goTRG is made up of more than 2,000 diverse teammates across the globe operating under one vision: to revolutionize returns. With experts in every field from software and engineering to ecommerce and supply chain, we want to highlight the skilled teammates who elevate this company’s mission every day. Each month we’ll hand over the metaphorical mic to a new goTRG teammate so you can better understand who we are and how we continually evolve as leaders in the industry.
Over to you Pavel…
Product Development
My name is Pavel Titov and I’m on the Product Development Team at goTRG. I work with an incredibly talented group to ensure the company’s flagship software R1, is equipped with the features it needs to automate our reverse logistics solutions. But my career at goTRG started seven years ago in a very different way. This is a story of my evolution at a rapidly growing organization who helps its teammates elevate their careers to new heights.
In 2013, I joined TRG as a software developer at the invitation of VP of Software Development, Alex Smirnov. It was an exciting role that quickly presented my first opportunity to build and lead a team of junior developers. Building a team, teaching development skills, and expanding my knowledge of goTRG’s software was a rewarding experience. And within just a few years, the department grew from 4 people to over 100 people today.
With the explosive growth of the software department, it was clear that we needed a more sophisticated structure. So we broke up the team into development, quality assurance, architecture, system administrators, and finally support. Since I had advanced knowledge of the systems and business processes, the support team was a natural fit for me to lead.
But it was still a challenge. Suddenly I was responsible for a constant growing backlog of issues that had to be verified, prioritized and fixed. I needed to collaborate with multiple teams and streamline the work from validating the issue to devising a fix, testing the fix, and finally releasing it into production. During that period, I learned how to manage crises under severe time constraints, and with far fewer resources than we have today. It was a valuable experience that helped catapult me into the next evolution of my career at goTRG.
About 3 years ago, the organization’s leaders invited me to visit the headquarters in Miami where they asked me to be part of the Product Team. The goal for the team was to help lead the transformation of R1 into a more modern, user-friendly system. I was already helping improve the software from a support perspective, so I had a lot of ideas about how to continue to optimize it. It was an exciting opportunity and also a huge responsibility. But with unlimited support from my teammates and the encouragement from goTRG’s CEO Sender Shamiss, and VP of Product Development Daniel Ray, I immediately accepted the position.
We have a joke at goTRG–that it’s not a company, it’s a family. The culture is very warm, open, and supportive. Everyone has the freedom to say what’s on his or her mind and there’s very few exceptions to the rule. Another important aspect of the environment is the opportunity we all have to make mistakes. We’re all allowed to fumble, because it makes us better as a result. goTRG is so unique because it wants its teammates to experiment and go beyond their perceived limitations. The company also has a great mix of in-house veterans and hired experts, which helps it to maintain a family culture while always bringing fresh ideas and new technologies to the table. I can’t wait to see how the company will to grow and how my role will evolve alongside it.
