Solving Sports Industry Challenges on a Growing Remote Team

By Emily Williams Smietana

Emily Williams Smietana says her role as Account Director always keeps her on her toes and brings new puzzles to her everyday work solving problems in the sports industry.   

She first learned of StellarAlgo as a client when she worked for Sacramento River Cats. Now she’s on the other side of the product, helping clients make their lives and jobs easier. As a remote employee based in the U.S., Emily broke down how she stays connected to her team, her memorable first day, and what she finds most rewarding about her work. 

What was the transition like going from a StellarAlgo client to an employee? 

The transition was smooth because the use cases and why clients use StellarAlgo were always so clear to me. I learned a lot on the technical side of the product and love the variety in the three clients I serve— minor league baseball, the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association), and the ECHL (East Coast Hockey League). 

I genuinely like helping people and solving problems. Working at StellarAlgo is a great mix of that. I believe in our product and how it makes people’s jobs and lives easier because it made mine easier when I was a client.

I also really enjoy working for a Canadian company that cares so much about its employees. Right before I went on maternity leave, I got a call from Vince, our CEO, wishing me luck and it was such a nice personal touch. You can tell there’s a culture of trust and caring about employees here, and that’s refreshing. 

How do you stay connected and collaborate as a remote team?

I’m talking to somebody from StellarAlgo every hour of the day, which is awesome. We don’t work only heads down in a silo, we’re in constant communication. We collaborate a lot across teams from Engineering to the C-Suite, which is one of the ways I feel so connected. The StellarAlgo team is spread out across North America and I know other remote employees like Andrew have similar positive experiences. 

Traveling to in-market visits to see clients is a really great opportunity to connect with coworkers too. We don’t typically just send one person to visit clients. It’s very much a team effort and we’ve had engineers, product, and sales team members join these trips.

What in-market client trip was especially memorable for you? 

My first in-market trip was the day I started at StellarAlgo. On my first day, I was on a plane to New Jersey to meet our ECHL partner, who had just signed with StellarAlgo. 

I remember the team had to expedite my computer delivery. At the time, we were living on a military base and I remember going to the post office and explaining how important it was to get my laptop on time. That trip was very memorable! I knew from my first day that this job would involve an exciting variety of work, travel to visit clients, and new challenges.  

How has the U.S.-based StellarAlgo team grown? 

About two years ago shortly after I started we had a team dinner in Tampa for the U.S.-based folks at StellarAlgo and the group was so much smaller than it is now. There’s a good mix of remote employees with a growing number of team members in the U.S.

Many of my U.S. coworkers come from sports teams like myself, not tech or sales, so it’s nice to have similar experiences we can draw from. Across the StellarAlgo team, there is a variety of backgrounds with many in the sports industry. At in-person company events throughout the year, we all get an opportunity to share experiences and connect. 

What do you find most rewarding about your work at StellarAlgo? 

Each league is different and has different problems, politics, and needs. Getting to navigate that every day keeps me on my toes and it’s like always having new puzzles to solve. 

We’re solving serious problems right now in the sports industry. There’s real intent and purpose behind it, and the StellarAlgo team has so much experience and quality people. The company is growing and on the up and up.  

Learn more about job opportunities at StellarAlgo here. 

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