Hacker Success Managers

Intro to Hacker Success Managers 

Earlier this year, we released a blog that shared foundational changes on our Community Team. One of our goals pointed toward the launch of our Hacker Success Team. We want to walk you through the role that will be the foundational element of this team - the Hacker Success Manager (HSM). 

This role establishes a form of assistance for hackers looking to grow past a leaderboard. HSMs spend one-on-one time getting to know the aspirations of hackers and providing them with new opportunities. Their goal is to see you advance further in your career, develop new interests in the field, and provide opportunities to share that growth.

Chad Chalker, Steve Hernandez

Both of our HSMs have backgrounds that illustrate a drive to help others. Chad has worked in humanitarian operations, advocating for emergency needs and programming in east Africa and the Middle East. Steve is a seasoned customer service and success professional with 20+ years of experience helping clients achieve desired results.

Chad and Steve have also provided pathways for client success here at HackerOne in their previous Customer Success Manager roles. Now, they will be using this experience to assist hackers personally. But before we go over who gets an HSM and how an HSM does outreach, let’s share what they do.

HSM Form and Function 


 

Hacker Success Workflow

 1:1 Personal Relationship: HSMs will seek to understand your story, goals, and preferences to create a more customized experience on our platform. As a result of a personal relationship, you’ll have a trusted partner and friend who can fully represent and understand your unique hacking needs. 

Internal Support: HSMs will be another point of advocacy for you. They are your internal champion for all feedback, successes, and ideas for improvement. HSMs operate on the understanding of fairness, not bias. This means they will use their experience as a HackerOne employee to make equitable decisions based on internal knowledge for their hackers. 

Goal Setting & Skills Development: HSMs partner closely with you to identify your goals and any skills you’re interested in acquiring. We will help you accomplish your goals through mutual accountability, a quarterly cadence (minimum), and connecting you with learning and growth opportunities. 

More Opportunities: HSMs will help align you to additional financial opportunities such as challenges, pentesting, ASM, LHEs, and other strategic initiatives. HSMs will also connect you with potential off-platform opportunities such as speaking engagements, exciting projects run by local brand ambassadors, mentorship or educational prospects, or opportunities to engage with HackerOne in new and creative ways. 

More Hacking Opportunities: HSMs will be able to provide you with more prescriptive program invitations suited to your skill set and desired criteria. HSMs will have the inside scoop on up-and-coming private programs, public launches, challenges, and more. For those of you with an HSM, be sure to connect with them on your interests, skills, and proficiencies within to help us align with opportunities. 

Frequently Asked Questions

We expect you’ll have a few questions about this new role. So, we’ve made a list to illuminate more about who’s impacted, how you’ll know you qualified, and how to interact on first contact!   

Q. How does a hacker become eligible to work with a Hacker Success Manager (HSM)? 

a. The HSM function will be a growing and integral part of HackerOne. Currently, we have an HSM available for the top 300 hackers in bounties from 2020 - present.  We will be working to onboard more HSMs in the coming months to scale this team to continue to grow and expand to additional hacker cohorts.

Q. Are all the top eligible hackers aware that they have an HSM? 

a. The two current Senior Hacker Success Managers are reaching out to their portfolio of hackers in segments of 30. Due to the newness of this program, they are taking an iterative approach to ensure capacity is appropriate for each HSM. The HSMs are currently on their third segment of hackers. Our goal is to reach all 300 hackers in the portfolio by January 2023.  

Q. If you're eligible for an HSM, do you have to opt into the program, or how will the HSMs know I'm interested in participating? 

a. The assigned HSM will reach out to each hacker within their portfolio via email or other social media platforms where appropriate. This first contact will allow you to opt into a meeting or decline program attendance.

Having an HSM will only benefit your goals in the long run, but there is absolutely no obligation if you do not have the time to support a conversation at this time. If you decline an HSM, we will remove you from our cohort but feel free to reach back out if you ever change your mind! We will try to get you back into the program as soon as possible. 

Any additional questions you have about Hacker Success Managers can be direct to us at Community@hackerone.com

If this role sounds interesting to you, please feel free to apply here. 

Hacker Success Managers are the first step forward to providing individualized growth for those in our community. Our goal is to broaden this program to include more hackers as time goes on.