Q&A with Jake Grieves, Graduate Product Analyst

Jake is a recent graduate, having completed a Maths Bsc and Fintech Msc at the University of Bristol. Prior to Vortexa he spent some time working with charities around the Brighton region, leading a data analytics programme for the Russell Martin Foundation. Fun fact: Before working at Vortexa, Jake spent six months working as a builder with his uncle. If Vortexa were ever to need a digger or dumper driver with an analytics background, he’s the right man for the job. We wanted to find out what inspired Jake to join Vortexa, what some of his biggest milestones have been to date and what day-to-day life really looks like for the Graduate Product Analyst…

What inspired you to join Vortexa?

I was always drawn to working at smaller companies where I felt I could really make a difference. Vortexa felt like a really nice balance where the company has the resources available to support me and my career while still being able to move fast and efficiently. I remember thinking in the interview “why does this product not exist already, I should get into this”.

What would you say is the most interesting aspect of your role?

I think the freedom within the role has been incredibly surprising to me. Within the product team, if I can prove something is of value to the company, my managers and the company as a whole are more than happy to support me taking it on.

What have been some significant milestone moments for you at Vortexa?

Deploying AI to improve the workflow of our commercial and product teams in digesting large amounts of information to help us serve our customers and users better. This has been the culmination of everything I’ve done at Vortexa to date and while it’s still a little bit off completion, I’m very happy with the results so far.

What does day-to-day life look like for you as the Graduate Product Analyst?

Very much depends on the day. It’s a lot of Jupyter Notebooks, SQL and Python scripts. If not I am probably presenting, writing up work or working with someone from the R&D teams to help me with deployments.

What key qualities make a Graduate Product Analyst successful?

I think curiosity and the ability to ask questions. Product data is inherently obscure and difficult to understand and a lot of the job is asking the right questions.

How would you describe the culture at Vortexa?

Fast, fun and intelligent. Everyone I know at the company is incredibly passionate about what they do and more than happy to help you if you have any questions.