Square is at the forefront of the mobile payment space, providing merchants with a simple and affordable payment processing system. The company was started by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey in 2009, and launched publicly the next year. Since then, Square has raised more than $300 million funding and is reportedly valued at $3.25 billion. Square now processes more than $10 billion in payments annually, from more than 3 million users and a network of 250,000 merchants.
As Square's business has grown, so has its staff. Square went from just 10 employees in 2010 to more than 450 employees now, and the company says it plans to employ nearly 1000 employees by the end of this year. Square recently signed up for a larger office space in San Francisco to house all those staffers. But even as the company grows rapidly, employees remain focused on the company's mission.
"We are reinventing commerce by removing the friction between a buyer and seller. With that comes a wide spectrum of challenges," Bryan Power, Square's director of talent, told Mashable. "Knowing we are changing the lives of business owners everywhere, keeps us motivated and connected as a team."
Who They're Hiring
Given that Square is looking to more than double its staff this year, there is certainly no shortage of open positions. The company is particularly focused on bringing on more designers and engineers, with positions available on its creative team in New York, engineering and business teams in Atlanta and engineering, business and design teams in San Francisco. The ideal candidates are "leaders who want to be challenged," Power said. "There is a wide spectrum of technical challenges and opportunities at Square; everyone is encouraged to take the lead, work through obstacles, and come up with unique solutions."
Here is a selection of some of the positions Square is looking to fill:
Electrical Engineer
Security Software Engineer
iOS Engineer
Infrastructure Engineer
Product Designer
Visual Designer
Interaction Designer
Web Designer
The Hiring Process
The hiring process varies somewhat depending on whether you're applying for a position in design or engineering. Engineering candidates are first be asked to do a Skype interview, during which they will work out coding problems with another Square engineer, in real time. If all goes well, the candidates are then invited to come to the office for half-day, on-site interviews, which focus on working through problems with the interviews rather than the traditional Q&A interview format. The goal is to give applicants a chance to work and collaborate with engineers from several different teams so they have a better sense of the people they might be working with one day.
Those applying for design positions must first submit a portfolio of their work and then go through similar Skype and on-site interviews. During the on-site portion, applicants meet with other designers and an engineer — since the two teams work closely together at Square — and are expected to explain the decisions they made in various work featured in their portfolio. Design candidates will also have one working session where they partner up with one of Square's designers to work through a problem.
Power says the time it takes from the first interview to receiving an offer varies from candidate to candidate, but Square tries "to get candidates through the hiring process as quickly as possible."
Perks and Benefits
As with many tech companies, working at Square comes with its fair share of perks. Square provides employees with breakfast, lunch and dinner, and the startup even has its very own in-house barista. "Our coffee bar not only keeps us caffeinated, but provides us with a way to product test new beta builds internally," Power says.
Aside from the food, Square has several organized sports teams for employees, including a running club, and soccer and basketball teams. If sports aren't your thing, you can sign up for a gym membership and Square will reimburse you. If that's not enough to persuade you, the company also has an unlimited vacation policy.
Finally, Square hosts many company-wide events. In the past, Square has taken employees to the Legions of Honor and Cavallo Point in San Francisco, and gone to Giants' games and the Cirque du Soleil. The company also has a Speakers Series where guests come and offer their insights on trends impacting small businesses. And of course, every quarter Square has a Hack Week — after all, no tech startup would be complete without some quality employee hacking time.
What the Team Says
The best part about working here is:
"Having the ability to walk up to anyone, ask what they're working on, and pair [program] with them. It's an awesome way to spread product and code knowledge, see what other teams are working on and learn something new. There have even been times where this sort of spontaneity has saved hours of work, or where their (or my) project has benefitted from sharing knowledge of things that have already been done." – Madelin Woods, Front-end Engineer
The team. It's an incredibly smart, motivated and passionate group of people working to solve a huge variety of really hard problems every single day. The energy and enthusiasm everyone brings every day is incredible. – Zach Brock, Engineering Manager
When I started working here, I was surprised by:
"The onboarding process. During my first few weeks at Square, I jumped from team to team — working with a bunch of different engineers — before ultimately choosing the team I wanted to join." – Chris Hunt, Software Engineer
"How genuinely committed the entire organization is to improving what we've built so far: from processes and products, to how we communicate internally. In my third week I was asked, 'Now that you've been here a couple weeks, what can we do better?' and I was expected to have an answer and ideas on how to improve." – Erin Larsen, Video Producer
Don't bother applying if...
"You're not passionate about solving some really complex problems. We're reimagining an age-old system that touches nearly everyone in the world today." – Robert Andersen, Creative Director
"You can't roll with the punches. Things move quickly at Square and you have to keep up." – Matthew O'Connor, Director of Infrastructure
Images courtesy of Square, thumbnail courtesy of Flickr, @cdharrison
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