Lindani H. - Deliverability Operations Specialist

Title: Deliverability Operations Specialist
Location: Dublin
Joined: 2014
Preferred Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

What if we told you a Specialist in optimal deliverability could also be your specialist in food? #TopChef 

Tell us about your job. What do you do? What do you love about it?

As a Deliverability Specialist, my role is to ensure optimal deliverability rates and inbox placement of all our emails, monitor the success of push campaigns daily, and liaise with ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo. I look after six of our countries in the EMEA and APAC regions and ensure that we are delivering optimally within best practices of the respective countries.

So, a typical day for me would be looking through at least six different dashboards across the region for any red flags, as well as analyzing and troubleshooting the root cause of delivery issues tailored to the country’s specific email program and business needs. I work on a global team with most of my teammates in the US offices.

I love that my job keeps me on a constant learning curve—there is always something new to learn. Because we work so much with the ISPs both large and small, I get to learn so much about their systems and how that affects Groupon.

Fill in the blank. “If my teammates gave me a superlative, it’d probably be ‘Most likely to _________________.”

Fashionably look very different from the Office Lindani.

Can you talk about something particularly challenging you’ve worked on here?

I would say my greatest challenge so far was the sharp learning curve and data overload I got when I joined this Deliverability team. I came from an email service provider in South Africa which is at least 10 times smaller than Groupon, so the work expectations, structure, and speed needed to onboard was such a challenge. Everything was different, bigger, and fast-paced! I needed to quickly get on board this spinning machine.

What was particularly challenging was the scope of the projects I needed to do, including one of the initial “Germany Delivery performance improvement” projects. Thinking back now, the most rewarding part of this is that four years later I am still here and loving it!

What’s unique about Groupon’s Engineering culture?

What’s unique about the Groupon Engineering culture is how you are treated as an individual and as a professional. You are given the freedom to work optimally. Your career growth is also catered to as there is a lot of learning or upskilling support and facilities within reach.

What’s an interesting hobby you have outside of work?

Cooking, I love cooking!

If you could do another job for just one day, what would it be?

I would be a Chef in a Michelin Restaurant.

Where were you before you joined Groupon? What brought you here?

With a degree in Computer Science, I was working in South Africa for one of the biggest email service providers in Email Deliverability Ops. After four years, I recognized I had learned everything I could with that company and that it was time for more opportunities to learn! From there, I logged into LinkedIn and saw there was a job listing at Groupon for a customer of Groupon South Africa. I thought it would be fun to work there, and so, here I am!

How does your work impact Groupon’s mission of building the daily habit in local commerce?

In order for Groupon to build the daily habit in local commerce, we need to be visible to our customers! My work contributes to this by making sure customers receive our emails or push campaigns.

What do your parents think you do?

Me: “Mum what is it you think I do?”

Mum: “Mhh I don’t know… create the internet maybe?”

Me: *Sigh.*

What do you think external folks would be surprised to learn about Groupon Engineering?

What has been surprising about working for Groupon is the diverse culture. We work with people from all over the world, different languages, and cultures. I think the secret to this creative, innovative, driven, and fun working space is because Groupon is a melting pot for diversity. Diverse teams have been known to be more productive and perform better.

What’s your favorite part about your team’s Software Development process?

The way our team seamlessly moves through a project because of the constant communication and run books structure.

Vim or emacs?

VIM

What advice do you have for someone interested in joining Groupon?

Apply now! You will love it!