improve processes, launch new initiatives, and make an impact. Learning how to run with your projects independently and problem solve on the move is so important. When it comes to advice for those starting out in their career, I would say beware of imposter syndrome. Don’t rule yourself out and don’t sell yourself short! Your ideas are valuable, and early in your career you often have a fresh perspective to bring to the table. 

Aaron: Are you involved with any of Gopuff’s Employee Resource Groups (ERG)?

Emily: I’m lucky to have been part of the GoPride ERG since it was first started. Gopuff is the first company I’ve worked for that has ERGs, so I was excited to get involved from the get-go. I’ve seen so many concrete actions the business has taken since the ERGs were established; it’s a really great demonstration of the company and our teams’ dedication to DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives. I look forward to getting more involved myself. 

Aaron: What’s your favorite or most frequently ordered product on Gopuff?

Emily: I’m a big coffee drinker, and as a Philly local, I love ordering the draft coffee from La Colombe from Gopuff. Or, on a Friday night, my wife and I might order some beer and Ben and Jerry’s Chubby Hubby ice cream – it’s our favorite!