What can I say here that hasn’t already been said by others…yes, there is tacit favoritism towards Australians. While I was there, it seemed they would hire and fly over Aussies (chained to a visa) to fill roles over the very qualified and diverse pool of candidates NY has to offer. The impression I had leaving Rokt is that they want the panache of being a disruptive mover and shaker in New York but with an Australian flair…which sounds like a fun sentiment from the outside looking in, but in reality it was demoralizing as an American working there.
Management….where to begin. Every department, for the most part, bears witness to leadership's poor choice in promotion. There were days when I saw certain support teams just laugh at each other so they wouldn’t cry. If you’re Australian, you’re more likely stratify quicker than the American employees.
Leadership: CEO and CCO think they’re akin to Pierre and Marie Curie when they’re actually more like Adam and Rebekah Neumann. Both believe they are far more magnanimous than they actually are, with little to no self-awareness.
In one cringe-inducing instance during an all-hands meeting, with the entire company present on a video call, the CEO argued the efficacy of Slack vs GChat with an engineer in a very visible forum. Said engineer left not too long after. It was quite sobering to watch a passive aggressive conversation visibly devolve over chat between a CEO and an employee.
Office Culture: When you come to Rokt, you’re expected to go above and beyond, which is pretty standard for a company Rokt’s size, but what that actually translated to is they expect your butt in your seat from 8:30am to 7pm, sometimes later…because you will be working with international teams. Again, part and parcel of the job, but without flexible work options, you'll wind up dispirited, exhausted, and apathetic.
