At Babbel, our endgame is getting people to have conversations with other people, in a new language. There are fantastic folks here making that possible. In our “Behind The Scenes” series, we sit down with them to provide a glimpse into who makes it all work, what they do, and where their heads are at.
This round we’re talking to Lisa Quetting, Babbel’s newest Head of Business Intelligence and Analytics.
What’s your role at Babbel? What do you do on a typical day?
As Head of Business Intelligence and Analytics, I lead a team of 11 Analysts, Data Engineers and Marketing Tech Managers. My tasks include a lot of communication and strategic project management. I work on the definition and execution of our team goals and strategy, I exchange discussions with stakeholders such as Performance Marketing or Finance on their requirements and upcoming projects, and work with other teams from the Data Intelligence department f.ex. on infrastructure topics. Personal development of the team members, improving team processes and recruiting are also part of my tasks.
Where are you from and which languages do you speak?
I am from the South of Germany, close to the Swiss and French border – French was the first foreign language I learned, which made it easier to learn Italian and Spanish. I am happy that I have the possibility to speak English at work again, and would like to refresh Italian and Spanish with the help of Babbel.
What were you doing before Babbel?
I initially got into Business Intelligence in the startup and e-commerce industry working for a venture capital firm and supporting a lot of their ventures in Data Warehousing and Web Analytics. Then I spent almost three years in the banking industry, building up a data team and infrastructure for one of Germany’s biggest banking groups. Right before coming to Babbel, I led a Business Intelligence team in the travel industry. As this was one of the industries being hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic, I was open to switch jobs when Babbel approached me.
What drew you to Babbel?
I have always been fond of languages (I studied linguistics) and am really excited to finally work for a company that I can totally identify with and stand behind the product and company values. Also, the opportunity to lead a pretty big and mature data team was obviously very exciting.
What’s surprised you most so far?
I was impressed by how international and diverse the company is as a whole, and by the number of initiatives around knowledge sharing, anti-discrimination, and the extensive internal communication. I am excited about what the team has built so far and how motivated people are to create value and growth.
What do you hope to accomplish with your team at Babbel?
As a team, we want to foster data savviness among our stakeholders and support them to make informed, data-driven decisions for optimal business steering. I aim to enable the team to develop and do the best job they can, also in shaping our data infrastructure and making it ready for the future. We work towards providing deeper insights by focusing more on data science use cases and freeing up stakeholder resources via automation initiatives.
Having worked in a field that is mostly male-dominated, how have you navigated your way through this industry? Do you have any tips for females that work in mostly male-dominated fields?
To some extent, I was lucky that I’ve had line managers who trusted in me and gave me responsibility. I would also say that I learned to get along in a lot of different working environments. Still, sometimes I had to fight against clichés and would encourage everyone to speak up in such cases – it often helped to address this with some irony and sense of humor. Believe in yourself and focus on your strengths! And make your line manager and their sense for equality and family friendliness a crucial factor for the decision in a new job.
You were onboarded remotely onto the team and to Babbel. Tell us about your experience!
It was a very positive experience – the onboarding was very well-structured, and I was surprised how well I could get to know people via video calls. Still, I was happy when I could finally meet the team for the first time in real life. It’s great that we were given the opportunity to flexibly define new ways of working when the office was slowly reopened – we as a team now come to the office two days per week, which works very well for us so far.
Want to work with Lisa? Her team is currently looking for a Senior Data Engineer!