Coupa Career Growth & Development

Describe your career journey so far. What skills and experiences have you acquired along the way that have helped you get to where you are now?

The economic downturn in 2008 forced my career to take an unexpected turn. I had to quickly pivot from my profession, earning new certifications and acquiring a wide range of skills to qualify for a different field. While this change was frustrating and intimidating, I was fortunate to have a strong foundation of underlying skills that made the transition possible.

With the support of mentors and friends, I learned to be more adaptable and flexible. This experience taught me the importance of enhancing my soft skills and focusing on building relationships, which are now key assets in my career.

What support did you receive from individuals or resources that helped you step into a leadership role?

I’ve had the privilege of working with and for some incredible leaders, both women and men, throughout my career. They taught me the importance of building strong relationships and focusing on my soft skills, which have been invaluable throughout my professional journey.

These leaders also equipped me with the tools and knowledge to become a great people manager and mentor. By partnering with my teams and creating a safe space for them to learn and grow, I’ve empowered them to manage up and provide valuable input that contributes to our collective success.

How do you encourage other women on your team to become leaders themselves? Are there any stories you can share that showcase how you’ve done this?

Encouraging other women to become leaders is a crucial part of building a strong, inclusive and thriving workplace.

I’ve found that one of the most effective ways to do this is by acting as both a mentor and a sponsor. As a mentor, I provide advice, guidance and support while actively advocating for other women on my team.

A key part of this is helping them build a professional network. Networking is vital for career advancement, but building meaningful connections can be challenging. As a leader, I try to help by making introductions and creating opportunities for them to connect with senior leaders and peers they otherwise might not meet.

How do you structure mentorship and technical learning for engineers?

At Coupa, we believe the foundation of growth lies in the partnership between a manager and their team. Managers are deeply committed to helping employees identify and apply their unique skills to real-world challenges. Beyond solving on-the-job technical hurdles, we foster a culture of continuous curiosity through various internal forums and specialized communities. These platforms allow engineers to explore emerging technologies and upskill for future growth opportunities in a collaborative environment.

One of our standout initiatives is the Global Together Mentoring Program. This structured, six-month journey matches employees with mentors who provide tailored guidance on everything from deep subject matter expertise to essential soft skills. Additionally, we leverage BetterUp to provide individualized, one-on-one coaching sessions. This partnership ensures that our engineers receive personalized learning experiences that align their professional trajectory with their personal aspirations. By blending organic team-based learning with structured global programs, we ensure every engineer has the support system needed to evolve alongside the industry.

What internal mobility or upskilling programs have you launched recently?

Internal mobility at Coupa is designed to be a transparent and empowering process. We broadcast all internal job opportunities globally, encouraging anyone seeking a shift in role or responsibility to pursue their passions. We encourage a “development-first” mindset; employees maintain regular connections with their managers to build robust development plans. When a candidate is ready for a new challenge, they move through a standard hiring process to ensure the right fit, while we work closely with the original team to ensure a smooth transition and knowledge transfer.

We are particularly proud of our recent initiatives to bridge the gap between roles. For example, as the SDLC landscape shifts, we have successfully enabled and transitioned many of our QA engineers into development roles. Furthermore, we recognize that modern engineering is no longer just about mastering a programming language — it’s about mastering AI-driven productivity. Through our AI Productivity Workgroup and similar forums, we provide the tools and training necessary for our workforce to leverage AI effectively, ensuring our team remains at the absolute cutting edge of industry trends and operational efficiency.

How do you identify and support future technical leaders?

At Coupa, our definition of leadership is simple: If your actions inspire others to dream, learn, and achieve more, you are a leader. We don’t wait for a title change to empower our people; employees are given the autonomy to make decisions and expand their span of influence within their current roles. We actively look for those who showcase natural leadership qualities and provide them with the visibility and high-impact opportunities they need to prove their capabilities on a larger scale.

To formalize this support, we offer several development tracks. Our Manager Development Program is designed to help current managers evolve into “supporting managers” who drive results by living our core values and deeply engaging their teams. For those poised for higher-level impact, our Accelerate and Soar program is specifically crafted for high-performing managers and directors. These programs empower our most promising talent to bridge the gap between technical management and strategic leadership, ensuring that Coupa’s future is led by individuals who are not only technically proficient subject matter experts but also deeply invested in the growth of others.

“Coupa is ever-changing and it has been a great ride. I have flexed along the way and it’s helped me personally and professionally.”

How does your engineering team create opportunities for engineers to learn from one another and strengthen their technical skills?

At Coupa, we believe the best technology isn’t built in isolation. True innovation occurs when we open our doors, share our architectural insights and engage with the wider engineering ecosystem. With this spirit of collaboration, we recently hosted our latest Ruby Meetup at our Coupa Pune, India office. Drawing an incredible crowd of passionate developers, continuous learners and tech visionaries, the event was a powerful reminder of the vibrance of the local tech community. Our goal for the afternoon was simple: pull back the curtain on the robust technology driving our $10 trillion Total Spend Management platform, connect deeply with the local development community, and showcase what it means to build a career at Coupa.

While the networking was invaluable, the true core of the meetup centered on our technical sessions. We had an outstanding lineup of internal Coupa engineering experts take the stage to share real-world engineering strategies and case studies. 

The first session dove into the massive scale of Coupa’s application layer. Our experts detailed how our teams manage massive enterprise applications, balance high-throughput database interactions, and ensure global operational resilience without compromising agility. The second major topic tackled the future of software development. Our team demonstrated how Coupa engineers are actively leveraging cutting-edge AI utilities to optimize code generation, safely automate debugging and skyrocket engineering velocity.

Attendees came away with a clear architectural blueprint for running a global, AI-native SaaS platform at scale, and actionable strategies on how to embed AI into their daily coding workflows to boost individual productivity.

What is one recent technical challenge, new technology or knowledge-sharing experience that helped you grow as an engineer?

The event was a massive success, bringing together 80 enthusiastic tech minds from a diverse range of backgrounds. The room spanned the entire professional spectrum — from highly seasoned senior software engineers navigating complex architectures daily, to brilliant computer science students eager to see how modern enterprise applications operate in production. This mix of deep expertise and fresh curiosity sparked fantastic networking sessions, collaborative problem-solving and lively debates over coffee during our breakout segments.

How does your company encourage engineers to share knowledge with teammates or participate in the broader engineering community?

Coupa continues to unite the local dev ecosystem. We’ve proudly opened our doors for previous Ruby events to support and fuel regional knowledge-sharing. Our targeted goal at Coupa India is to establish a sustainable, continuous learning routine by hosting these high-value community events every six months. For our attendees, it’s a premier opportunity to step away from theoretical code and explore true production scale. For Coupa, these gatherings are the perfect avenue to showcase our tech evolution, build external relationships, and attract the next generation of builders eager to make an impact.

How do you develop and grow sales talent?

At Coupa, great sellers are built through intentional structure, starting on day one with the Coupa sales academy. This onboarding goes beyond product features, immersing new hires in BSM fundamentals and real customer scenarios to build immediate credibility with CFOs, CPOs and IT leaders.

Enablement is a continuous, career-long commitment. Sellers have constant access to Coupa Talent Edge (our learning portal) and The Vault (our master library for competitive playbooks). We use Chorus for call coaching and managers actively coach through weekly one-on-one’s, deal reviews and regional Demand Gen Councils so no seller navigates complex deals alone.

We weave peer mentorship directly into daily operations and foster close collaboration with value business engineers and value solution consultants. 

Career paths are highly visible, enabling sellers to grow from account directors to strategic enterprise roles, or transition into regional sales management and global enablement. Our ’inverse org chart’ means management is here to support the field — the entire village is designed to invest in your long-term growth.

How do sales goals align with company mission and culture?

Enterprise sellers perform at their absolute best when the scoreboard is completely transparent. At Coupa, we eliminate the black box of commissions. Every sales professional receives a clear, formalized compensation plan at the start of the fiscal period outlining their exact quota, accelerators and territory details.

We don’t leave performance tracking to end-of-quarter surprises. Sellers have real-time visibility into their transaction-level attainment and can see exactly how closed-won business translates into earnings. This is supported by our strong revenue operations team and regular manager touchpoints, ensuring progress-to-goal remains a collaborative, ongoing conversation.

We hold ourselves to a standard of fairness and absolute clarity. By taking the guesswork out of commissions, our sellers can spend 100 percent of their creative energy where it belongs: collaborating with teammates and helping our customers succeed. Operating on an ‘inverse org chart,’ our entire village is designed to support the field and invest in your success.

What role does recognition play in your team’s success?

Coupa powers a global network of over $10 million buyers and suppliers, managing more than $10 trillion in business spend. For our sellers, this spend represents critical real-world initiatives: optimizing cash flow, mitigating supply chain risk, building resilience and driving sustainable progress. When you show a company how to find efficiency in that spend, you fundamentally improve how their business runs.

Our value-based selling methodology turns this impact into our standard sales motion. We don’t lead with ‘features and functions.’ Instead, we lead with discovery — understanding operational pain, mapping ROI and demonstrating how a single unified platform unlocks millions in savings.

Mastering this methodology is the ultimate engine for your career. By guiding executives through complex financial transformations, you become a trusted advisor. Our top sellers build deep business acumen, connect with C-suite leaders and earn the credibility to lead our largest, most strategic global accounts. At Coupa, your career trajectory is directly linked to the tangible value you create.

Valentina’s Guide to Shaping Your Career from Within

For fellow Coupanians (and future builders) looking to pivot but unsure where to start, Valentina shares three powerful pieces of advice:

1. Focus on the Work, Not the Job Title: "Start by looking at what parts of your current role you actually enjoy or what you would like to do more of, rather than focusing only on the job titles you think you should be looking for."
2. You’re Only a Slack Away from a Connection: "Talk to people in teams you’re interested in. Take advantage of the amazing Village we have, where we are just a Slack message away from answers to many of our questions. Learning about different roles through informal conversations and feedback is what helped me understand how my existing skills transferred."
3. Don’t Let Checklists Hold You Back: "Don’t be afraid to apply for something just because you don’t meet every single requirement. Your experience at Coupa is more transferable than you might initially think—after all, who knows Coupa better than the ones who live it every day?"