Jason is a member of the Houzz Marketplace team helping brands sell their products on the Houzz Shop. He is based in our Orange County office and is a recent newlywed! Jason and his wife enjoy spending time with friends, getting the most out of their Disneyland membership and cheering on the Anaheim Ducks during hockey season.

What do you do at Houzz?
I work closely with brands that sell products on the Houzz Shop and manage every aspect of the vendor’s relationship with Houzz, from the initial setup, to adding new products, to managing their account. It’s my job to make sure each brand is set up for success on our platform and taking advantage of every opportunity our marketplace offers, such as our Trade Program.

What brought you to Houzz?
I first heard about Houzz from a roommate of mine who worked on the product team, but it turns out that I have a lot of connections here - my wife’s college roommate is also on the product team and my sister-in-law works with me as a buyer. I guess that’s part of why Houzz feels like a family to me.

I was initially drawn to the company by the sleek look of the app and the website, but I’ve always had an interest in home design. When I was ten years old, my parents let me move into my own bedroom after years of sharing one with my younger brother. I spent countless hours drawing up plans, moving furniture around, decorating and re-decorating until I felt my father’s old study was truly my own. To this day, Houzz feeds my creative side and provides me with fresh ideas.

What do you like most about your job?
As an assistant buyer, I have the opportunity to build relationships with vendors who sell on the site and get to know them on a personal level. It’s rewarding to help vendors establish themselves on Houzz, watch their products become more popular amongst our community and know that I’ve made a difference to their businesses and their lives.

I also love new challenges and working on the Marketplace team brings something new every day. I am constantly learning about different computer programs, problem-solving strategies and the online retail industry as a whole.

What’s your favorite product from the Houzz Shop?
My last round of purchases included everything I needed for my new apartment, including a beautiful bed from Pulaski. My wife and I have very different design tastes, and it was important for us to find something that both of us liked.

There are a lot of great products to choose from on Houzz, but one of the more fun items I’ve seen are Requip’d’s BBQ tool sets, which are made from NHL game-used hockey sticks and other professional/college leagues. It’s a cool, unique concept that I love as a hockey fan.

What’s something that has surprised you about working at Houzz?
Houzz really cares about its culture, which is evident just by spending time in the office. There is a great sense of community where everyone seems to know each other by name. The laid-back atmosphere makes coming to work fun, and helps me to focus on performing to the best of my abilities.

What project are you most proud of while working at Houzz?
Before working as an assistant buyer, I spent time in vendor support, which was more of a project-oriented role. During this time, I identified an opportunity to update a few of our vendor guidelines, which ultimately led to a company-wide review to best address our vendors’ needs. As the Houzz Shop continues to grow, it’s important that our guidelines reflect changing practices in order to provide our customers with the best experience possible.

How has your role evolved from when you first started?
When I first started at Houzz, I worked in customer service, followed by vendor support, and now I am an assistant buyer. While very different roles, they’re all similar in that you need to think on your feet and problem-solve in real time in order to be effective. No matter what you do, it is important to build rapport with your clients in order to provide solutions to their questions and help them succeed.

What is your favorite decor style?
My tastes reflect a modern and contemporary style, but my wife prefers a more rustic look. Choosing items for our wedding registry was arguably the greatest test of our relationship so far! We’ve learned over time to compromise and as a result, our apartment takes on a more transitional feel. Maybe one day I’ll have my own man-cave with space for my guitars, a big screen TV, and (most importantly) dark, espresso-colored furniture.

How have you used Houzz at home?
I love finding new and unique products on the Houzz Shop and have spent countless hours getting lost in all of the great stories on the site. Articles on color theory, storage, and apartment living have helped my wife and I to make the most out of our home.

As a research engineer, Yunsong helps augment search and personalized recommendation experiences for the Houzz community. Outside of work, Yunsong enjoys spending time with his family, and looks forward to sharing his love of the outdoors with his young son.

Why did you decide to become a research engineer?
I’ve always been driven by the desire to find and solve difficult challenges, a common trait among research engineers. I studied computer science in school, which led to a PhD in artificial intelligence, and a series of papers and patents on intelligent systems. I’m thrilled to bring intelligent techniques to life.

What brought you to Houzz?
A number of my friends were working at Houzz, two of whom I’ve known since we attended the University of Science and Technology of China together. The team was looking for someone with my unique search experience, and I was intrigued by the positive environment that I’d heard about from my friends.

How would you describe what you do at Houzz?
My role is focused on search quality. I see myself as a translator helping Houzz to better understand what the customer really wants. Whether a user is looking for a home pro in a specific location or using a lesser known synonym to describe a product they want to purchase for their home, my work integrates the Houzz search platform deep into the home remodeling domain and helps to provide users with the best possible results.

What are some of the challenges to improving search?
People generally search with something already in their mind. The inherent challenge for search is to understand the query semantic and the real user intention behind what they typed. The search algorithm must recognize a variety of words, their relations, and what they mean under a specific context. For example, a chair can be contextually described as a seat, stool or bench. The color “red” can describe cabinet color, backsplash color or floor color. Technology must be a bridge between customer understanding and company terminology and resolve ambiguities in each specific situation. That’s why it’s so important to develop a robust catalogue of concepts to give each query meaning.

Do you interact with other teams at Houzz?
Yes, my research informs the development of the Houzz infrastructure, so I work closely with that team to build a comprehensive catalogue of query terminology that bridges user intent and remodeling domain concepts. We work together to make our machine learning systems more intelligent. I also work closely with the international and industry solutions teams.

What surprised you about working for Houzz?
What surprised and delighted me about working for Houzz is that the leadership empowers you to improve products right away. Within my first two weeks, I had already led my first production deployment. They let me hit the ground running!

Based in our Orange County office, Amanda is part of the Houzz Pro Plus team, which helps home professionals to build their brands and connect with homeowners. When she’s not at work, Amanda can be found at the beach with her husband and their golden retriever, named Scout.

What’s a typical workday like for you?
My days are diverse and busy; I love it! As an account manager, I talk to my clients about their goals and use data to help them maximize their presence on Houzz. It’s really rewarding to see how Pro+ helps them drive brand awareness and grow their business. They look to me for advice, knowledge, and problem-solving. Knowing that I’ve helped them achieve their goals is probably my favorite part of the day.

Why did you decide to join Houzz?
I knew I wanted to work in the tech industry and after doing research I saw how much Houzz was paving the way and wanted to align myself with this company. More importantly, though, I decided to join Houzz because when I walked in the office, it felt like home. I love the culture.

What’s it like to be a part of the sales team?
The sales culture at Houzz is fast-paced and collaborative. Hard work is valued in this role and we are given the tools to succeed from encouraging sales managers and teammates. We are always pushing one another to get better and celebrate one another’s achievements.

How has your career evolved at Houzz?
Houzz has provided many opportunities to grow in my career. I first started as an account coordinator helping new professionals create their Houzz profiles. I was promoted to account executive and began helping some of those same professionals expand their presence through the Pro+ program. I am now in a blended role as an account manager where I work with both current pros in our network and help new pros discover the benefits we can offer. It’s a great mix. I get to see the success of my professionals, brainstorm with them, and build new relationships.

What’s your favorite part of working at Houzz?
The lifelong friendships I’ve formed while working at Houzz make it such an enjoyable place to work, which is important to me because I moved from Texas to take this job. I knew very few people in California and Houzz has an amazing team that makes California feel like home. We work hard but I love waking up and coming to this environment.

Beyond my role as an account manager, I am also the Chair of the Philanthropy Committee at the Orange County office. We recently put on a very successful philanthropy week raising money, collecting food items, and gathering volunteers, to remodel a children’s home in the area. I appreciate being part of a company that cares about the community we live in. The Philanthropy Committee has broadened my purpose at work and I am extremely grateful.

What do you do when you’re not working?
I LOVE to travel. My husband and I have been able to take some great vacations this past year including our most recent trip to Italy. I enjoy working out, playing with my golden retriever, and going to the beach. We are still exploring California, so you’ll often find us wandering through different neighborhoods to find delicious new restaurants.