At some companies it’s hard to be a changemaker — but that’s not the case for engineers at Bilt Rewards and Integral Ad Science.
At Bilt Rewards, for example, Senior Software Engineer Hubert Sulich said that when an employee raises their hand to take on a project, they don’t just get to point out coordinates on a map: they get to steer the ship.
“This level of responsibility is challenging and empowering — it really pushes you to grow,” Sulich said. “You’ll often be the sole expert at the entire company for something mission-critical.”
For Josh Quatela, software engineer at Integral Ad Science, making a mark at the digital media optimization company was an accessible goal — all because of the learning and development support he received.
“I was given all of the resources a young engineer would need to learn and excel in this ever-evolving industry,” Quatela said. “I learned more applicable skills about back-end development in my first three months as a full-time employee than I ever could have in a college class.”
Built In spoke with Quatela and Sulich in detail about what sets the two companies apart.
Integral Ad Science is a global media measurement and optimization platform that delivers actionable data for digital ads.
What word describes your company culture and why?
If I had to choose one word to describe the culture at IAS, it would be inclusive. From day one, I felt a sense of community both in and out of the office. I joined IAS near the tail end of the Covid-19 pandemic, and even though my team was spread across the country, they found ways to connect and make me feel welcome. One of my favorite memories was our Friday virtual hangouts where we played Pictionary and other games, which was a great way to bond despite the distance.
Years later, as a full-time employee, I’m still impressed by the welcoming spirit across the company. From starting as an intern to now working as a software engineer, I’ve always felt that my input was valued and welcomed. IAS fosters a culture of collaboration, encouraging everyone to bring unique and diverse perspectives to solving meaningful problems.
Even though most of my team isn’t based in my office, colleagues from other teams regularly invite me to coffee chats, ERG events and happy hours. Most recently, joining the New York office’s intramural volleyball team was another great example of how people across departments come together to build community.
How long have you been with the company, and what professional growth or development have you seen in that time?
I started with IAS roughly three years ago. I joined the team as an intern the summer before my senior year of college. When the summer concluded, my team offered me the opportunity to continue my internship at IAS throughout the school year and was very accommodating to my class schedule. During that time, I was able to complete my degree while also making strides for my professional development through engaging projects and presentations of my work to senior leadership. When my school year was coming to a close, I was offered a full-time position as an associate software engineer.
Whether it was through online learnings, huddles with team members or new projects I had ownership of, I was given all of the resources a young engineer would need to learn and excel in this ever-evolving industry. I learned more applicable skills about back-end development in my first three months as a full-time employee than I ever could have in a college class.
A year and a half after joining full-time and learning as much as I could about IAS and the adtech industry as a whole, I was given a promotion to software engineer to continue my journey of designing and developing services at scale.
Bilt Rewards is a fintech company that created a loyalty program and payments platform, allowing renters to earn points on rent and daily purchases.
What word describes your company culture and why?
Ownership.
I chose this word because people here own entire domains — not just tasks. We’re structured so single engineers hold responsibility for surprisingly wide swaths of work, from spec-ing out complex third-party integrations to implementation and rollout. My team owns customer-facing features related to our dining partnerships — not only do we rigorously test during development, but we are out at restaurants testing our work and constantly monitoring for errors as we ship new features. We take great pride in the quality and speed of our work.
This level of responsibility is challenging and empowering — it really pushes you to grow. You’ll often be the sole expert at the entire company for something mission-critical. And this level of responsibility comes quickly after you join. An engineer who recently joined our team owned the entire consolidation of a major fitness integration into our core platform as her first project. You’re given real responsibility from day one and you rise to meet that trust.
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
The coolest project I’ve worked on recently was our Barry’s integration, which I owned end to end from technical scoping through launch. This included building new capabilities into our fitness platform while coordinating with the Barry’s engineering and product teams, and our own internal stakeholders.
What made this special was my level of involvement — I wasn’t just coding, I was shaping the product experience directly with the Barry’s team and making architectural decisions for our entire fitness vertical.
This project helped my growth beyond pure technical skills. I had to balance diverse stakeholder needs, translate technical constraints into business tradeoffs and balance shipping fast with building for scale. Wearing multiple hats — engineer, project lead and technical contact — reinforced that engineering is about driving outcomes across the entire organization, not just writing excellent code.
