In building the Material Security team, our co-founders focused on hiring the best people they’ve ever worked with to help them develop the best cloud office security product, regardless of their working location. As we’ve grown to over 100 teammates, both our hiring bar and our position on working location haven’t changed, and, because of this, our teammates benefit from a great level of autonomy and flexibility in their professional and personal lives. 

“A lot has been written about the pros and cons of a remote-first workforce, but at Material, it was an easy decision from the get-go. Our first several employees were all colleagues we had worked with in the past that had moved out of the Bay Area. We knew how special they were, and we wanted them in our company regardless of where they lived. So the decision to be remote-first was an easy one and we haven't looked back since. There is no question that it takes deliberate effort to cultivate a remote-friendly, high-trust culture, but we feel that it is more than worth it for the amazing colleagues we get to work with” - Abhishek Agrawal, Co-Founder and CEO

In this post, we’ll hear from teammates in our bigger “pods” of Austin, Denver, New York City, Seattle, and San Francisco. 

Austin, TX

How do you communicate with teammates across different time zones while respecting working hours and personal time?

"We make working across time zones smooth by sharing our working hours and personal commitments on Google Calendar, so everyone knows the best times to connect. If I need to send messages during off-hours, I either schedule them for a more reasonable time or just shoot a quick note saying, "No rush on this." Plus, I like to ask for feedback or updates before my teammates log off for the day, so I've got fresh stuff to dive into each morning. It's all about keeping the communication easy and respecting each other's time." - Abel Allison, Senior Staff Software Engineer

How do you build bonds with your teammates and coworkers?

“We constantly plan get-togethers in our Austin Slack channel! These range from working together at a WeWork,grabbing food after work, planning holiday dinners, and even joining a whiskey tasting event with customers. We also make it out to WeWork when we have teammates from out of town visiting.” - Daniela Budeci, Sales Development Representative

What kind of impact has Material Security’s remote-first culture had on you?

“I absolutely enjoy working from home! The absence of a daily commute frees up so much of my time. After work, I can quickly head to my favorite yoga studio before it gets dark, spend cherished time with my family and my pup at home, and enjoy homemade meals every day. Admittedly, I'm quite prone to distractions, so I find myself significantly more efficient and productive at home compared to the busy environment of an office. Don’t get me wrong, I still love hanging out with my colleagues and seize every chance I get to do so. However, having the option to stay home if needed has honestly made such a positive impact on my life!” - Helia Ghassemian, Commercial Account Executive

Denver, CO

How do you communicate with teammates across different time zones while respecting working hours and personal time?

“Broadly speaking Material fully supports all mainland US time zones and we’re avid users of the Google Calendar “working hours” feature, which is a great way to nudge meetings to a time that is good for everyone. In my opinion, the most critical piece in communication is understanding the level of urgency. I think we’ve all been in one of those Slack conversations where Alice is dropping what she’s doing to answer questions from Bob when in reality Bob is just messaging at a time convenient for him and would be happy to wait until next week for the answer. It takes practice, but at Material, we aim to proactively communicate the degree of urgency or respond by asking about urgency to ensure we’re only scrambling for actual emergencies. There’s plenty of reasons to keep recurring meetings to a minimum, and time zone logistics is just one of them. - Sean Fellows, Director of Engineering

How do you build bonds with your teammates and coworkers?

“I notice I tend to have more frequent 1:1s or meetings with teammates and coworkers, which help build relationships. However, the opportunities for in-person time is really where I feel like those relationships are solidified. Spending time in the office together or fun after-work events during quarterly meetings and meet-ups with the local Denver group have all been memorable and energizing. It feels like we really get to come together as one big team working towards the same goals.” - Brittany Wiberg, Staff Talent Acquisition Partner

What kind of impact has Material Security’s remote-first culture had on you?

“As I joined a recent all-hands Zoom event, I noticed we weren't quite starting on time and our CEO Abhishek joked that we were starting a few minutes behind because he had been tending to something with his son. This was an incredible moment for me to see that excellence and transparency is valued from the top, while making sure we enable every employee to prioritize that which is often most important to them -- their families.” - Josh Day, Staff Threat Research Engineer

New York City

How do you communicate with teammates across different time zones while respecting working hours and personal time?

“It's just as important to set personal boundaries as it is to respect others' working hours. Cooking and eating dinner as a family each evening is important to me, so I make sure to block that out on my calendar. My teammates know not to schedule over this time and I do the same when I see they have personal commitments.” - Courtney Skay, Senior Director, Revenue Operations + Enablement

How do you build bonds with your teammates and coworkers?

“While lots of people think it’s difficult to stay connected and feel like part of a team when working at a remote-first company, I think Material has shown me that a great balance of in-person events and the flexibility of being virtual is achievable. I’m really excited about our quarterly meetings and Hack Weeks in San Francisco. Meeting all of my coworkers in person for the first time and being able to interact with teams that I don’t typically work with, like sales and marketing, made me feel much more comfortable reaching out over Slack later on. Online, my team has created a social channel to send memes and weekend updates. I also love that in-person workdays are supported even in cities where we don’t have an office. 

During the holidays, we had a really sweet meetup in NYC for a holiday lunch. I discovered that one of my coworkers on a different engineering team actually lives two streets away from me, and we got to know each other on the walk back home.

Since the number of people working in New York has been growing, I’m planning on hosting a WeWork day here too! 

I’m nearing one year at Material, and even though most of my interactions with my coworkers are remote, I feel at home on my team.” - Cindy Wang, Software Engineer

What kind of impact has Material Security’s remote-first culture had on you?

“I think being entirely remote makes our in-person time that much more meaningful. I truly enjoy the people I work with and am always excited that I get to set aside a week per quarter to hang out with them – We are a closer bunch than a lot of people in offices full time because we really make the most of being together. For example, we set aside intentional working collaboration time and catch-up time over walks or coffees.

Everyone at Material is very respectful of the fact that we all have lives and other stuff going on at home, so we’re able to support each other and cover for colleagues when needed. Everyone is really trusted to get their work done on their own schedule, while making sure that we have enough time to collaborate.” - Lexy Marchbank, Director of Field Marketing

Seattle, WA

How do you communicate with teammates across different time zones while respecting working hours and personal time?

“Folks at Material generally have good calendar and Slack hygiene which makes communicating across time zones quite easy. Since the calendar is a reliable source of truth, it's easy to look at somebody's calendar and see when they're busy for a personal appointment, traveling, or simply don't want to be disturbed. The conclusion here being, if you see an open slot on somebody's calendar during business hours, that's free game for scheduling something with them; no need to ping them first. 

Over time, too, you learn how people prefer to work. Some folks are on early in the morning, some late at night, and you end up naturally understanding who to go to when (and vice versa).

One thing I appreciate in particular is that people here take care to communicate urgency. It's not uncommon to get a Slack message outside of work hours, but it's acceptable because people treat it as asynchronous and don't expect an immediate response. It's quite often you'll see a ‘hey, when you get on, could you …’ or ‘Hey, this isn't urgent…’. In fact, I prefer to get these messages earlier than later, as it helps me plan the next day ahead of time.”- David Zukowski, Senior Software Engineer

How do you build bonds with your teammates and coworkers?

“Having the flexibility to utilize shared workspaces whenever I need to work with my coworkers is something I eagerly await each month. Whether it's choosing a date and location for a collaborative session in Seattle or organizing a shared workspace on the Eastside, being able to meet and collaborate face-to-face boosts productivity and strengthens our working relationships. It's also worth mentioning that the regular team dinners in our Seattle pod further contributes to building bonds between colleagues. These social events not only allow us to relax and enjoy each other's company, but they also create a sense of unity and camaraderie within the team.” - Derrick Arakaki, Head of Customer Success

What kind of impact has Material Security’s remote-first culture had on you?

“Our remote-first culture allows us to spend more time with our families which I truly appreciate. Commuting is the worst! Remote-first working balanced with quarterly gatherings is my ideal working conditions. Again, all of this is so easy because we have hired extremely well and our leadership has built a culture of autonomy with accountability. Pair that with a shared sense of purpose and you have a dream team.” - Jack Walsh, Senior Enterprise Account Executive

San Francisco, CA

How do you communicate with teammates across different time zones while respecting working hours and personal time?

“Effective communication involves tailoring your message to meet the specific needs of your audience, whether it's addressing an Engineering Director's metrics or a sister team's application of your work. To understand these needs in a live setting, I use tools like reclaim.ai for hassle-free scheduling across time zones and digital whiteboards for flexible, collaborative discussions. I try to always schedule with empathy, aiming for overlap in working hours and promoting asynchronous communication to respect personal time, ensuring messages are clear and concise to minimize the need for follow-ups.” - Maryam Quadir, Staff Software Engineer

How do you build bonds with your teammates and coworkers?

“I have real friendships at Material. I’m on a texting basis with some where I can catch up with them daily. With other colleagues, I try to make the effort to learn about one another's families and relationships, etc over Slack or Zoom calls. But I absolutely LOVE our various in-person events where I can meet people from across the company. We have both departmental meet-ups for work projects as well as our Hack Week events where we get to hang with the whole company, bounce ideas off one another, and just get to know one another. They're always a ton of fun! In San Francisco, we try to plan happy hours in the city every so often to get together, hang out, and try out new cool spots in the city. And with our new office in FiDi, there's sure to be a lot more of that!” - Ana Corio, Director of Demand Generation

What kind of impact has Material Security’s remote-first culture had on you?

“One of the greatest things about a remote-first culture is the ability to go and travel, and still remain productive. It expands your weekends and free time without cutting into your productivity…I always chuckle when I hear questions about ‘work-life balance’ because I think its interpretation is different than its meaning. Folks typically mean ‘how much free time will I get” when the right question to ask is actually ‘am I balancing the life activities I’m prioritizing with the career I’m building.’ In a lot of senses, a remote-first startup is the perfect optimization of this. I’ve grown so much as a person, a leader, personally and professionally. That’s in large part due to the rigor and intensity of a startup in combination with the flexibility of a remote-first culture and the ability to get my work done from wherever, or take breaks whenever I need.” - Max Pollard, Senior Manager, Solutions Engineering

Our remote-first culture is one based on trust, flexibility, autonomy, and the opportunity to work from home while seeing your co-workers on a regular schedule.

Want to learn more about job opportunities at Material Security? Check out our careers page!