Aussie start-up Reejig poaches Uber executive amid US push

Reejig first lured Westpac’s former CEO and has now made another key hire, as it stakes its claim as one of the nation’s fastest growing companies.

Reejig executive Jonathan Reyes. Source: Supplied.

One of Australia’s fastest-growing companies is expanding across the US, with workplace intelligence platform Reejig luring Uber’s former head of talent acquisition to lead its North American operations.

Chaired by former Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer and led by CEO and co-founder Siobhan Savage, Reejig uses AI to give management an overview of the skills base within a company’s workforce to clients now including Woolworths, AWS, KPMG and John Holland.

It gives managers visibility over all the skills their employees have, and can predict where skills gaps lie.

Fresh off a $21m funding round from investors including AirTree and Atlassian co-CEO Scott Farquhar and wife Kim Jackson, Reejig has made its first major US hire and is now ready to rapidly expand its operations across the continent.

It‘s appointed former Uber, IBM and CBA executive Jonathan Reyes, a work futurist, to be its first VP of North America.

“I‘ve had the opportunity to work across 100-year-old organisations and start-ups around the world, and Reejig’s mission of ‘zero wasted potential’ is something I truly believe can change the world,” Mr Reyes said in an interview.

“Opportunities like this don‘t come very often and I jumped at it. I feel like we’re really creating a new category with our workforce intelligence platform, and it’s helping organisations here in the US understand what zero wasted potential is, and it helps them achieve that and drive changes across their entire industries.”

Mr Reyes said that the pandemic has accelerated the understanding of the value of talent, with the ‘Great Resignation’ seen across the US and somewhat in Australia. He said that many organisations have lost significant amounts of talent, and that business leaders are now trying harder than ever to hold on to their best workers.

CEO Siobhan Savage and former Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer who has been appointed chairman of fast growing Australian start-up Reejig.

“Creating this new category like we‘re doing has all sorts of challenges but it’s probably the most exciting type of work that you can do, particularly when you’re changing an industry and when that industry is focused on people,” he said.

“The impact is so significant. I‘ve always really believed in the value of talent, that’s been my life’s work; talent, the retention, the attraction of talent. So for me, to have the right technology to be able to augment that and make that available to organisations everywhere is pretty exciting and I’m pretty pumped about it.”

Venture capital firm AirTree Ventures says Reejig is one of the fastest growing companies in its portfolio, and that its revenue growth is best in class globally for a software company of its size.

Siobhan Savage, CEO of Reejig said, “I am so pleased to welcome JR to the Reejig team. He will play a key role in bringing Reejig’s mission of zero wasted potential to our US customers.

“Over the past year, we’ve been pulled to the US and have grown exponentially. So, it makes sense for us to have an exceptional leader on the ground. We have big plans to grow our team in the US and I look forward to working with JR to deliver some amazing results for our new and emerging clients.”