Employee Profile
Chris O’Brien

What drew you to a career at Cyara originally and how has the company changed since you joined us? 

I was not actively looking for a new role when a former co-worker reached out to me about working at Cyara. She described Cyara as a “really cool company” where great things were happening – including the fact that the CEO leads regular meditation sessions. This caught my attention, and the more I learned about the company the more I was sold by Cyara’s mission and values.

What does a typical day look like for you and what are you currently working on? 

There is no typical day on the creative team! On any given day I’m likely to be involved in creative direction or hands-on graphic design, copywriting, content strategy, performance analytics, coordinating workflow between my team and external resources, and one-off requests from individuals both inside and outside of marketing.

Tell us about your work life harmony at Cyara?

Cyara is all about personal accountability, and I love having the flexibility to balance my current priorities with stepping away in the middle of the day to spend some time with one of my four fur children or two human daughters. Despite being a global marketing team across many time zones, there are no “always on” expectations, and everyone is encouraged to shut down at the end of their workday.

Describe your current role at Cyara

As Senior Manager of our in-house creative team, I oversee all writing, design, and development work produced for cyara.com, marketing campaigns, product launches, and corporate creative requests for internal resources. I act as the guardian of Cyara brand standards to ensure we are all flying in formation and communicating clearly and consistently with all external audiences. My focus right now is on implementing an Agile approach to creative execution, which will enable our team to meet tight deadlines for a high volume of work, while still pursuing big initiatives and personal skill development.

How would you describe the culture at Cyara?

The culture at Cyara is built on mutual respect and appreciation of everyone’s talents. It’s humbling to be working alongside so many people who are passionate about their role and united around driving the success of our company.

What has been the most empowering moment in your Cyara career journey?

Leading an in-house creative team has always been my dream, and at Cyara I’ve had the opportunity to step into this role and establish a team structure that will enable us to consistently deliver outstanding, on-brand work as we continue to scale.

What are you passionate about in your role?

Even as a relatively young company, Cyara has an impressive brand legacy that we can build on. Our customers know us and love us, we are focused on customer success, and we have a clear advantage and position in the market. Working for a winning brand is inspiring and I’m passionate about ensuring that we “look the part” and present as a leader and trusted technology partner in all customer-facing materials.

How does Cyara help support your sense of purpose in your career?

The inclusive culture and transparency at all levels makes it easy to see how I personally can have an impact on our goals and make a difference.

What have you gained from working at Cyara from a career perspective?

I’ve gained valuable leadership experience and the creative freedom to try new things, with the understanding that even a failed experiment yields valuable data to help steer us in a new direction. I’ve also learned how to transform an enormous volume of unstructured, one-off creative requests into a manageable and sane project workflow focused on meeting company and team objectives.

If you could describe Cyara as an employer in 3 words, what words would you use?

Empowering. Validating. Challenging.

How has Cyara’s global approach to diversity helped you in your career so far?

When I look around the “room” in any Zoom call, I’m glad to see so many individuals from a wide range of cultures, regions, ethnicities and identities. I love being surprised and challenged by viewpoints I hadn’t considered in the moment. Everyone at Cyara has a voice, and leadership ensures that everyone’s voice is heard.