In a previous article, 3 unique things about being a researcher at DoorDash, I mentioned that working with Strategy & Operations (S&O) is something I really enjoy about my role. For example, when the S&O team managing DashPass, DoorDashs subscription service, identified opportunities to offer additional benefits to subscribers, they modeled what the benefit structure should look like and ran operational tests (a quick way to test an idea that doesnt require meaningful engineering work). As we continue to grow, we think about how we can maintain flexibility and meaningful earnings opportunities for Dashers, continue to have as much coverage for merchants as possible, and always ensure that consumers are receiving their orders efficiently. On top of all this, we also know that consumer expectations have changed in the last eight years since we began, and that on the whole, people want access to more things, faster. Thats not to say promotions are automatic, but you can definitely be confident that your work will be recognized and rewarded. Source: mulinfo.csrtimys.res.in. Operational excellence at the 1-foot and 50K foot levels Our business operates in both the short and long-term (i.e., high quality orders need to be fulfilled today and how the space we are operating in changes over the next 12 months). This also means that we've been able to create more economic opportunities for merchants and Dashers. If this were a play, I would say we just finished act one this year. Its a huge competitive data moat. Productizing data is a common pattern for delivery and transportation companies. Hey everyone. Building on that momentum, the two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company is also planning international expansion following a recent launch in Japan. I invest a significant amount of my time into my team since my success is their success. Lighter traffic and easier parking also mean that Dashers can serve these markets more efficiently. As part of the centralized Drive Ops team, the Associate will have the opportunity to help define, scale, and optimize Drive's next biggest bets. If youre building your own company and are just about to go raise money, in particular for the first time Id love to talk to to you! I applied and interviewed for DD strategy and operations role (was rejected in the last round). Theres a dedicated Customer Acquisition Team with a business leader. On a work level, this includes the targets that are set for me and the professional development that I seek. Free interview details posted anonymously by DoorDash interview candidates. lower customer acquisition cost, as theres less competition in these markets. Data makes the DoorDash local logistics platform more intelligent and efficient with every order. while also balancing the dynamics of a three-sided marketplace. DoorDash offers you so many resources to help you growbut you have to take those opportunities.. Fang: Our mission at DoorDash is to empower local economies, and while we started in the U.S., we've always had an intention to broaden our impact and provide value to merchants, consumers, and Dashers in other countries. If you dont have the time to read the full post I also write a weekly-ish newsletter where I share the lessons learned from all the start-up that I come across. Were there any challenging times when you felt like the company wasn't going to succeed? As a Launcher, you need to be okay working independently, and learning to be with yourself and do your own thing. May 31, 2020 5 11. Then we do our best to bring desirable merchants on board. Fortunately, that challenging period forced us to reinvent how we operated and be savvier than ever. Its one of our most successful launches so far, in large part thanks to those ideas which were now incorporating into our plans for future launches. Users can get the subscription for $9.99/month, and it is applicable to any restaurant that's DoorDash affiliated. So one challenge Strategy and Ops faces is deciding how to spend where it matters most. Everyone here is on the same team. Im looking at vast amounts of data about market performance and sales, but that data has no value if I dont have the context to understand what its telling me. how to optimize their dishes for delivery and pick-up, or what to do to attract new customers. A few examples. If day one is disappointing, the question becomes: How well can you problem-solve? At DoorDash, I am empowered to do that, and I can have an impact on not just one aspect of the business but sometimes the entire company. My job is a combination of analyzing data to identify specific challenges within markets, and helping build and oversee solutions. We are only as good as our next order. At DoorDash, data is what drives the Get 1% better every day goal. Were curious too. When Im talking to Dashers, Im always trying to learn: Why are they dashing? But that doesnt really matter, because what matters is execution and putting the strategy to work. Another big challenge is scaling all three sides of our marketplace merchants, customers, and Dashers at the same rate. Shaving off minutes compounds across the whole fleet, raising income for Dashers and making DoorDash more efficient and profitable. Typical questions for the research team to answer: What is something we should be doing but we are not? There might be one operations person who stays longer, to manage the transition to the full-time team. Most of that responsibility sits within the Strategy & Operations team. We think about growth in three ways: developing our core business, geographic expansion, and vertical growth. empower dashers with an efficient delivery process to they can deliver more orders per unit of time, with a predictable, transparent way to earn money. Once the market goes live, Im spending my days managing sales calls, designing promotions, and continuing to grow the driver fleet. One of the biggest levers for a profitable delivery business is driver dispatch which dasher is best suited to fulfill a delivery. You have experience blending analytics and creativity to scope and implement solutions, working as an individual contributor and as part of a larger team. Conventional wisdom in the food delivery business suggests that the biggest markets are in high-density metropolitan areas. We dont waste our time being pissed off or bent out of shape, and there are no screaming matches. DM if interested. Im also tracking growth and making sure we hit our numbers. Many of the leaders at DoorDash today were with the company during that time, and maintain the same pragmatic determination that got us through then. I was promoted to Associate General Manager, then General Manager for Los Angeles, and transitioned to my current role when we began building our specialized teams. We organize our team with a full-stack development model, integrating product management, engineering, analytics, data science, and design.. From presenting personalized, curated content to consumers that takes into account cuisine and dietary preferences to providing information that enables Dashers to maximize their earnings opportunities, our machine learning algorithms continuously improve the experiences of our three constituencies and make our local logistics platform more intelligent and efficient with every order. Ultimately, we are building a global logistics company thats what I came here to do. The combination of regional experts and focus on each side of the business ensures that local marketplaces within the regions are growing and running smoothly. , regardless of the quality of the food. The research team helps S&O partners figure out those details, especially for new features that might have a bigger impact on the customer experience, or when we are trying to target a new audience group. DoorDash uses machine learning (ML) to analyze thousands of merchant menus, and has seen hefty improvement in menu performance from experiments involving header photos and more information about the restaurant. Does the offering work? I spend a lot of time finding solutions; I might look at why it takes Dashers longer to reach certain merchants, or how we can tailor our selections to attract more customers. Clearly, it makes a difference if a whole delivery cycle takes e.g. They can name all the rock star Dashers and bestselling merchants. Right now, though, Im happy to stay where I am. Sign in to save Manager, Merchant Services Strategy & Operations at DoorDash. Each region has teams that cover a particular side of the business merchants, customers or Dashers. DoorDashs Strategy and Operations team can fairly be described as the companys lifeblood: they continuously push out new features and processes to users, then carry valuable on-the-ground insights back to headquarters. I joined the company two years ago as an Operations Manager. Cross-functional Assessment 3. Requires multiple case studies and a take home assessment. If your end goal is, say, product management, this is a great way to get there. Case Study 2. DoorDash has productized data into a real-time prediction service called Sybil. UberEats started in 2014, leveraging Ubers existing network of drivers and its the deep pockets. acquire more merchants, and empower them with more merchant services that help them grow their business. At the same time, theres a lot of room to be creative. Get email updates for new Merchant Services jobs in Tempe, AZ. I think there are three distinct factors that make up for DoorDashs success: Its the 3rd factor that I think gets too little attribution data. Activision Blizzard, Go to company page Where and how should we introduce the product to customers? In my current role in the restaurant industry, I have developed great skills in keeping track of multiple customers and their orders. And we launched DoorDash Drive, which lets any merchant tap into our logistics fleet. While I may think my train of thought is the best, the experiences of others often help provide the best view. Thats a ton of operating leverage and drives up the LTV / CAC ratio. Are people ordering in more than they were pre-pandemic? DoorDash, which went public in December, has undoubtedly benefitted from food delivery trends over the past year.The company's stock began trading at $182 per share on Dec. 9, 2020, and while it . I really just wanted to build things from scratch. Im in New York now, but I can ping someone in LA or Dallas or Vancouver and get a quick response. [] While it might seem small in isolation, our daily work be it on reducing delivery times, increasing efficiency, or improving personalization is about compounding incremental improvements that drive significant value over time. People who can easily transition from a 5-foot level to a 10,000-foot level thrive here too: the people I admire can quickly go from talking about a very specific process to asking how it impacts our overall strategy. Everyone wants to contribute the strongest strategies they can to improve our overall approach. Heres a visual example of what an experiment and its results can look like. These enhancements have focused on improving Dasher efficiency, which enables Dashers to complete more deliveries per hour worked, and the quality of the experience of merchants, consumers, and Dashers, which has led to lower cost of refunds, credits, and adjusted cost of revenue, in the aggregate, as a percentage of Marketplace GOV.. Changs, continue to invest in our relationship by partnering with us at new stores across the country. You also need to think creatively and be willing to experiment. what menu item to present first), and understand what option of the experiment drives desirable behavior. Within this process, there are typically four scenarios where S&O and research can partner: This is where researchers need to be proactive and try to be involved early, as it might not occur to S&O that they can leverage research resources at this phase. Inclusive Leadership Thanks in advance for the help #doordash #interview #doordashinterview #operations #ops #product #tech #pm #strategy We already learned how 85% of GOV is coming from existing customers, and thats because of high spend retention. DoorDash started in 2013 and wasnt the first food delivery in the market. Apart from local restaurants, DoorDash also has partnerships with national and regional chains such as McDonalds, Taco Bell and WingStop. How efficient is a given Dasher, and are we paying them accordingly? Orders from non-restaurant categories, including grocery, convenience, alcohol, flowers and gifts, grew 40% from the end of 2020 to the end of Q1 2021. DoorDash, already benefitting from food delivery trends, is getting into alcohol delivery. S&O was the do everything else group, taking care of everything from CRM to competitive intelligence to some lightweight customer research. But it was an exciting transition for me, and a hugely rewarding one: The challenges were solving are always becoming more nuanced and complex, and now I have the bandwidth to dig much deeper into the problems Im most passionate about. DoorDash Engaged Employer Overview 12K Reviews 23K Jobs 7K Salaries 1.6K Interviews 728 Benefits 35 Photos 1.4K Diversity Follow + Add an Interview DoorDash Strategy and Operations Associate Interview Questions Updated Feb 1, 2023 Find Interviews To filter interviews, Sign In or Register. In my current role, I work under both time and very lofty accuracy goals. A Division of NBCUniversal. It also helps to be comfortable experimenting, and wearing different hats. For example, there are more women working in our headquarters, and especially on our Engineering team. In food delivery that could be how many orders did we sell yesterday? or which is the the most popular restaurant in Austin in July vs. December?, Over time, analytics teams collect more data points, incl. That said, DoorDash makes a great effort to accommodate our personal lives. From page iii of the S-1 filing, in the How We Operate section: [] everyone at DoorDash, including me [Tony Xu], tries to step out of our day-to-day roles once a month to do a delivery or engage in customer support, menu creation, or merchant support staying very close to the needs of those who use our platform is key. A lot of us are early in our careers, and thats not necessarily something were used to doing, especially those of us who came from big firms. Building on that momentum, the two-time CNBC Disruptor 50 company is getting into alcohol delivery not to mention its wealth of international expansion plans. Typical questions for the research team to answer: Is this really a problem? I have the same question, Iirc.,from many years ago, there were a lot of on the fly questions like, if we dropped you into a random city with no smart phone / computer etc and asked you to figure out how many couriers are working, how would you do it, where would you start your research, etc.. Why is wearing uniforms important for our couriers, and if our couriers are not following uniform rules, how would you check if couriers are wearing uniforms in the most efficient way and remedy the situation. We get a trip home or to any domestic city once a month, so I have lots of chances to see friends and family around the country. Sony, Go to company page Its not as much travel as careers in consulting, for example, where youre away Monday through Friday and come home on the weekends. They first identify an opportunity or get tasked to solve a business problem. Got an email rejection a few days later. Theres also a subscription component to the DoorDash business, its not just purely transactional. In a diverse environment, it is great to learn from the perspectives of others, and this becomes especially important in problem-solving situations. How can we solve it? I applied for an ops role late last year. Balancing these priorities is an interesting challenge, and things only become more complex as we factor in varying geographies, vehicle types, and societal norms. We talk a lot with Dasher teams in other markets to share ideas weve tried and challenges were facing. They can also help fill the sales role in a newer region that doesnt yet have its own team. Because of that granular understanding, you can now run tiny experiments for a very specific process (e.g. DoorDash offers you so many resources to help you grow, whether its a data set or your colleagues but you have to take those opportunities. First off, Gross Margin grew from 23% in Q1 2019 to 53% in Q3 2020. What should the end-to-end experience look like? Ive developed a deep level of empathy toward every side of this business and the people making it run. This helped the company determine whether we should further invest in those ideas or not. Were launching new markets, were announcing new partners, were experimenting with things like catering and alcohol I love coming in every day thinking about the next big thing. Can you help share any prep tips to be successful in the below interviews ? Deloitte. I can provide detailed insights. Click the link in the email we sent to to verify your email address and activate your job alert. As a result, much of the DoorDash marketplace is now driven by data. Most of the customer and Dasher acquisition seems to come from performance-based marketing. Our point of sale program makes it easy to take detailed notes on customer preferences so I can provide tailored service to them. Additionally, suburban markets are attractive as consumers in these markets are more likely to be families who order more items per order. The average order value has fluctuated within a narrow band, between $29.90 and $31.20. A lot of Strategy and Ops is focused on one side of the business, but we work with all three: recruiting restaurants as partners, kicking off marketing efforts to bring in customers, and running orientations for new Dashers. With that knowledge, we worked with S&O partners to improve the messages, making them resonate more with customers, and address the concerns more effectively. For example, if we had an influx in customer demand, but didnt bump up Dasher operations to meet that demand, then wed have plenty of orders and no one to deliver them. If we launch an expensive out-of-home marketing campaign in LA, that reduces the budget for marketing in Canada. The 2016 cohort increased its annual spend by 57% in Year 4 (2019) compared to 2016. Not every operational test becomes a product. How long will a pint of ice cream stay cold? Stories and lessons from DoorDash Design team. The whole DoorDash platform is built with a microservices architecture. acquire more customers, and offer them a restaurant selection and services that drive up engagement and retention. DoorDash also values experimentation. DoorDash has built an incredible analytics machine that allows granular optimization experiments on the tiniest little things across the food delivery lifecycle. Im a Regional General Manager based out of our Midwest hub in Chicago. Someone outside of DoorDash might look at that trajectory and think that specializing has led to being pigeonholed, since I used to oversee all sides of the business and now I manage one. Felt like brain teasers but I guess they prob deal with this type of shit, These questions sound ridiculous. TELUS WBcX53. A lot of people think of DoorDash as solely a food delivery platform, but thats just the beginning. Ive heard this repeated often: Speak as if youre right. Theres tremendous value in having fresh eyes on a problem. My day might include Dasher orientations, marketing strategy, and meeting with merchants to discuss outreach and awareness. Junior Operations Manager (m/f/d) Vollzeit, Kingston upon Thames, England, United Kingdom, Technical Manager - CAD Methods and Processes, Strategic, Policy and Development Manager, Changez d'horizon devenez Consultant Selescope h/f, Senior Commercial Finance Business Partner - Fixed Term Contract (2 Years), Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates, Responsable de la Sous Traitance d'Etudes F/H, Whner GmbH & Co.KG - Elektrotechnische Systeme, Strategize Create plans against the Merchant Services strategy of building a seamless onboarding, menu, and photo experience that delights merchants, Experiment Use data-driven insights to run process improvement tests, Analyze Build the analytics infrastructure, metrics and tools that power our team's operations and strategy, Influence Manage projects with our sales, partner management, operations, product, engineering, and business operations teams to improve the merchant experience and achieve targets, You have 6+ years of experience in strategy & operations or consulting; high-growth startup experience is advantageous, You have experience leading cross-functional projects and hitting goals, You are comfortable manipulating datasets; SQL experience is advantageous, You always look for ways to improve and want to shape the direction of the company, You can motivate people at all levels across the organization, You can translate high-level goals into relevant plans, You love getting to a low level of detail. 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The question becomes: how well can you help share any prep to... Profitable delivery business is driver dispatch which Dasher is best suited to fulfill delivery! Momentum, the experiences of others often help provide the best, the becomes!

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