02 Apr 2018 Spotlight on Realtor.com

This week’s Spotlight on Tech features Realtor.com, a technology company on a mission to give people everywhere the power to discover their next dream home, from anywhere. They’re building world-class real estate solutions that empower realtors with the tools, knowledge, and confidence they need to connect people with their perfect home to grow their business. Read on to learn more about the workforce behind this established company of 20-years.

Describe your company and primary product(s) and/or service(s).

We are an online platform which makes it easy for consumers to find, buy and sell your home. We are solely focused on the US market. We do this by giving consumers relevant and timely information, tools and guidance, and by connecting them with professionals and agents who can be their trusted source to help on this journey.

How many employees currently work at your company?

1,400 people overall. Our Vancouver office homes 300 people.

Where are you located?

Headquartered in Santa Clara, Silicon Valley. Main offices are in Santa Clara (California), Vancouver/Richmond (Canada), Scottsdale (Arizona), Westlake Village (California) and Morgantown (West Virginia).

Describe the culture at your company.

We are a Product / Technology company, driven by understanding and solving real customer needs. We embrace a culture of experimentation, fast iterative shipping of new experiences and capabilities and learning on the way. Collaboration and cross functional teamwork are essential for teams to be successful.

What does your leadership team (and company as a whole) do to support/grow that culture?

We create small cross-functional teams which can own a customer problem and outcome. We connect teams as close as possible to customers and customer feedback. We share our vision, strategy and values openly. We encourage teams to challenge the conventional thinking. We encourage cross team collaboration and experimentation.

When your employees talk about your company, what do they brag about?

The scale of our online platform and the ability to touch and impact a large number of customers. The ability to innovate and try new technologies and approaches. Our culture of openness and diversity.

Describe your most recent achievement/milestone as a company.

Beta launch of Realsuite, our new platform designed to help real estate professionals efficiently respond to leads, connect with customers, and manage multiple transactions. We responded to the industry need to create a unified, simple and insight driven experience for agents.

Are you hiring?

We are hiring software and test engineers, product managers, designers and leaders. You can make a positive impact on people by helping them with one of the biggest decisions they will ever make in their lives, home buying and selling. We are leveraging the latest technologies from the AWS platform, we encourage experimentation and learning, and we expect our people to grow with us.

Who is the ideal employee for your company?

Someone who wants to own a problem / outcome, collaborate with cross functional teams across the organization, wants to learn and grow with the company, has solid computer science, product or design experience, but knows he or she can’t stand still. Is interested to understand and solve real customer problems and needs and is hungry for feedback.

What is the company goal for the upcoming year?

Continue to grow market share in our space, innovate with leading products and solutions, be hungry for data and provide unique insights to our customers and stakeholders. Be the destination of trust for our customers and our employees.

Tell us an interesting fact about your company.

One of our most memorable moments was when our employees rolled up their sleeves as we teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to build, paint, and decorate playhouses for Veteran families.

And an interesting fact is that we hold a company-wide hackathon 2 times a year, for 3-days, at all of our offices. This event includes brainstorming sessions, t-shirts and swag, meals and beer, and a final marketplace presentation where employees check out demos and vote for their favourite teams.

This video describes really well our story as a company.