New Curb Career Options for 2023
New Curb Career Options for 2023
Wonder's 100k per Truck, Nashville OKs LPR
Despite continued job growth, recent headlines have emphasized layoffs and job cuts across the country. To counter that narrative (and to help anyone in our community that might be looking for a new job in 2023) - let’s take a look at some great job openings in the curb-centric economy.
Let’s start with some Curbivore friends and partners - if any of these sound interesting please let us know and we can help make an introduction.
Blue Systems is expanding its sales and biz dev teams across the U.S. and Europe, while CurbIQ’s parent company is looking for a transportation planner / engineer with a working knowledge of curbside management strategies and curbside users (they also have 160 other openings.) For the technically minded, Everee is looking for a tax operations specialist, while Chargie needs a software engineer. Waev (you might know its GEM, Taylor-Dunn and Tiger vehicles) is looking for a government sales manager, but also for roughly a dozen good ol’ fashioned, blue-collar factory workers. Meanwhile, LA Cleantech Incubator needs a new VP of Transportation Electrification. And over at Uber, there are a whopping 593 open roles, including some very interesting looking marketing positions at Uber Eats.
Zooming out a bit, there are great public sector positions from coast to coast:
LA Metro has a number of openings on its “innovation” team, including senior director, senior director (alternative delivery,) transportation planner senior manager, and a humble transportation planner.
Seattle is looking for a planner for its multimodal corridors and an energy policy advisor.
Chicago is looking for a director of planning, research and development; they have 49 other job openings, but their careers site is a hot mess.
New York City needs dozens of new permitting and policy experts to help with street vending and delivery compliance.
And up in Boston, there are a number of open positions to help the city meet its vision zero and new mobility goals (including deputy chief of streets.)
If you’re hungry for something in the delivery software / order dispatching space, ChowNow has 29 jobs open, including one for a lifecycle marketing director. On the opposite coast - Lunchbox needs a number of new product managers. If you’d rather work remotely, take a peek at the open listings at Olo or 7shifts.
More of a hardware nut? Serve has open roles in LA and the Bay, Coco is looking for engineers in SoCal, Kiwi is hiring on multiple continents, and Starship has 48 positions to fill. If you’re looking to move humans, Lime has juicy jobs worldwide, while Aventon is beefing up its marketing and operations teams in SoCal and Revel is hiring in Brooklyn and SF.
If you’re craving that early startup grind, there are some interesting looking jobs at SolarFi (you might remember their lovely streatery pod at Curbivore 22,) Hive (an EVs for gig workers concept,) and Mazout (an Indian electric moped maker,) while Stable is looking for software engineers that want to improve EV charging efficiency.
All in all, employment prospects are looking bright. If you’re looking to hire in 2023, shoot us an email and we’ll be sure to include it in our next jobs round-up.
HOT INDUSTRY NEWS & GOSSIP
There’s wondering, and then there’s wishing… With its sleek trucks and tech-friendly delivery, some have called Wonder the “Amazon of food.” But new data shows the startup (which has raised nearly a billion dollars) is barely doing more than $100k in ARR per vehicle. Is there a route to making the math work out? If so, it sounds like the road is a long one - as the company is reportedly cutting 7% of its staff.
The ever slowing world of instant delivery! Gorillas and Getir are getting close to finishing their tie-up, but it’s not looking pretty. Berlin-based Gorillas is not only looking at a valuation cut as part of the acquisition by the company’s Turkish rival, its investors may even have to inject a fresh $100 million in cash to get the deal over the finish line. The key to making rapid delivery working may be focusing on close-knit communities with smaller SKUs, as Duffl’s David Lin tells TechCrunch. (You may remember him making a similar case last March.)
Would you trust your neighbors with your packages? A new French startup thinks so, but somehow this seems like an idea that might struggle in “low trust” societies. Pickme raised $3.7 million to build neighbor-based pick up and drop off points for parcels and small packages. Working with partners that include DHL, Pickme is already processing 30,000 packages per month.
Speaking of delivery… Amazon has cooked up a new way to help its workforce as it slogs through the holiday season. Now customers that say “Alexa, thank my driver” will treat their delivery worker to a $5 (Amazon-funded) tip. Maybe this will get people to use their voice assistants for something besides playing music?
California transportation news: LA speeds up bus lane construction, with groundbreaking on a La Brea route starting this past week. The city council also voted to approve the “Livable Communities Initiative” - which prioritizes active transportation, complete streets, and additional parkets / streateries. Up in the Bay Area, the MTC is exploring adding tolls to regional freeways (a great idea that we sadly don’t think will go anywhere.) And San Jose is now officially the largest American city to get rid of parking minimums.
And from the Feds… On a national level, the DOT is looking to prioritize funding for pedestrian safety and alternative transportation. On top of that, the FRA just announced a record $2.3 billion in funding availability for passenger rail improvements. Here’s hoping states have the budgetary discipline to get some meaningful results!
Gambling on robotaxis: Uber and Motional take their self-driving taxi service live in Las Vegas. You could say that Motional is hedging its bets here, as the Hyundai and Aptiv-backed startup already offers its robotaxis up in Sin City on Uber and Via’s platforms.
Research paper alert! This one ought to get you excited… the International Transport Forum has a new whitepaper out on “The Freight Space Race” - exploring how to make delivery more area-efficient in urban settings.
Meanwhile, at the big delivery networks… Instacart adds Christmas tree delivery to its big and bulky menu (we hope those drivers have gloves, pines are awfully prickly!) Grubhub adds Kiwibot to its stable of PDD providers (which include Cartken and Starship) that are focused on college campuses. Uber Eats gets fined by Chicago, while Nextbite rolls out Nestle Toll House cookie delivery on all the major platforms. Grubhub’s founder shares his leadership secrets, and The Rideshare Guy looks at how third party delivery works from the restaurateur’s perspective.
LPR rides in to Nashville: Tennessee’s capital approved a six month pilot of license plate reader technology, with cameras set to go live in spring. While the current scope of the project has divided the community with its focus on criminal monitoring, the project could be expanded to work on traffic and curb management. Get those RFQ responses ready!
VCs still hot for 3PL! Toronto’s GoBolt raised a fresh $75 million CAD, as it doubled revenue year over year. The company works with the likes of Ikea and numerous DTC brands that are attracted to the startup’s low carbon approach to delivery and logistics.
Stockholder seeking syndicate? Our own Harry Campbell is launching a new investment syndicate. Its first deal, going live this week, is focused on the logistics space. Learn more here and Harry will follow up with details.
Just a few more links this week: Kroger and Albertsons pinky swear they won’t close any stores! NYC Bar Assoc. appoints Matthew Daus as Chair of Transportation Law Committee. LBC looks to ease permitting for streateries. World's northernmost metro system gets a big extension. BrightDrop expands in to Canada. As ecommerce growth stalls, does that brighten the outlook for beleaguered brick and mortar retailers? Can America kick its addiction to stroads? (Probably not…) Charlotte picks route for unfunded rail extension. If you’re a news junkie, don’t forget the NYT is on strike today - no Wordle either!
See some of you LA-based curb heads at tomorrow’s Streets For All holiday party?
- Jonah Bliss & The Curbivore Crew