Joining the Appian Chennai Team: What to Expect

Hi everyone, I'm Courtney. I’m the Head of People & Culture based in Sydney, Australia, and I’m leading recruitment for our new development center in Chennai, India!

I was part of setting up our Appian office here in Australia, and it was an exciting time in the beginning where we were in start-up mode building the team, while also being connected and supported by our global Appian community. That’s the stage we’re at with our Chennai team!

That’s also what makes it a really great time to join with so much opportunity to grow and lead. We know if you’re thinking of applying, you probably have lots of questions. What would my experience look like? How will the Chennai team actually feel part of the Appian team?

Here are some of the common questions we’ve been getting from candidates and what you can expect joining the Appian team. 

We are planning for high-growth in Chennai, which means our first few employees won't be a small group for long! Since we’re in “start-up mode,” there are many growth opportunities to take on a variety of roles and leadership positions in the future.

You’ll find many stories of Appian employees here long-term because of growth and professional development opportunities. Myself included —I started at Appian in 2013 as Lead, University Talent Acquisition and since then I’ve grown into four different roles, first based in the US and now in Australia! 

The Chennai team works closely with the US-based Engineering team with regular meetings and projects they collaborate on. The Engineering team has already expanded in other offices around the world including London, Berlin and Seville so you won’t be the only international team! 

Recurring check-ins help with staying connected to global teams. For example, I lead and am part of a larger global team; and fortunately, I have regular meetings with my US, Europe, and India-based colleagues.

Appian Affinity Groups and our many Google chat spaces are great ways to stay connected as well! The Affinity groups do their best to host outside of US time-zone friendly virtual events, which is another fun way to remain connected to other employees across the globe. I’m a mentor in the AppianWomen and started the AppianPride group in 2017.  

There are also dozens of Appian Google chat spaces which can be joined by anyone across the company. These groups tend to be topical, making it easy to connect socially (for example: one of my favorite groups is called Pet Parents where employees are regularly sharing photos of their pets!) 

I’m known for being very honest and direct so admittedly, I’ve felt this way at times living in Australia. However, the feeling is short-lived, and there are so many ways to take advantage of the virtual ways to be connected. Joining Appian Affinity groups has really helped me meet new people cross-regionally and cross-departmentally!  

You should also absolutely work from our amazing office as often as possible! We're excited to host weekly meals and a myriad of events — particularly in the coming months with so many new joiners starting each month — which provide easy ways for people to feel connected. 

The interviewing experience is a two-way street; you should be interviewing your prospective team, as they are interviewing you.

I like to think of our Appian recruiting team as “keepers of the culture,” and we want to get to know you well and ensure you can really get to know us too.

This means the interview process may seem long. We put in the time to get to know candidates well and give you the opportunities to learn about us and Appian to ensure it’s a good match for you. 

Here are the three steps you can expect in the interview process at Appian:

1. Phone screen with recruiter (based on resume)
2. Hiring manager interview (behavioral questions and resume-based)
3. Final technical and culture interviews. This involves four separate interviews comprising of: 
   1. Two technical interviews with Engineering team members 
   2. Behavioral interview with Engineering team member 
   3. Culture interview with Appian Executive (may or may not be within Engineering department)  

You can expect phone calls, emails, and Whatsapp messages from us.  

We’re learning and this is a chance for you to learn about us, too, to see if it’s a good fit. Learn more about tips for how to succeed in your Appian job interview

So if you’re still on the fence whether Appian is for you, I’ll tell you the main reason I’ve stayed here for more than nine years — it’s the people.

You’ll be joining a team of curious people who always show up to help. I cannot overstate enough the value of working alongside managers, peers, and direct reports who share comparable professional drive, dedication, and focus.

When people talk about their dream jobs, I smile to myself because I really feel like I’ve found my dream job here at Appian (although to be clear, I don’t believe in any one definition of “dream career!”)

It’s the same answer to the question of “Why Chennai?” It’s quite simply the people. When Appian assesses why and where to launch in new geographic locations, we place people and culture at the heart of our decision making processes. 

Learn more about our Appian Chennai job openings here.