Thomas
von der Ohe

Co-Founder, CEO

WHAT DRIVES ME

You come across an opportunity to positively impact societies around the globe maybe once in your lifetime. An opportunity to truly make a difference. Our unique approach to autonomous driving gives us this chance: redefining how people move in a better way. Building and shipping a product with this great team is what drives me day and night.

BACKGROUND

Launched Zoox’ first self-driving vehicle on public streets as leading Technical Program Manager in Silicon Valley, launched Amazon’s first Echo as leading Technical Program Manager on Device Software, Founded two (funded) mobility companies. M. Sc. Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University.

Fabrizio
Scelsi

Co-Founder, VP Engineering

WHAT DRIVES ME

Building products together with an amazing team based on cutting-edge technology to serve a greater purpose and solve problems – for the people, for our planet.

BACKGROUND

Manager of an engineering team in Silicon Valley to build autonomous shuttles, built teams and various mobility products: electric race cars, e-motorcycles, light electric vehicles, electric passenger vehicles, including one of the most successful electric delivery vehicles in Germany. RWTH Aachen, Imperial College London.

Bogdan
Djukic

Co-founder, Director Teledrive Experience

WHAT DRIVES ME

Vay is aiming to launch the first vehicle without a safety driver on public roads in Europe. This involves exciting engineering challenges, many of which have never been worked on before, ranging from autonomous vehicle technology, cybersecurity, backend, machine learning and safety-critical SW. Coming up with engineering solutions to these topics is something that I’m super excited to work on at Vay.

BACKGROUND

Team Lead at Microsoft, Senior Software Engineer at Skype. M. Sc. in Computer Science from Belgrade University.

Mariona
Bosch

Director of Engineering Operations

WHAT DRIVES ME

Working closely with people from different cultures and professional backgrounds (hardware, software, operations, etc.) gives me the chance to learn new ways of approaching projects, structuring teams, and setting up processes every day. The results of this incredible teamwork are hugely rewarding, and visible in each step of our product.

BACKGROUND

Part of the management circle at AUDI AG, responsible for the implementation of prototypes at early development stages of new products (innovation vehicles, concept and pre-series vehicles, show cars, design models, testing single parts, PoCs, 3D-printing)

Hans-Leo
Ross

Director of Safety

WHAT DRIVES ME

All my professional life I have been working for the protection and safety of people and the environment. I want to further provide safe and user-friendly automation systems for our future mobility needs.

BACKGROUND

25+ years experience in system safety at Conti., Mando, Bosch. Led the VDA working group in Germany to create ISO 26262 and influenced worldwide safety standardization. Author of several text books on functional safety.

Justin
Spratt

VP - Business & Corporate Development

WHAT DRIVES ME

What drives me is to work on goals that have a big impact on society. Additionally, I wanted to work with the smartest and most innovative people in the tech world. That’s better at Vay than any other company I’ve spoken to recently.

BACKGROUND

Was CEO and chief growth officer at Quirk. Began his professional life at Morgan Stanley as a fixed income trader after studying economics and finance. Built the first startup incubator in Africa in 2002 and has been mentoring founders of technology startups for over ten years. He is an angel investor in software technology and holds board positions in some of these companies.

Christian
Hertlein

VP - Product Design and Brand

WHAT DRIVES ME

Building the future of mobility, which is sustainable and truly serving the needs of people, by creating a holistic experience, a relatable brand and shaping services that are going to make a difference to how we move within and between cities.

BACKGROUND

Head of Global Design at N26, Senior Lead Designer at IDEO, in-car interactions for Volkswagen.

David
Gossow

Senior Principal Software Engineer

WHAT DRIVES ME

After having worked in autonomous robotics research for a long time in the Silicon Valley, I am thrilled to be working at a company that is finally bringing this technology into people’s everyday lives.

BACKGROUND

Tech Lead at Google Tango in Mountain View, Research Engineer at Willow Garage, yoga instructor since 2018.

Vladimir
Bilonenko

Director of Software Engineering

WHAT DRIVES ME

Helping engineers to do their best and most important work. Elegance in software. Bringing ideas from books to real life and from one domain to another. Going from A to B fast.

BACKGROUND

Software Generalist. Maps and Mobility Geek (Lon, Lat not Lat, Lon). High Load at Yandex, Geo Analytics and Last Mile at HERE Maps, Mobility Platform at Daimler. Conway’s Law Enthusiast.

ALINA
PRESTI

Teledriver

WHAT DRIVES ME

A car enthusiast, driven by cars, driving and technology.

BACKGROUND

Nursery school teacher. Driver at Skoda’s start-up Caredriver.

Deep Dive: How to hire successfully

As businesses continue to evolve in the post “great resignation” years , talent acquisition has become an even more critical component of organisational success. At Vay, we believe that talent acquisition is a continuous process, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve. Employees are the backbone of our organisation, and we are committed to attracting and retaining the best talents. We do this by prioritising a holistic approach to talent acquisition, creating a positive candidate experience, excellent communication as well as prioritising diversity and inclusion in everything we do.

5 tips for successful hiring:

1. Building diverse teams: Working together closely with the people team to spotlight the importance of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) across our entire organisation is crucial. For the Talent Acquisition team, it means DEI is essential in hiring practices, including diversifying applicant pools and creating inclusive job descriptions, resume reviews, interviewing panels/ and consistent interview structures, as well as lots more!

2. Continued Adoption of Remote Work: The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of remote work, and companies are expected to continue offering flexible work arrangements in the future. This will require new approaches to recruiting and managing talent, as well as a focus on building strong virtual teams. A flexible work policy, company wide and team (online) events and remote benefits are building strong teams that are able to work efficiently – wherever team members might be based physically. This is an important part of the overall goal to increase all employee’s well being.

3. Emphasis on Skills over Degrees: As the skills gap continues to widen, companies are increasingly looking for candidates who have the specific skills and experience needed for the job, rather than relying solely on traditional credentials like degrees. This needs to lead to a greater focus on skills-based assessments and training programs. In recruiting, specifically in evaluating resumes, we have to take this development into account and educate hiring managers/teams .

4. Use Automation in Recruitment: Companies will continue to adopt AI and automation tools to streamline recruitment processes, including resume screening, candidate sourcing, and interview scheduling. This will help to reduce bias and improve the efficiency of the hiring process. A successful Talent Acquisition team should be data driven and work with contemporary programs that visualise data in a digestible way to streamline the decision-making process and allow us to make faster hires with always increasing quality.

5. Growing Importance of Employer Branding: With competition for top talent increasing, companies will need to differentiate themselves from their competitors by building a strong employer brand. This will involve creating a positive candidate experience, highlighting the company’s values and culture, and using social media and other channels to promote the brand. Employer branding also includes internal mobility and training/education to enhance employee career opportunities, provide excellent leadership across diverse teams, and create growth opportunities.

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