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Quarks

Tech (Product)

Kyiv

Verified

We shape digital reality by creating products and technologies in social discovery and online dating.

Quarks is a IT company that creates products and technologies that help people from all over the world meet and communicate online. More than 51 million people in more than 20 countries have already used the company's products.

11years on the market

1office in Kyiv

180+employees

51+million users in more than 20 countries

Quarks specialists create products and technologies in the field of social discovery (online dating and communication). The company also develops services for marketing, analytics, and user moderation.

The name of the company reflects the principle of interaction within the team. In nature, quarks are elementary particles that are the fundamental constituents of matter in the universe. They have different internal properties. They are rarely observed in a free state — only as part of something bigger. In the company Quarks, each employee is an individual quark who becomes part of a large team and strengthens the team with his/her experience and unique skills.

The company’s flagship product is the online dating service Kismia which has already been used by more than 45 million people in 20+ countries. As of September 2022, Kismia is considered one of the top three dating apps in Ukraine according to data from the analytics company Sensor Tower.

Office with an area of 2000 m² with separate spaces and a sleep-room

The Quarks team works in a spacious office five minutes from Taras Shevchenko Metro Station. Each employee can choose where it is more convenient for him/her to immerse himself/herself in work: at a table in the openspace, in a chair on an open terrace, or under a blanket in the recreation area.

The company cares not only about comfort but also about the health of the employees. So, it has equipped the office with a modern ventilation and air purification system that minimizes the level of CO². Special attention should be paid to the design of the office. There are bright neon lights, colorful chill-zones and numerous live plants.

Quarks specialists prefer to work from the office because it has everything you need for productive work and quality rest: breakfasts, a choice of lunches, unlimited drinks, snacks, corporate sports and many zones where you can change the focus of the activity.

Quarks employees work where and when it is convenient for them

The company offers a hybrid work format. However, specialists work from the office 60% of the time. There is no micromanagement and bureaucracy at Quarks. The prime-time in teams takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no control over how, how much and where you work. The main point is to achieve the set goals.

Working from the office has several advantages for me. Firstly, work conditions and a comfortable workplace help to concentrate on tasks better. Secondly, the opportunity to communicate live with colleagues and work out ideas face to face. Finally, the road to the office is a great way for switching between work and personal life.

I like breakfasts and lunches the most among the company’s benefits. Thanks to this option, I save time in the morning and do not waste additional resources on going to a cafe or preparing lunch.

Kozachok Andrii,
Head of User Acquisition

The company cares about the health, safety, and rest of its employees

After the trial period, each employee is provided with health insurance. It covers full check-up once a year, treatment of chronic diseases in the acute stage, inpatient treatment, and services of various doctors, in particular dentists, ophthalmologists, and dermatologists. The company compensates for the cost of a gym membership and the services of a psychologist or psychotherapist. It is also possible to take a massage course right in the office.

There is a corporate doctor in the office who can consult you online or offline if you feel sick. This is enough to take sick leave for two days. If the employee does not feel better, he/she will be asked to contact a specialist in order not to neglect the disease. The corporate doctor also helps to solve various issues with insurance or order medicine.

Quarks employees can take 20 days off per year. You can use them any time when there is a desire to rest and the workload allows.

Every employee can count on legal advice and financial support. The company also has a security service that helps solve emergency and non-standard issues.

The company pays for the professional training

The employees of Quarks are actively encouraged to develop themselves professionally. Every member of the team can take part in the competition and study for free at one of the internal programs:

Soft Skills School is a course for those who want to develop soft skills and use them effectively in their career and personal life.
Product School is a course for those who want to understand the full cycle of product development without the technical part (programming) and learn the complexities that the business management process includes.

Employees transitioning to a managerial position can also count on support and training in management skills:

Leadership Intensive is a starting course for young managers without team management experience;
Management School is a course for middle managers who want to gain practical knowledge of team management.

You can also join one of the professional communities inside the company: recruiters, developers, analysts, backend developers, frontend developers, QA specialists, product managers, marketers, designers, PR specialists, etc. From time to time, each community organizes meetings where specialists share their experiences and professional knowledge with each other.

External training initiated by the company is paid in full. However, the external training initiated by an employee is paid in the amount of 50-70% of the cost. Current business needs and employee wishes are taken into account when choosing external educational programs.

Once, I applied for the marketing course from Projector, and the company partially paid for it. Thanks to this training, I was able to evaluate my own work, understand my strengths and weaknesses and work on them. The coolest thing was that I immediately applied the acquired knowledge in practice because we were just starting the processes that were talked about during the course.

In my opinion, when a company encourages employees to learn, both sides win. The employer gets a stronger specialist who grows as a professional and develops the product. And the employee becomes more loyal to the company, he/she wants to develop in it, because his/her needs are understood here. What I like about Quarks is that if the training is not directly related to the employee’s sphere of work, the company will partially pay for the training in case the employee justifies his/her need.

Mariana Lopata,
Market Research Analyst

An effective system of team meetings

The company has five departments: Customer Support Center, Department of Administrative Processes, Marketing Department, Engineering Infrastructure Department, and Product Development Department. Each department functions according to its own hierarchy and principles. Everyone works to achieve a goal which is determined by the company's top management every six months. The department heads come up with what their team's contribution to the joint result should be, and discuss intermediate goals with each specialist.

To track current successes, the company holds various meeting formats:

Quarterly presentations — held twice a year (April and October) to discuss the overview for the period.
The semi-annual presentation where heads of departments exchange business updates, held in July.
Annual presentation — held in December to sum up the results of the year and set plans for the next.
Managers' meeting — held three times a year, includes an all-hands business overview from department heads and managers, networking within the organization, and initiatives aimed at the development of managers.
Grooming, retrospectives and planning within a sprint using the Scrum agile technique for developers.

Beginners are mentored and allowed to determine their own direction of development

An internal mentoring program promotes the organic development of employees. Employees of the company can not only deepen their expertise or develop in one field but also try themselves in other professional roles.

My path in the company began with work in the Customer Support Team. After working for a year in this department, I realized that I wanted to change something. I saw an advertisement for QA courses accidentally and decided to take it. At first, I didn't want to tell my manager about it. However, I had to tell him about my courses because I couldn't always combine work with studying. I was very surprised by his reaction. I expected disappointment, but he, on the contrary, supported my desire for development.

After finishing this course, I started looking for a job and warned my manager that I would quit. Instead, he offered not to look for another company but to apply for a QA specialist position in Quarks. I received a good recommendation letter. The next day, I found out that the application development team was ready to take me on. I started a new life in a week. I am very grateful to my former manager for understanding and sound advice, and to my current manager for trust and support in development.

Ahata Avramenko,
Manual QA Engineer (App)

At the request of an employee, Quarks develops a personal development plan. It is followed by performance monitoring every six months. It is determined whether a person is ready to move to the next level. Specialists who go through several stages of growth within the company have the opportunity to become a Team Lead and create their own team. Such an employee is helped to improve his/her leadership skills and develop the competencies of a manager.

I have been working in Quarks for 7 years. I have worked my way up from a marketing analyst to a top manager. I spent the first six months in the company adapting and learning everything that was happening in Quarks marketing. I focused my efforts on dynamic changes with the support of my colleagues. My initiative was noticed by the manager and he offered me the role of Head of Direct Marketing with a team of 5 people. So, I became a manager after working only for a year in the company. I began to learn all the complexities of management and working with people.

I devoted the second year of work to training in the field of management and the development of my team. At the end of the second year, I gained the position of Chief Marketing Officer, where I still work. Today, my team consists of 40 people. I actively participate in the development of the admin block. I am maximally involved in solving all strategic issues of the company.

Katia Andrushko,
Chief Operating Officer

Quarks emploeeys are driven by success-oriented values

Quarks employees are united by ambition and purpose. There are a lot of interesting people in the company. They are guided by common principles in their work 👇

Think

Quarks value critical thinking, the courage to share opinions, and the ability to look at a task or situation from different angles.

Ask questions

The company believes that teamwork provides an opportunity to share experiences and helps reduce the number of errors. Employees do not keep silent if they do not understand something. Everyone appreciates questions that are asked at the right time and to the right person.

Make decisions

The specialists of Quarks are not afraid to deal with challenges. They expand the limits of what is possible, experiment, and learn daily. They take responsibility and get goosebumps when they are full of excitement or even when something goes wrong.

Be ready to change

It is impossible to compete and improve without constant changes. Therefore, the employees of the company sometimes change their own habits, current processes, team structures, approaches to development, the format of interaction with each other, and the evaluation of results.

Speed up

The company loves to automate and optimize routine processes, using modern tools and technologies.

Achieve the result

Quarks people strive to achieve results in all work processes, evaluate work efficiency, and determine which action contributed to the success. It allows scaling and repeating wins.

Build long-term cooperation

The Quarks team runs a marathon, not a sprint. That is why they are adjusting to long-term interaction with employees and partners.

Team building is not only about fun, but also about networking and improving team communication

Before the full-scale invasion, the employees of Quarks liked to have loud corporate parties. The company's birthday and the New Year were celebrated on a grand scale. As a sign of gratitude for the achievement of the six-month goals, the company organized trips for the team throughout Ukraine or abroad. The employees of Quarks have already visited Egypt, Georgia, and Montenegro.

Team building in Quarks is not only about fun and shared leisure but also about improving mutual understanding between colleagues or developing new skills. Nowadays, all entertainment activities are on pause. However, the company will return to loud parties and exciting trips after the victory.

Team safety and the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is now a priority

Before February 24, 2022, Quarks had been monitoring the news and preparing for a full-scale invasion. The company reserved places for relocation in the west of the country in advance. It prepared alternative channels for communication and optimized the financial cushion so that no one had to be laid off.

On the first day of the full-scale war, all those willing were immediately evacuated to a safe location. Those who wanted to go abroad were helped to find housing and co-working space, provided legal support, and given manuals for adaptation in another country. Most of the employees have already returned to Kyiv, but the administrative team continues to monitor the location of all employees, and their emotional state, and, if necessary, provides psychological or any other support.

In addition, the company supports employees who have decided to join the Territorial Defence Forces or the Armed Forces of Ukraine and keeps their salaries.

I informed the company about my decision to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine after I went to the Military Commissariat. My choice was treated with understanding. My colleagues were very supportive. In addition to moral support, I was provided with a backpack, a bulletproof vest, and several laptops for flashing radios. I know that the company continues to raise funds for the needs of other units of the Armed Forces. I am very proud of that.

My colleagues have recently sent a photo of my plant from the office and informed me that it is in safe hands and waiting for me. I hope to return before it becomes a two-meter palm tree 🙂

Roman Kachalii,
Product/Data Analyst

Only in 2023, the company transferred 7.65 million hryvnias to charity. Also, employees independently close requests from soldiers and volunteers. For this purpose, they organize various corporate events where funds are collected. The company has already held a stand-up evening which helped to collect more than 100,000 hryvnias for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It gave the team a sense of security in their office and city. The company's office already has a kind of museum, which consists of painted tubes from grenade launchers, flags and acknowledgments.

Quarks does not only help the Army but also those who suffered because of the war. For example, the employees of Quarks have recently gone to the village of Moschun near Irpen to sort out the rubble of houses destroyed by Russian troops.

How does the company select and adapt newcomers?

When selecting the employees, everything is taken into account. The candidate's motivation, experience, soft and hard skills, as well as compliance with the company's values are checked. Selection takes 1.5-3 weeks and includes five subsequent steps.

Initial resume screening. After reviewing the CV, the recruiter arranges a short call with the candidate to make a minimal portrait of him/her before the interview.
Interview. The candidate gets acquainted with the manager and finds out the information about the job in detail and has a chance to ask all the questions.
Testing. Developers usually write code in real time during an online or offline interview.
Bar raising. The candidate communicates with an employee who works in another department and takes a neutral position on the hiring. The purpose of this step is to assess whether a person fits the company's values and principles.
Collection of recommendations. A conversation with a previous employer can tell a lot about a person as an employee. Quarks always conducts such a check.

All these steps help to select the candidates who will help the company grow.

To get into the Quarks team, I had to go through several steps of selection. It took me about two weeks. I was evaluated both as a specialist and as a person to understand whether I fit the company. I was very nervous before the technical interview because I wasn't sure if my skills were up to par. However, the most difficult step was the bar raising, because it was the final step. I didn't want to make a mistake at the very end.

I love that the candidate selection is so thorough. It means that only real professionals, who will show the best results, get into the company, and you will be one of them 🙂

Alina Sai,
UI/UX Designer

On the first working day, it is customary to get to know the team and the office. The manager sets goals for the employee which he/she must achieve by the end of the trial period. The trial period lasts for about 3 months (up to 6 months for top-level positions). Each week, the newcomer meets with the manager to discuss his/her successes and failures.

Quarks has its own internal Wikipedia to learn about the structure and workflows. The company also plans to introduce the role of a buddy, so that each new employee has an informal friend among colleagues.

Still not convinced that working in Quarks is cool? If we say that employees love the company so much that they are ready to leave a memory of it on their own bodies for life? One of the employees has got a tattoo with the company's logo and is sure that she will not regret her decision, even if she changes her place of work one day.

I have several tattoos that I did according to two principles:

- I like the picture visually;

- There is an association with some events in my life.

The Quarks logo met both criteria at the same time. Over time, if I change work, this tattoo will remind me of the fantastic period of time I spent in the company.

Olena Lavronenko,
Product Manager

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