Who is Applied Intuition? Our Humans of Applied Intuition blog series aims to answer that question by diving deeper into what we do, what we like, and where we want to go. We want you to learn more about some of the most unique parts of our culture, the reasons we came to Applied Intuition, and the reasons we stay.
Historically, the company has often promoted internally: Some employees who joined as new graduates have attained tech lead (TL) or people manager titles within a handful of years. TLs and managers are not just experts in their field—they are also stewards of Applied Intuition’s fast-paced and action-oriented culture that evolves alongside the company’s growth. Managers at Applied Intuition are actively involved in recruiting, program management, and even nitty-gritty code changes. With a 6:1 ratio of individual contributors (ICs) to managers, employees have individualized attention to further their own career development and stay grounded in what’s best for the company.
We sat down with a few of our managers across the company to better understand how they see their roles within their teams and take part in shaping broader goals. Meet Catherine Wang, Angela Li, and Mareike Ploog.
Who are you? What do you do at Applied Intuition, and how long have you been here?
Catherine: I'm a manager on the Recruiting team. I joined Applied Intuition three and a half years ago, back when the team was just three or four people. I manage two primary functions: Recruiting Operations and autonomy and ML hiring. Recruiting Operations consists of Recruiting Coordinators and Program Managers, and is the support organization for the broader team. They cover everything related to candidate experience, data analytics, talent branding, enablement, and training. The other function I manage is autonomy and machine learning (ML) hiring for the company, handling everything from sourcing candidates to helping them understand offers and client management.
Angela: I'm a manager for the developer infrastructure team under the Vehicle Platform division. We build tooling and automation to accelerate development across all workstreams. We're also responsible for overall code health, CI (continuous integration) infrastructure, build systems, and making sure the code we deliver is tested and meets certification requirements. I've been at Applied Intuition for four years, first on our cloud infrastructure team before starting the Vehicle Platform project.
Mareike: I'm the Product Application Engineering (PAE) Manager in the EMEA region. Our team is focused on product integration, which means ensuring that customers can interact effectively with our tools. The team leads workstreams to drive usage, runs workshops, and does presales demos. I've been here for two years now, starting as an IC on the PAE team before moving into management this June.
Have you always wanted to be a manager?
Catherine: I’ve never managed before. It wasn’t always a goal of mine—I just wanted to get better at what I do and control my own output. As a manager, your output becomes your team's output, and you’re responsible for driving that. I could control how many hours I put in myself—if something was slipping, I could work harder. But it’s not that simple as a manager. After working for a few years, I realized that if you want to impact change, having a leadership position gives you more leverage. It gives you a seat at the table.
Angela: I grew into management because the team needed it. As a tech lead, I was already having one-on-ones, ensuring the team was properly allocated, and prioritizing tasks. At that point, my manager asked me, “You're already doing a manager's work, so why not make it official?” The problems I'm solving have changed since I became a manager; fewer and fewer of them can be addressed through code changes like they could when I was an IC.
Mareike: Management was always my goal, but I felt I needed to prove my technical abilities first. That's why I chose to go into the startup space. I really enjoy working with people and helping them develop. It’s rewarding to work with your team, guiding their personal development while ensuring the company is moving in the right direction.
How was the transition from being an IC to being a manager?
Angela: The transition wasn’t very abrupt because even as an individual contributor, I was already handling tech lead responsibilities. As a TL, I began to have manager responsibilities. Letting go of certain tasks and learning how to delegate has been a challenge. I can't be involved in every Slack thread or drive every change myself. I have to push tasks to my direct reports who have the ability and motivation to handle them.
Mareike: Applied Intuition has a robust Manager-In-Training program with a mix of live sessions and asynchronous training. It gives you the opportunity to develop your understanding of topics that are relevant to managing, like recruiting for your team or conducting one-on-ones. It serves as dedicated time to learn from existing managers and work through common pain points with others in the training program. There’s a lot to take in when you first step into this role, but there are also many support structures in place.
Catherine: I was still in Applied Intuition’s Manager-In-Training program when I became a manager. They were teaching me the concepts of how to manage while I was already doing it. As much as they can teach theories, have you read books, and do role plays, it's never the same as hands-on managing. I’m still learning, and I’m not sure I'll ever feel like I know how to handle every situation. I still often talk to our senior managers for advice—tapping into their insights is really important, because you won’t have all the answers.
What is top of mind for your team?
Mareike: How can we scale in a non-linear fashion? Currently the PAE team scales based on the number of customers. As we gain more customers, we need more PAEs. We want to empower customers to handle their own integrations. This way, we can concentrate on building enablement and making customers more self-sufficient.
Angela: Scaling management as my team grows is a challenge. The attention I'm able to give individuals on my team varies, depending on the situation and that moment's priorities. I’m still figuring out how to scale management, ensuring everyone is allocated properly and happy.
Catherine: Upskilling the team, gaining more bandwidth, and identifying team members who can grow into leadership roles. I need to determine who on the team can be developed into management roles if that's what they want. It’s easy to keep someone in a role they're good at and expect them to repeat it, but that won’t support their growth.
What are some of the biggest successes or challenges you've faced as a manager?
Angela: Whenever my team or any individuals on my team are recognized or thanked, I'm immensely happy for them. I feel just as proud of their successes as I would of my own.
Mareike: It’s important to ensure the team feels that you’re their safety net. If they sense potential issues or escalations, they should come to you early. You have to check in with them without micromanaging while also making sure they know to come to you when needed.
Catherine: There's the day-to-day reward of witnessing someone reaching a milestone, big or small. When you see someone’s hard work pay off, that’s a great moment. But celebrating the little wins is also important. Sometimes my reports come to me with questions they already know the answer to and just need validation. Being told that I calm and ground them is really rewarding. As a manager, helping someone grow into a position where they can continue to develop is very satisfying.
What have you learned?
Mareike: Keeping yourself open to surprising technical learnings is key. I’m often impressed by my team’s ability to tackle tough integrations in a way I never would have thought of. They choose a challenging but correct route, and it pays off. Seeing their successes and understanding how they achieved them is truly rewarding.
Catherine: Everyone needs to be managed differently. Each person has unique goals and needs and you have to manage those needs empathetically. The challenge is balancing this with the expected output from each person.
What should people know about management at Applied Intuition?
Mareike: You don’t need to become a manager to advance your career at Applied Intuition. It’s possible to excel and grow as an IC without moving into management. We have outstanding individual contributors who prefer not to move into management, and that’s perfectly fine.
Catherine: Individuals have a voice in the company. Team tables—small groups of ICs and managers on each team who make decisions—provide opportunities to see how decisions are made at the management level, even if you’re not a manager yourself. Promotions are based purely on performance, not on networking or favoritism. If you're excelling and performing managerial tasks, the natural next step is to become a manager if that’s what you want. Additionally, managers are evaluated every six months by their team and colleagues with scores reflecting our company values, so there’s a constant feedback cycle.
Angela: The management here genuinely cares about the growth and success of the individual contributors. Fundamentally, we all try to manage with empathy.
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