#WorkItWednesday featuring Jeffery King (he/him), Community Advocate
#WorkItWednesday is Grindr's feature on employees and programs at the heart of the work we do to connect the LGBTQ community with each other and the world around them. In this edition, we chat with Jeffery King about his experience joining Grindr as our Community Advocate.
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Meet Jeffery King (he/him), Grindr’s Community Advocate! Jeffery’s background has always been in some form of Customer Service. He started working in recruitment firms that brought him all the way to Melbourne, Australia, and back. Having spent considerable time in recruitment and training, Jeffery officially transitioned into the tech space 5 years ago and has loved every minute of it. Jeffery started at Grindr in 2021 and really enjoys working at the intersection of tech and the LGBTQ community.
Learn more about what brought Jeffery to Grindr below and check out our careers page to stay up-to-date on open roles!
Have you always worked in Customer Service at a tech company? What drew you to your role or the dating space specifically?
I have always been in some form of customer service role, mostly because I love looking at a process or situation and coming up with a solution for it; but I also like understanding how how that solution fits into the entire puzzle. Is this a one-off situation or does this happen a lot? Do the people who create, administer, or work with this, know it? Tech is full of those kinds of situations!
Working at Grindr presents the unique opportunity to work on these sorts of challenges with a very human-centered product. Because we are working with people, sometimes in their most vulnerable states (looking for dating, love, sex, and connection), we get to approach our work through a special lens of how tech can best serve them. That sort of impact really drew me to the work that I do at Grindr.
Tell us why you joined Grindr. What do you love most about our mission and our culture?
I get to show up to work every day and not have to filter who I am and what my life looks like, both as a person of color, but also as a member of the LGBTQ community. Grindr has a special culture that starts from a place of understanding, compassion, and celebration. Other companies may have these pieces in their culture, but I find Grindr unique in that they have all of these, plus!
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I also love that the people here really care. I’ve worked with some brilliant people in my career, but never this many smart, creative, and motivated people who truly believe in the mission and work that they are doing. I’m very grateful to work among passionate colleagues who have become more than co-workers, but also friends.
What interesting problems is your Grindr team solving and what are you looking forward to in the future?
In Customer Experience (CX), we’re always trying to solve issues that arise when people interact with each other, but also communicate to the company what our customers are experiencing and ways in which we can make that experience more positive. One of the things that I love about Grindr is that our users’ input helps to influence the product development process. Because we are working with a product that is so personal to the experience of LGBTQ people around the world, it is vital that we continue to listen and iterate on ideas that can make their experience better.
Another favorite and interesting part of my role is when I’m seeing our customers talk about something that I personally don’t feel the same about. Trying to understand their point of view makes my role very interesting. I get to really put myself in their shoes and think about the “what” and the “why” - I get to look at whether other folks might feel the same way and how we can grow the app and user experience from this.
How have you grown professionally while on our team?
One of the best things about Grindr is that the CX team is directly included in conversations with other parts of the business. Unfortunately, that’s still a very rare thing across many organizations and industries. Being able to actively engage with different teams in a meaningful way means I have a stronger understanding of how decisions are made and can better represent our users in these discussions.
I regularly work with talented product leaders, designers, and engineers to translate feedback from our users. Being a part of those conversations has helped me learn how to navigate discussions and understand how we can take feedback and turn them into actionable improvements for our app.
Do you have a favorite memory of working at Grindr so far or a moment that stands out to you that really captures what it is like to work here?
If I could pick one favorite memory of working at Grindr, it has to be our company-wide gathering in June. For our first in-person meeting since the pandemic, the leadership team brought the company out to West Hollywood for an onsite. It was beautiful to be surrounded by so much queer energy. For a week we were in a little bubble where there was nothing but love, respect, and laughter…the way the world should be for ALL people.
If you are interested in working with talented, caring, and compassionate teammates like Jeffery, at a mission-driven company, you should consider applying for open positions with us!
