Meet Kerem Bayar

Meet Kerem who is passionate about solving things that matter to our customers. Kerem is a great example of how you can really find your purpose at ZMS and move between roles and teams, read on to find out what motivates him in his work – from collaborating with different teams to honing his barista skills in home office.

 

1. What is your current role at ZMS? How long have you been working with ZMS?
I am a User Support Manager SalesCockpit and I joined the team in November 2020. My story at ZMS goes back to March 2019 though, when I joined ZMS as an Ad Operations Intern. 

 

2. What were the main reasons for you joining ZMS? 

ZMS (or Zalando in general) is a great opportunity for fresh graduates like myself to get their foot in the door. During my studies in Berlin, I got to know several people who worked for ZMS or Zalando, and the inspiration I got through each one of these connections matched very well with my expectations and directions. And now, here I am! 

 

3. Did you ever change teams/roles in Zalando? What was this experience like?  

I changed my team quite recently. I joined ZMS as an Ad Ops intern, I was given quite a lot of opportunities to work with cross-functional teams and while doing so, I found what I am keen on doing: Working with Product Managers and Engineers on product related topics. When I saw the internal job posting, I immediately applied and the interview process started. All I can say is that the experience was great in general, and I especially appreciate how ZMS supports its employee’s career paths within the organization.

 

4. What team do you work on now and how would you describe what you do and how you approach it? 

I am in the Sales Cockpit team which provides a Sales and CRM tool to our internal stakeholders. As a User Support Manager, my main responsibilities are understanding and representing our users’ needs, prioritizing product feature requests, identifying bugs and providing detailed insights to the engineering team, onboarding new users as well as existing users to the new features, and much more! 

 

5. Which of Zalando’s Founding Mindset Principles do you most connect with?
I would say ‘’Solve something that matters’’. Working directly with different teams, our main goal is to deliver the best results to our clients. This is where my contribution starts. I aim to solve things that matter to our users’ needs (e.g. automation, knowledge sharing, brainstorming sessions to shape the future of the tool). Therefore, this OFM principle helps me gain an understanding of what I should be focusing on. What I especially like about this OFM principle is that, during solving something that matters, I learn a lot, which is really important for me. 

 

6. How would you describe the working and team culture at ZMS?

I would say ZMS is a great place to work which is full of enthusiastic people from all over the world. I’ve met some of the best personalities in my life thanks to ZMS. Considering the working and the team culture at ZMS, and since it is a fast-paced environment, you will have an immediate impact on the success of your team & company thanks to the trust you are given to make important decisions. 

 

7. Where do you feel you can have the most impact (on customers, partners or our colleagues)?

Everything changes here at ZMS dynamically. Part of my job is to stay up to date with the latest changes and developments and adjust to them in order to provide the best possible service to our users. I always try to stay one step ahead in order to deliver high-quality work so that my colleagues and team can count on me.

 

8. How do you think ZMS makes a difference? What was the most exciting challenge at ZMS that helped you grow?

As an intern and later Junior Ad Ops Manager, I joined several client meetings in-house as well as in Milan and Dusseldorf to give insights about their current and past campaigns with us. It is very important to feel trusted and taking such responsibilities that are beyond my job description helped me grow a lot. 

 

9. How do you stay up-to-date with the technology you use?

ZMS is full of enthusiastic people from whom you learn lots of tricks and information. Especially being in a team of approximately around 10 engineers and product managers, it is really hard for me not to be able to stay up-to-date when it comes to technology. Apart from that, I try to read the Tech Newsletter I get from Zalando and to check internal groups on technology and product topics as I am new in the tech field myself. 

 

10. What causes do you care about or support, when it comes to Diversity & Inclusion?

ZMS is highly diverse when it comes to genders, nationalities, sexual orientations, etc.  Alongside that, I am proud to be part of a company that is not only diverse when it comes to hiring but also has a diversity of employees involved, trusted, and empowered. Regardless of your role and title, you have an equal opportunity to contribute to the success of the company. 

 

11. What are your go-to WFH tips and tricks? How do you take care of yourself during these times? 

I am from Turkey and I grew up in a relatively mid-sized family and lots of friends around. When I joined ZMS around 2 years ago I enjoyed being surrounded by like-minded people and I made quite some good friends. This is the challenge for me not being able to see people in person and have a quick chit-chat with them in between meetings, having lunch breaks, and coffee walks. Having lunch calls with colleagues where we discuss non-work-related topics helps me when working from home. Apart from that, I got a great coffee machine and I try to improve my barista skills. Does anyone fancy a flat white with oat milk? Ping me! 🙂