We recently sat down with Jessica Irvin, Head of People & Operations at Vortexa, to discuss the company, her successes to date and how she found the role using Referment.
Could you introduce yourself and tell us about your role at Vortexa?
My name is Jessica Irvin, and I am Vortexa’s Head of People & Operations. I joined the team in January 2019 so I’ve just passed my two-year anniversary with the company.
In the simplest terms I’m responsible for ensuring everything that is required behind the scenes at Vortexa just works. My role spans a wide variety of areas from legal & procurement, to site management, to rolling out new tools and processes, but my focal point is always our people and workplace culture.
And what does Vortexa do?
Our founding mission and continued focus is to open, connect and optimise the energy markets by combining pioneering technology and industry expertise. Today, some of the smartest and most successful physical and financial energy traders and analysts use our trusted data and analytics to identify and capture opportunities in the market before anyone else.
Excitingly, we have just celebrated our 5th birthday and our Series B funding round led by monashees, bringing our total funding to more than $30m.
Moving back in time a little bit, what were you doing before joining Vortexa?
I studied Business and Politics at university and as part of that degree, completed a placement year with Microsoft looking after Marketing for the International Microsoft Advertising Sales Team. Post my graduation, I joined Lloyds Banking Group’s graduate Leadership Programme and since then have held several roles in product management, strategy and leadership within financial technology firms before joining Vortexa at the beginning of 2019.
How did you find the role at Vortexa?
An ex-colleague of mine had seen the role on Referment’s app and referred me for the role and Alex spoke with me about it.
I already knew Alex at Referment, having worked with him before as a hiring manager and trusted his judgement and liked his clear focus on the candidate experience.
When he reached out to let me know someone had put me forward for a role I was intrigued. I wasn’t actually looking for a new opportunity at the time but Alex did a great job at describing Vortexa and the mission it’s on, which really piqued my interest.
Could you describe the interview process and what working with Alex was like?
My first two interviews were with our CEO, Fabio who I continue to work very closely with and the final stage I met with some of Vortexa’s leadership team.
After speaking with Fabio and meeting some of the team I was extremely impressed with the calibre of the people at Vortexa and the opportunity that lay ahead for the company. I’m pleased to say my impression was spot on.
Alex’s support through the process was excellent – proactive, supportive and honest which is what you look for as a candidate.
What excited you about Vortexa and why did you accept the offer?
The opportunity ahead.The oil and gas industry touches everyone’s life in some way and it’s at this really momentous point of transition and transformation which Vortexa is at the heart of. Being able to be a part of that is a once in a lifetime opportunity I could not say no to.
The team.When I interviewed, Vortexa had already built a small but amazing team. Everyone I met had a growth mindset, passion for their role and were extremely friendly. I knew immediately that Vortexa was somewhere I’d want to work.
The role.The role did, and still does offer this brilliant chance to be a key part of Vortexa’s scaling journey. In addition, the broad scope of the role really appealed and the opportunity to support each function of the business with its growth and development and in addition bring all those threads together to maintain an inclusive and high-performing culture really fascinated me.
What has your career with Vortexa been like?
It has been an incredible and very busy two years to date as Vortexa’s Head of People & Operations, including helping us triple our global team. My role has and continues to span lots of areas, but with the main focus being driving the people agenda, including how we attract amazing talent, learning & development opportunities for our team, building out our diversity & inclusion strategy, employee engagement and wellbeing of our team. On the Operations side of my role I continue to work with a range of internal and external partners and suppliers covering the main themes of Finance, Legal and Site Management.
And finally, what are you most excited to achieve with Vortexa?
As I mentioned earlier we have just celebrated our Series B investment round so helping Vortexa to continue to scale at pace combined with maintaining our high-performing and inclusive culture is at the forefront of my mind as I look ahead.
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Jessica found her dream roles with Vortexa after being referred by a friend through Referment. Refer someone you know and earn up to £500 when they interview.