Careers
People of BigMachines
At BigMachines, equal talent always means equal opportunity. We believe in hiring and promoting the best talent and hiring across diverse backgrounds provides us the best opportunity to do so. We have a very diverse global team with citizens of over 10 countries who bring a broad variety of cultural backgrounds and speak many different languages.
We believe that in addition to hiring the best talent, the diversity of perspectives, ideas, and cultures leads to the creation of better products and services. This diversity of our team serves as the foundation for us to better serve our diverse customers and stakeholders all over the world.
Meet some of our team members below:
Bob McMurray, Director of Professional Services
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
“Spending time with my 3 children, playing the piano in a jazz quintet I started 10 years ago, and playing competitive tennis (doubles) in USTA leagues."
Describe a typical day:
- Meet with project leaders
- Provide strategic guidance to the project team for the present and the upcoming weeks
- Review financial performance of professional services
- Participate in methodology process improvement meetings
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
“The people. I’ve worked for a number of companies and what stands out here are the people. From wall to wall, everybody is cool and good to work with. Everybody.”
Favorite quote:
"The meaning of life…Plant a tree, raise a child, write a book" -The Talmud
Best accomplishment while working at BigMachines?
“I am proud of my team. Whether it was my leadership style or their willingness and eagerness to learn and collaborate, I am proud of how quickly we came together, and how they trusted me to lead.”
Toni Pastorino, Technical Writer
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
“I spend a lot of my free time coaching champions! In all seriousness I do coach high school and club diving in Vernon Hills. I also enjoy working out, traveling, reading, and spending time with my friends and family."
Describe a typical day:
"Does anyone have a typical day? Since I handle all product knowledge, my main focus is providing accurate and usable content to our users. This takes on many shapes. I'm usually updating our Help, working with our Dev/PM teams to create new documentation for upcoming releases, working with CS on the content consolidation project, and I also create new feature demos, training videos, and more. I like that changes – it keeps things interesting!"
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
"I really enjoy the people that I work with. This team is smart, hard-working and a ton of fun to be around. "
Advice:
"Seek out the opinions of your teammates and manager on projects that you're working on. They may have a different perspective or solution to consider. Also, don't be afraid to share your ideas!"
Best accomplishment while working at BigMachines?
"I created the first BigMachines Cookbook which condensed a sizeable portion of our help into a desk reference guide that our customers seem to really appreciate. I also planned, developed and implemented our first Admin Essentials Online Training course."
Jason Danielson, Country Manager, BigMachines Japan
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
“Playing with my wife and daughter, Mountain climbing, Japanese comedians and weightlifting"
Describe a typical day:
"Wake up, sync up with US team members, head downtown to meet with Japanese clients, partners and prospects to analyze their business processes and how BigMachines could enhance them, sync up with APAC team members, head home and sync up with European team members."
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
"The people at BigMachines are intelligent and respond to logic and reasoning. If something makes sense for the company and you can make a good case for it, the people listen and act accordingly. BigMachines also has a good presence and network in the SaaS world, with strong globally recognized connections to industry leaders."
Advice:
"Be logical and calculating in everything that you do and make sure that all decisions are well thought out. Above all else, make sure that your customers are successful."
Best accomplishment while working at BigMachines?
"I localized the BigMachines software and demo's to the Japanese market and brought BigMachines proven sales methodologies to Japan, closing BigMachines' first all Japanese deal from initial contact through contract negotiations. I also led BigMachines first Japanese implementation project from pre-design through to successful go-live and established BigMachines Japan's first independent office."
Farah Siddiqui, Staff Accountant
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
“Spending quality time with my family, rooting for my home teams in hostile territory (GO HEAT!!!), traveling, and reading… lots and lots of reading. Long epic fantasy series’ are my favorite (i.e. Wheel of Time, Song of Ice and Fire, Malazan Book of the Fallen… Twilight)."
Describe a typical day:
“I focus on all things related to Accounts Receivable – A typical day will involve a mix of collections and invoicing activities. Also work with the Sales team and Customer Success Managers when it comes to quote and order validation."
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
“The people and the environment - my managers, my coworkers, Friday lunches, the ping pong table. It’s a great place to work."
Favorite quote:
“Just because I rock, doesn’t mean I’m made out of stone.” – Hank from Me, Myself & Irene
Best accomplishment while working at BigMachines?
“I was the January 2009 Professional of the Month. But more than that, I’m proud to have had a hand in developing the processes and procedures for many of our current AR practices."
Joe Martin, Enterprise Account Executive
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
- Watching/playing sports
- Running
- Reading: Historical novels & Biographies
- Hanging out with friends
Describe a typical day:
“Definitely one of the best things about the sales position is that there really is not a typical day. One day you might be onsite with a perspective customer to learn about their business, and the next you could be in a contract negotiation or a technical discussion about BigMachines and how it would fit within their environment.”
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
“You really learn a lot about a lot of different businesses because one day you might be speaking with a customer in the manufacturing industry and the next day it could be software, so you are always learning on the job. Also, it’s a very collaborative environment here; you work hand in hand with a lot of different people within the organization as a sales person.”
Advice:
“Try to leverage as many people within a company or organization as possible because there are a lot of people here or in other companies that can really help you on a daily basis grow as a professional.”
Best thing you have learned while working at BigMachines?
“How to really listen to customers.”
Rachna Chandrashekar, Sales Support Engineer
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
- Painting
- Traveling
- Cooking
- Exploring new restaurants in Chicago
- Getting outdoors in the summer
Describe a typical day:
“I work closely with other Sales Engineers to analyze requirements, build and test custom demos/prototypes of the BigMachines platform. I interact with prospective clients to help them understand how BigMachines can leverage their selling process/sales cycle. I connect with people from different teams within the company to discuss possible ways to constantly innovate and improve our product.”
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
“Definitely the people. It's a young and energetic environment. We are a smart, hardworking, fun and friendly bunch!”
Favorite quote:
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life." - Steve Jobs
Advice:
"Be the change you want to see around you."
Mike O’Malley, Software Engineer/UI Team Leader
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
- Brewing beer
- Bike riding with wife
- Going to movies
Describe a typical day:
“Coding the software that BigMachines sells, and sometimes reviewing the code of other team members and giving them direction.”
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
“The culture and the people that work here. I think it is relaxed. It’s nice that we have game rooms and free lunch on Fridays.”
Favorite quote:
“If a problem can be solved there is no use worrying about it. If it can't be solved, worrying will do no good.” - Tibetan Proverb
Best accomplishment while working at BigMachines?
“Currently I think my best accomplishment is adding the image menu functionality to BigMachines, but I feel like with every project I work on I become more experienced and proud of my work.”
Evan Maxwell, Human Resources/Benefits Specialist
Hobbies/interests outside of work:
- Running – training for 5ks and 10ks
- Swimming
- Exploring the city
- Biking
Goal:
"Complete a triathlon next year."
Describe a typical day:
“It varies greatly. I don’t really have a set schedule. I could be processing payroll for all of our professionals and gathering all of the administrative information behind that. If we have hired a lot of new team mebers, I might be sitting down with them and explaining the culture of BigMachines, going over the legal paperwork, and explaining the benefits that BigMachines offers them. I am also here as internal support for anyone with questions or concerns. Additionally, I have started working on our annual review process.”
What do you like about working at BigMachines?
“It’s a fun environment. In a lot of companies, HR is seen as a type of police, whereas at BigMachines everyone realizes that HR is here to help them and not tell them what they can’t do. I don’t think people are afraid to hang out with HR – it makes my job a lot more fun.”
Favorite quote:
"You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality." - Walt Disney
Best thing you have learned while working at BigMachines?
“Learning more about benefits, and getting the chance to learn more technical details that apply to our software."
