The work of a data and analytics team is critical to a business’s success. Just ask Senior Director of Production and Operations Fred Calvez at Smartly, an AI-powered advertising technology company.
At Smartly, data is very rarely “just data.”
According to Calvez, every product decision, customer insight or AI capability presents a data problem that his team needs to solve, urging them to consider how data is collected, moved, modeled, governed and made available for employees across the company.
“That creates an interesting combination of deep technical challenges and very practical ones,” Calvez said.
Similarly, at modern travel agency Fora, Data Science Manager Nicholas Carey and his peers dive into problems, asking themselves questions like, “Why did a metric move?” and “Why do some advisors perform better than others?” And once they understand the “why,” they build solutions that have a real impact on others.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than feeling like you genuinely helped solve someone’s problem,” Carey said.
At CodePath.org, an organization that partners with universities and tech organizations to offer computer science students industry-vetted courses and career support, this opportunity to drive change is what makes Senior Data Engineer Mike Boyle and his teammates feel especially fulfilled by their work.
“It feels great knowing that what we do helps our students have a more effective and better-funded learning experience,” Boyle said.
Below, Calvez, Carey and Boyle share more about what it’s like to work on their data and analytics teams, what makes their work meaningful, and why job seekers should consider joining them.
Smartly is the AI-powered advertising technology company transforming ad experiences for brands and their consumers, offering a comprehensive advertising platform that seamlessly integrates the capabilities of media, creative and intelligence.
What’s it like to work on the data and analytics team at Smartly?
What I enjoy about working in the data platform at Smartly is that data is very rarely “just data.” We operate an AI-powered advertising platform where media, creative and intelligence come together, so behind almost every product decision, customer insight or AI capability, there is a data problem to solve.
My team sits at the foundation of a lot of that. We think about how data is collected, moved, modeled, governed and made available so that people across Smartly can actually trust and use it. That creates an interesting combination of deep technical challenges and very practical ones. You can spend part of your time thinking about architecture and scalability, and the next part talking with another engineering, product or business team about what is getting in their way.
I like that balance. We aren’t building a data platform for the sake of having a data platform. We’re building it for people to use.
“We aren’t building a data platform for the sake of having a data platform. We’re building it for people to use.”
What makes data work at Smartly meaningful or satisfying?
For me, it’s the leverage. Some of the most satisfying work in a platform team happens when you solve something once and suddenly make dozens or hundreds of other decisions easier. If we improve the reliability of a critical dataset, reduce the effort required to discover the right data or give teams a better way to build and operate their own data products, the impact compounds.
I also find it meaningful that the problems aren’t purely technical. A perfectly engineered data platform that nobody trusts or understands isn’t particularly useful. You have to understand how people work, where the friction is, and what problem you’re actually trying to solve.
That forces us to think beyond pipelines and infrastructure. We’re constantly asking: How do we make the right thing the easy thing? How do we give teams autonomy without creating chaos? How do we make data trustworthy without turning governance into bureaucracy? Those are difficult problems, but that’s exactly what makes them interesting.
What should candidates know about the impact data professionals can have on your business?
The impact can be much broader than their immediate area of ownership. Smartly works with hundreds of brands and advertisers, and our platform brings together media, creative and intelligence across the advertising ecosystem. Data is what connects many of those pieces. Improving how we work with it can influence everything from engineering productivity and product development to analytics, AI and ultimately the value we deliver to customers.
That’s why I think the strongest data professionals here aren’t satisfied with receiving a requirement and implementing it. They’re curious enough to ask why the requirement exists in the first place.
Some of the most valuable questions are surprisingly simple: Who is going to use this? What decision are they trying to make? What happens when the data is wrong? Can another team solve the next problem themselves because of what we're building today?
That mindset can turn a relatively small technical improvement into something with companywide impact. And that’s probably what I find most rewarding about the data platform at Smartly: Our best work often isn’t the work people notice. It’s the work that makes everyone else’s work possible.
Fora is a modern travel agency redefining the role of travel advisors, offering a comprehensive platform designed to empower individuals passionate about travel to build successful businesses.
What’s it like to work on the data and analytics team at Fora?
Working on the data science team means solving a wide range of problems and building from the ground up. Our team is lean, so much of our work is 0 → 1.
Since joining Fora as our first analyst hire two years ago, I’ve had the opportunity to work on a lot of foundational projects. For example, I was the first person to train and deploy an ML predictive model, which meant partnering closely with marketing, engineering and RevOps. That project helped address a real business problem (routing leads to the sales team) while also establishing how our team approaches this type of work.
Having that level of ownership has also given me the opportunity to grow quickly. Today, I manage a small pod that supports our marketing team. There’s a lot of room here to build, take on new responsibilities, and shape both your own role and the growth of the team.
“There’s a lot of room here to build, take on new responsibilities, and shape both your own role and the growth of the team.”
What makes data work at Fora meaningful or satisfying?
I joined Fora because I wanted to sharpen my data skills, understand a business more deeply and get better at answering “why” questions. I love getting the chance to really dive into a problem and ask questions like, “Why did a metric move?” and “Why do some advisors perform better than others?”
I’m happy to report that happens pretty often here, and I find it incredibly satisfying. But the best part is turning that work into something useful for someone else. There’s nothing more rewarding than feeling like you genuinely helped solve someone’s problem.
What should candidates know about the impact data professionals can have on your business?
Being a data professional at Fora means acting as both an advisor and an enabler for our stakeholders. A few years ago, we wrote a team charter that hardcodes this principle into everything we do: help others make better, faster decisions with data and insights.
That mission shows up in many different ways. We work closely with teams to set goals and define how to measure them. We build the data models and tools they use to understand performance. We design and evaluate experiments, run causal analyses and help teams become more confident using data on their own.
The partnership itself is also a big part of the job. We regularly meet one on one with stakeholders to discuss upcoming questions and projects, and because our team works in bi-weekly sprints, we collaborate with them on prioritization. To do this means being a great listener. Often, the most valuable thing we can do is help someone turn a broad question into the right analytical question before we ever touch the data. When you combine that curiosity with clear communication and trust, there’s a huge amount of impact you can have at Fora.
CodePath.org partners with universities and tech organizations to offer computer science students industry-vetted courses and career support so they can become AI-native technologists.
What’s it like to work on the data and analytics team at CodePath.org?
We’re a small team: two data/software engineers, two data scientists and one reporting lead. We’re taking on challenges much bigger than our size, and we’re often wearing different hats, but we’re doing it in a calm, thoughtful way. We’re choosing the right solution to the problem, but we’re also careful to prioritize the right problems to solve. We’re also very close to the instructors, ops teams, learners and other stakeholders.
“We’re taking on challenges much bigger than our size, and we’re often wearing different hats, but we’re doing it in a calm, thoughtful way.”
What makes data work at CodePath.org meaningful or satisfying?
It’s awesome to be able to help CodePath quantify the extraordinary impact we’ve had on learners across the country. We can see exactly how much the job placement rate goes up for people who complete more of our courses. I also love the culture and camaraderie on our team. I’m constantly learning from my teammates and growing my own skills.
What should candidates know about the impact data professionals can have on your business?
Our data team is key to the organization’s success. Our data products help the org secure funding and get our story out there, both inside and outside the organization. Our insights and predictive models help the org see more clearly what is working well in our courses, and why. It feels great knowing that what we do helps our students have a more effective and better-funded learning experience.
