Welcome back to another edition of Inside Drift, where we introduce you to members of the team that make Drift such a great place to work.
So far you’ve met Shannon Donovan, Mary Mitchell, Catherine LaMacchia, Nadine Shaalan, Britnee Laughlin, Carolina Caprile, Michelle Ai, Frank Schepps, Tate Knapp, Zareena Javed, Jason Richman, Stacy Chen, Lillian Frost, Josh Moody, Miles Kane, Lorraine Chon-Qui, and Meghan Catucci.
I’m excited for you to meet Josh Perk. Josh is a Senior Director of Solutions Consulting here at Drift. He joined the team back in 2018 as a sales engineer and has been responsible for growing the solutions function ever since. He is passionate about building loyal, trust-driven relationships that benefit customers and their end-users. Josh also served in the United States Air Force, and we’re extremely thankful for his service 🇺🇸
Ready to meet Josh? Let’s go ⚡
Editor’s note: The following has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Kaitlyn Martins: Hi Josh 👋 Let’s start with an easy one. Can you tell me a little bit about what you do at Drift?
Josh Perk: Of course. I lead our global pre-sales solutions consulting team. My team is about 20 strong and spans across the U.S., Europe, and Australia.
We act as technical liaisons for our customers during their evaluations of Drift. It sounds super fancy but, in reality, it’s just about supporting our customers. My team is filled with talented folks who are able to hear a customer’s pain and then communicate how our platform can solve for that pain. All while telling a story.
Kaitlyn: What does your day-to-day typically look like?
Josh: My team is in a really unique position. We’re constantly in the product and interfacing with our customers. There aren’t many folks who understand Drift’s value propositions and where we should be going better than solutions consultants.
As a director, I actually spend the majority of my time working cross-functionally with internal teams. I dedicate my days to forwarding feedback from my team to help guide the teams around us — whether that’s our marketing, product, or customer team.
Kaitlyn: Can you tell me a little more about the structure of the sales organization at Drift and where your team fits into that?
Josh: The structure of our global field operations team is brilliant, in my opinion. Rather than having my team siloed within sales, I report to our CRO, Todd Barnett. That means my colleagues span across our partner, operations, business value, productivity, and customer teams. As you can imagine, when you get all those leaders in one room, it’s much easier to crush your goals.
Kaitlyn: You’ve held a couple different roles so far in your Drift tenure. How do you feel Drift has supported your professional growth over the past couple of years?
Josh: I came to Drift hoping to build something much bigger than myself and I haven’t been disappointed.
You often see people on LinkedIn saying, “You either outgrow your company or your company outgrows you.” Fortunately, I grew at the same pace as Drift, so I’ve had tons of opportunities for career progression.
Todd has been a great advocate and coach in my career and has always given me the opportunity to grow my team — a level of trust I don’t think I would have been able to find in many other places. I also have an amazing team that I’m passionate about. I wouldn’t have been successful without them, and I look forward to seeing their faces every Friday at our team meetings.
Kaitlyn: What are some fun facts that people might not know about you?
Josh: Hmm, let’s see. I was born in Turkey on an Air Force base while my dad was in the service during the Gulf War. I can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than two minutes, and I met my wife on a dating app…a classy one, though.
Kaitlyn: Today is Veterans Day. I’d love to learn a little more about your time in the Air Force. What did you do?
Josh: I was clueless when I joined the Air Force and did something considered a little silly. I shipped to basic training under a status called “open general.” That means, unlike most people, I didn’t get promised a certain career field…I could have ended up as a cook or janitor. Fine careers, but not my passion 😅
Luckily, I did fairly well on the ASVAB (the military’s aptitude exam), scoring a 94. When I got my job assignment, they told me my career code was a 1N0. I had no idea what that was! Only after Googling it did I realize I was assigned to be an Intelligence Analyst.
I can’t say too much about what that meant, but I spent most of my time doing very technical analyses and explaining them to decision-makers who weren’t nearly as technical. Fairly self-explanatory why I was a perfect fit for the sales engineering career field 😁
Kaitlyn: Thank you for sharing, and for your service. When you aren’t working, what can we find you doing?
Josh: I’ve got two amazing kids, Kaiden and Amelia, and a beautiful wife, Jenna. We just moved to the suburbs of Raleigh and love getting to know our new city — mostly the food. COVID put a little bump in the road but I also love cycling and I’m hoping to get back on track for an Ironman in 2022 🚴♂️
Kaitlyn: Finally, what advice do you have for prospective Drift candidates, particularly someone looking to join the sales organization or your specific team?
Josh: First off, great choice 👍 Drift is at an astronomical phase in our growth and what we really need are folks who want to challenge the status quo. My journey at Drift is a great example of what may have never been if I’d showed up to work and only focused on the role I was in. So, think about what impact you want to have beyond the job description you see.
Want to work with Josh? We’re hiring. Check out our open roles here.
