We have solidified our commitment to technology as the lever for sustainable growth and path to profitability by doubling down on our tech and product teams. Over the next 6 months, we are set to hire 300+ technology professionals – including software development, engineering and product managers, designers, data scientists across entry-level to senior leadership roles.
We seek to hire full-stack teams with key skill sets and expertise in the areas of Machine Learning, Data Engineering & Information Security, Android and iOS developers. The expanded design, product and engineering teams will be responsible to build long-term capabilities for OYO from scratch and update the current tech stack. The travel technology player is set to introduce several innovations and commit to investments in technology, further optimising revenues for hotel owners, while improving user experience for customers.
We have an expansive tech stack of 50+ products and 500+ microservices, including our consumer and partner apps such as OYO, OYO OS, Co-OYO, as well as several applications led by Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Analytics such as a dynamic pricing app called Tariff Manager, OTA (online travel agents) performance management, Discover OYO, personalized recommendations, Yo! Chatbot, among others.
The hiring will play a critical role in accelerating our transformation to a global full-stack technology provider for small and mid-sized hotels and homes. We have seen our improved app ecosystem provide a 2x lift in revenues for new hotels and homes that join our network. The tech improvements have also made our consumer app the 3rd most downloaded travel app globally. Interestingly, an OYO is booked every 0.56 seconds, owing to our easy and responsive systems built by our engineering and product teams. Some other interesting aspects of our tech stack include Yo! Chatbot, which resolves 85% of our consumer queries and complaints and our machine-learning-based dynamic pricing algorithm, which does upto 60+ million micro-optimisations per day, further empowering SMEs to maximise their revenues across the world.
We have already begun onboarding over 50 mid-level tech talent and around 150 campus recruits from top universities across India. The candidates will go through rigorous competency-based technical discussions followed by detailed conversations with our leaders at OYO. Additionally, approx. 100 offers will be rolled out in the upcoming placement season.
Commenting on the development, Ankit Mathuria, Chief Technology Officer, OYO, said, ”At OYO, we believe in the philosophy to keep the ‘geek’ alive in our techies. We don’t put our talent in a box. Instead, we allow them to think big and think differently. I joined OYO in January 2021 and so far, it’s been a journey full of excitement. There’s never a dull moment because everyone is driven by technology at OYO and everyone contributes, starting from the company’s founder to our frontline executives. We’ve been blessed to have a diverse pool of tech talent and believe that each new bright mind will bring gripping ideas to the table, ultimately leading towards our goal to build a tech-first global platform that truly sets the tone for the future of travel. We welcome passionate talent that’s looking for opportunities to make a real difference and fuel the next wave of growth for OYO. We promise an enabling working environment and an opportunity to experiment and innovate.”
Speaking about the tech hiring, Dinesh Ramamurthi, Chief Human Resources Officer, OYO, said, “Over the past year and a half, we’ve been doubling down on our technology and pioneered several industry-first innovations to enhance customer experiences and maximise revenues for SMEs of hotels and homes. As an organisation that is deeply committed to solving problems with technology, inducting top tech talent is a key priority for us.”
We believe in a total compensation and reward philosophy, and have, therefore rolled out comprehensive pay packages, a combination of fixed pay, bonuses & stock options, for all, including freshers. In a constantly evolving technology space, we provide upskilling opportunities for our OYOpreneurs through several internal development programs.
Tech Council is a program that creates an exciting environment for engineers, product developers, data scientists, designers, and other tech professionals, giving them an opportunity to solve complex problems through hackathons, stretch assignments, or even SWAT Slack groups. OYOpreneurs also have the liberty to apply for opportunities in other teams at OYO to deepen their skills and knowledge.
As we lead with tech and product innovations for growth, we are also actively bringing back ex-OYOpreneurs from our technology team. So far, we have already brought back 100+ OYOpreneurs back to the company and aim to reinstate more over the next 6 months.