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Company: Upwork, San Francisco, CA
Company Description: Upwork is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential. Our talent community earned over $3.3 billion on Upwork in 2021 across more than 10,000 skills.
Nomination Category: Product Management Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Product Management Department/Team of the Year
 Nomination Title: Upwork's Product and Experience Team Transforms How the World Works
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the achievements of the nominated department or team since January 1 2020, OR written answers to the questions for this category? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Briefly describe the nominated department or team: its history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 112 words used.
In the last year, Upwork’s Product and Experience team, also known as PEX, has catalyzed strong R&D momentum and has helped transform Upwork, the world’s work marketplace, from a single-product company to a multiproduct company. The PEX organization binds together customer experience and product in an effort to understand a true 360-degree view of customer problems the company aims to solve. As the team is responsible for driving all company revenue, PEX’s highest priority principle is “make the customer win big.” By colocating CX and product teams, PEX takes customer-centric insights that are data-informed, generating real-time feedback loops that are effectively pulled through into each product experience across diverse customer journeys.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Outline the department's or team's achievements since the beginning of 2020 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 235 words used.
With a hyper-focus on customer feedback and experience, Upwork’s PEX team has not only set the pace for accelerated growth in 2022, but has also delivered multiple new solutions and countless features in 2021, including:
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The global launch of Project Catalog, a curated collection of projects predefined by freelancers that clients can browse and buy from in just a few clicks. Project Catalog contains tens of thousands of projects across more than 300 categories. The team drove the project, from approval to launch, in less than three months, understanding customer needs and knowing the impact and positive implications it would have on opportunities for businesses on Upwork.
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The introduction of Talent Scout, a recruiting solution that connects companies with pre-vetted expert talent selected from the platform by specialized Upwork recruiters.
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Improvements to Enterprise Suite offerings like Bring Your Own Talent, Direct Contracts, and Payroll.
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The introduction of Virtual Talent Bench, a series of features that makes relationship building central to the customer experience on Upwork.
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More integrated ways for clients and independent talent to collaborate and communicate, like Loom asynchronous video, scheduling meetings, and messaging enhancements.
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Partnerships with benefits providers such as Catch to expand freelancers’ access to health insurance and financial services.
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Experimentation with advertising and market design capabilities like Available Now Badges for more customer control and flexibility.
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Advancements to platform fundamentals, like improved search and match capabilities as well as page speed.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the department's or team's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 207 words used.
Upwork’s PEX team hit significant milestones in the last year enhancing Upwork’s product capabilities as it evolved the Talent Marketplace, launched Project Catalog globally, introduced Talent Scout and Virtual Talent Bench, created valuable partnerships with technology and benefits providers, all while experimenting and advancing platform fundamentals. This has inevitably helped customers and talent build long-term, trusted relationships, providing them multiple ways to work on Upwork’s work marketplace. As the team is responsible for all company revenue growth, the positive impacts can be seen through Gross Services Volume, growing 41% year-over-year, reaching $3.5 billion with revenue growth up 35% year-over-year reaching $503 million for the full-year of 2021. In the last quarter alone, Upwork surpassed $15 billion in lifetime talent earnings. This achievement highlights the magnitude the PEX team has had and differentiates Upwork as a leader in the global movement to reimagine work. 2022 is the year that Upwork takes the next steps in evolving from being the largest global freelance marketplace, as measured by GSV, to broadening its horizon as the world's work marketplace. The PEX team’s product achievements have significantly allowed Upwork to do just that by shifting the company into what used to be a single-product line company to a multi-product line company.
- You have the option to answer this final question: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 49 words used.
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