Priya Natarajan

Launched the onboarding portal this quarter, and her packet says by how much it helped.

Level

Senior Engineer

Tenure

3 years

The numbers

One quarter, from the dashboards, as they reach the room.

Self-review#

This quarter I led the Onboarding Portal from design through launch, partnering cross-functionally with Support and People Ops to align on requirements and drive adoption. The portal reduced median time to first commit for new engineers by 40%, a step change in onboarding velocity, and was called out by leadership as a model for internal tooling. I authored the launch communication to the wider org and ran the post-launch feedback loop. Alongside the portal I delivered 41 tickets across the payments surface and mentored a new starter through their first quarter. Looking ahead, I plan to scale the portal’s impact to the two adjacent teams that have asked for it.

Peer feedback#

From Sofia Marchetti, nominated by Priya. Priya is the person on this team who makes things happen. The portal would not exist without her driving it, and she kept every stakeholder aligned for three months. She is the first person I go to when I need something moved.

From Kenji Watanabe, assigned. I built most of the portal’s backend with Tom in January and February. Priya ran the meetings and wrote the launch email, which is real work and someone had to do it. The 40% figure I have not seen the data for; we only have two new starters since launch and one of them is Jonas.

What the last manager left#

• Portal launch went well. Renata forwarded the email to the whole division.
• Ask about the 40% number before calibration; I never did.
• Reliable in meetings, speaks early, always has a slide.

The announcement#

Subject: Onboarding Portal v1 is live
From: Priya Natarajan
To: engineering-all, Renata Vos

Team, I am delighted to share that the Onboarding Portal is live as of today. Over the past quarter we have built a single place for a new engineer to find their environment, their first tasks and their people. Early data shows a 40% reduction in median time to first commit. Thank you to everyone who contributed; this was a real team effort. More to come as we extend the portal to adjacent teams.

Where they sit#

Reports to the departed manager’s line, now yours. Renata Vos, the director, knows her name and has said so. Works most closely with Sofia, and nominated her. Not on the incident rota.