My Career Just Got Hacked: Rana Robillard Joins HackerOne

My career just got hacked.. and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Turns out, getting your career hacked* can be exactly what you need to re-energize your work life and ensure it aligns with your passion and personal values.

I am elated to announce that today is my first day at HackerOne as their first Chief People Officer. For those who know me well or will soon get to know me, I wanted to share why I chose this company, and why I am so excited about my journey ahead. 

I’ve been fortunate to work with some great companies and amazing people. So when I was planning my next adventure, my first criterion was that my next company must have a strong purpose, culture and values. 

HackerOne—as their Glassdoor reviews reflect—is deeply focused on culture and values.  They care (as do I) about happy and engaged employees and recognize the impact they can make on their communities and the world. The way they went about defining and articulating their values with their people is exactly how it should be done. In spirit of transparency, they have posted their values and the process here for all to see.

HackerOne’s mission is to empower the world to build a safer internet, and they leverage a community of white hat hackers thousands of times more populous than the company to protect the people of the world from theft. That’s amazing and inspiring to me.

HackerOne employees—called “Hackeronies”—are leaders, creators and are deeply committed to this mission. I’m proud to now count myself among them. If these things resonate with you, your values mirror ours, and you want to be part of a fast-growth global company, I hope you’ll consider joining us.

This leads me to the second item on my “must-have” list: a strong business model and growth company. HackerOne is #1 in the space and essentially created a new category. 

HackerOne was started by hackers and security leaders who are driven by a passion to make the internet safer. Our platform is the industry standard for hacker-powered security, and we partner with the global hacker community to surface the most relevant security issues of their customers before they can be exploited by criminals.

Third, I want to serve in a role where I get to scale, build, and grow another truly special company. This is what I LOVE doing and have been doing for the last 20 years. 

My job is about giving Hackeronies the opportunity to become the best versions of themselves. Whether taking their first job at HackerOne right after school or serving as a senior executive, all Hackeronies are expected to be one with our stated values and are supported as they learn, evolve and improve. My team is also focused on helping our extended hacker community feel valued, rewarded, and included. I look forward to reaching out and learning from them so we can best support their success.

Over my first 100 days, I’ll be focused on listening and learning about HackerOne's people, company and opportunities; continuing to hire exceptional and diverse talent to support our growth; and empowering my own People team (the team I’m inheriting are rockstars and I simply get to build on their success!). I encourage my new fellow Hackeronies to seek me out. 

Thanks for reading. I believe anything is possible when people love what they do and where they work. As a passionate and strategic people and culture leader, that’s been the focus of my career and what motivates me every single day. 

I hope this inspires you to assess where things stand for you and determine if it’s time to hack your career too.

*Hacker: One who enjoys the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming limitations.