A hidden gem in San Francisco's turbulent tech scene - Staff Software Engineer Baton Employee Review

As a tech lab within a larger company, Baton has all of ownership and flexibility of a startup with none of the existential financial stress. Engineers within Baton are given ownership over projects that provide visible benefits for users across an established Fortune 500 company. This means career growth is basically built in. You will own projects that will scale and eventually replace core systems within the parent company. Since funding is guaranteed, there’s less risk of thrash and abrupt shifts in priority. As it grows, Baton has established a solid culture of collaboration and goodwill. While work gets busy, everyone is dedicated to the mission, and is willing to help out with technical challenges or product questions. Project roadmaps can be planned far ahead of time, so managers are able to assign engineers projects that support their individual career goals. In day to day work, there are many opportunities to pick up new skills through cross functional collaboration. This includes one-off projects, or longer rotations onto other technical teams.

Nothing glaring. There are some growing pains as Baton becomes larger and takes on a wider scope within Ryder. There have been times when information is siloed within teams. It does seem like leadership is aware of this problem and is working on ways to resolve it.

When I was first presented the opportunity to work at Baton, I thought "how interesting could freight logistics be" and almost passed on the company. I am so glad I didn't as working here has been the highlight of my career! The problem space is extremely complex, always changing, and ever growing so there is never a dull moment. The team here is a truly incredible cast of characters who are all whip smart and talented, and always willing to share their knowledge. I have probably learned more in my year here than I have in my entire career! I love working in an environment where great execution on one thing is only a stepping stone to the next big challenge, so the work is never done. At the same time every accomplishment immediately radiates up to, and directly impacts, the highest levels of one of the leading Fortune 500 companies. It is a very rare and unique experience to be on a team of 30 people that is fundamentally changing a 100 year old enterprise titan and disrupting an industry that underpins the entire U.s. (and global) economy. Hard working, goal-driven, rewarding, and impactful work place with no stopping point insight.

The scale of the problems which are being tackled inevitably result in less than ideal work life balance, but the leadership team is highly attentive and caring about their employees so they are always willing to help to create better balance when needed. Flexible PTO, sick days, and work hours also help to balance things out. Lack of equity isn't great, but the Employee Stock Purchase Program mitigates that somewhat. Some struggles between operating as fast-paced start up within a much older, monolithic parent company, but that is rarely felt in office