Becoming a Kipsu Engineer: The Cara Christiansen Story

Many students see their college graduation as an opportunity to retire their classroom learning, find a job that pays the bills, and settle into “Adulting.” Cara Christiansen celebrated her graduation from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota in 2017, but she was far from ready to settle in. Her story was only beginning. She was curious and hungry for more knowledge.

Many students see their college graduation as an opportunity to retire their classroom learning, find a job that pays the bills, and settle into “Adulting.” Cara Christiansen celebrated her graduation from Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota in 2017, but she was far from ready to settle in. Her story was only beginning. She was curious and hungry for more knowledge.

Cara explored potential employers, hoping to find one who would not only provide opportunities for continued learning, but also encourage her tenacity and career growth. A friend who worked at Kipsu, a SaaS company leveraging text and digital messaging to help businesses connect with their guests and customers, recommended she look into the company. She did her research and found the Entrepreneurial Leadership Rotational Program. Cara was enticed at the opportunity to learn and work in different areas of a business.

Cara excelled at all of her roles throughout the rotations, but it came as no surprise that the Computer Science major gravitated to the Kipsu Engineering team. After a year in the Rotational Program, she found her career path pointing toward Engineering and jumped onboard as a Product Analyst. She loved the “stronger together” culture she encountered and further cultivated, and the endless possibilities for learning and development.

“One of the things I love most about being part of Kipsu’s engineering team is the environment of knowledge sharing. You work with a lot of smart people and everyone is so willing to share what they know, not in a boastful way, but more so: ‘Let’s all get better’. ‘Go beyond together’ is one of our Core Values at Kipsu, and I think we embody that in that we want to share our knowledge, but also continuously improve how we apply that to what we do."

Cara makes up 1/14th of Kipsu’s current Engineering team. They design, analyze, and maintain the Kipsu product to ensure it’s working at its fullest potential while also looking for opportunities to improve and strengthen it.

“We are tackling very intangible problems, but with tangible solutions. Kipsu works a lot with messaging and with customer service...You get to take something intangible, such as service or empathy, and make it something we can handle with technology. I think that’s fascinating.”

Kipsu’s growth trajectory continues to clip at full throttle and has more than doubled in headcount over the last year. Kipsu is always looking to expand its Engineering team with passionate, qualified full stack developers who want to make an impact in a supportive, collaborate environment where every voice is heard. If you or someone you know is interested in learning a bit more about the Engineering team at Kipsu or other opportunities, visit the career page or use the Kipsu line and text 612-400-7222 and a member of the talent team will text you back! An added bonus: you’ll get to hang out with Cara every day!

Want to join us?

We're looking for motivated people to join our growing team in Minneapolis. See our careers page to view all open positions and submit an application.