Efficient field staffing

We’re capturing customer demand and connecting that data with internal systems.

Customers expect to be able to book appointments for a time and place that is convenient for them. At Shift we’re starting to build systems that automatically match our capacity to predicted customer demand so that we have the right amount of agents working at the right time and customers find the appointments they are looking for.

The predicted customer demand is a system all by itself - taking inputs such as historical demand for a particular time and day, recent appointment patterns, and real time data to predict what capacity we’ll need when. But then we will take a step further and have our system automatically contract or expand our capacity for a given day based upon the predicted values.

A self-driven purchase process

We’re giving customers the tools to purchase a car from the comfort of their living room.

Purchasing something as important as a car is a huge decision, finalizing that sale should be the easiest part. We’re working on a purchase platform that allows our customers to move at their own pace and get the information they need at just the right time.

Every customer deserves a personal experience that fits their needs; some wish to only communicate through email, some want a more hands-on approach from our Customer Advisor team. On top of their preferences, buying a car should feel simple regardless of the massive complexity that Shift bears on their behalf.

Building this system involves creating a robust and fault-tolerant backend system that perfectly fits the complexities of purchasing a car — payments, financing, paperwork, and communication. On top of this it has to integrate with Shift’s mobile apps in the field, customer facing website, and tooling used by the Customer Advisor team; all while providing a transparent and simple experience for customers.

Extended workflow app

A goal of Shift is to deliver a delightful field experience to our customers and our employees and this starts with Shift’s custom built iPad application called the Assistant App. The Assistant App turns the complexity of picking up and selling a car into software and leads our field agents step-by-step through the process so that every field event is smooth and delightful for all involved. However, despite our best efforts to model every situation in software, exceptions do occur and our app enables our field agents to contact internal support with a single click on the app -- enabling us to complete the sale or pick up the car on the spot.

The Assistant App is the central tool that our field agents use and our customers interact with and we’re committed to building a consumer grade experience that turns advanced interactions into common occurrences.

Targeted inventory & pricing

Getting the cars that people want at a competitive price for their market is critical to our business.

Every single region that Shift operates in brings new marketplace dynamics and new customer needs. Finding the right cars for the buyers in the market is core to what makes Shift a compelling place to find the perfect new used car.

We already use a ton of market and historical data to price cars instantly, but before we price a bunch of cars, we need to know which cars are worth the effort. Combining market data, demographics, and other large data sources we can make much more informed decisions on which cars to acquire at which time, and even know which buyers are interested in cars before we even acquire them.

We’re building out a brand new system that expands our current complex pricing algorithms to incorporate new sets of data, integrate with ongoing projects on other teams, and deliver a truly unique experience to sellers. Beyond the user experience, this system will drive how vehicle acquisition works at Shift for years to come.

Engineering @ Shift

At Shift, we empower engineers to solve high-impact problems that drive our business. Our platform serves both customers and our operational team, providing a plethora of engineering challenges.

Join the team

Simple is anything but easy…

Marketplace & consumer products

Buying and selling a car are complex transactions with many moving parts. We’re building a frictionless experience with asynchronous in-app communication, instant financing, and personalized features.

A self-driven purchase process

Logistics platforms

It’s a classic computer science problem: how can we create the optimal schedule for drivers AND customers given thousands of inputs? Our proprietary scheduling system is solving these problems at scale.

Efficient field staffingExtended workflow app

Pricing engine

Because no two cars are the same, pricing is a huge algorithmic challenge that’s at the core of our business. We use machine learning to accurately price vehicles while accounting for fluctuations in demand, availability, and local-market conditions.

Targeted inventory & pricing

Our Stack

Challenging the status quo means we need every advantage we can get. This is our toolkit for building great software.

Meet the Team

Our mission to transform the experience of buying and selling cars is an ambitious one. It can only be achieved by a team of diverse problem solvers dedicated to understanding our varied customers.

Read about our experiences

“Shift is so collaborative. It’s great getting to work with smart people every day. And, as an engineer, I love getting to see how my work directly impacts our customers and our Concierges.”

– Mikey, Engineering Manager

“As an engineer on a product team, every project I work on has a direct impact on our customers. I love that I can help drive our business and build great user experiences at the same time.”

– Judith, Engineer

“I’m learning all the things I took for granted at Twitter. You are forced to think about everything from the beginning. There is no big company way of doing it.”

– Saud, Engineer

“We get to solve a really complex, important problems, and I love that our engineering team has a high quality bar for the code we ship. We’re making a usually unpleasant experience for many people better and more egalitarian for a diverse customer base – that’s really rewarding.”

– Kate, Engineering Manager

Join us!

We’ve accomplished a lot with a small and talented team, but there’s more to be done. We have an ambitious product roadmap rife with interesting challenges and opportunities. Join us in rethinking car ownership and transforming an industry.

HQ in San Francisco. Satellite engineering office in Washington, D.C.

Listen to a Code[ish] podcast episode on Principles of Pragmatic Engineering featuring our very own SVP of Engineering, Karan Gupta!‍

Engineering, Product, and Design

You work on exciting, meaningful products. You define our technical and product strategy and help build beautiful user experiences to change the way people think about car ownership.