Employee Spotlight: Blair Jiang, Product Operations Manager

Our mission at Instawork is to create economic opportunities for local businesses and professionals, globally. In order to achieve that mission, we have built a team composed of talented and hard-working individuals who are passionate about connecting skilled hourly professionals with local businesses who need their services.

Our Employee Spotlight series takes the opportunity to highlight members of our team and to give a glimpse into our culture and what it’s like to work at Instawork. To highlight the diversity of our team, we’ve asked Blair Jiang, Product Operations Manager, to share more about her experience working at Instawork. 

What do you do at Instawork and how long have you been with the company?

I'm currently a Product Operations Manager, running scrappy yet super fun experiments—think of it as operating a startup within a startup. Our team tackles emerging categories, turning quick wins into lasting product features (plenty of firefighting too). I joined Instawork last summer as an intern in the Business Operations team, hacking growth projects, and later transitioned into the Product team full-time.

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What initially attracted you to Instawork?

The opportunity to make a meaningful impact. 

I've always been passionate about supporting small and medium-sized businesses and helping them thrive. When I first came across Instawork, I was fascinated by its ability to instantly connect restaurants with skilled bartenders/servers on demand. As I learned more about the platform, I was drawn in by the range of use cases and the stories of professionals whose lives were positively transformed by flexible work. Being part of a team that's creating economic opportunities for millions of professionals truly resonates with me.

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What's your favorite part of your job?

Honestly, there are too many favorite parts to pick just one :) But if I had to choose, three really stand out:

1. Impact: Beyond the external impact Instawork has (that I mentioned earlier), the internal impact is just as exciting. There’s a high level of trust and very little bureaucracy, which makes it easy to make things happen. As an intern, I was trusted to lead a project that directly influenced the whole sales team; And I’ve witnessed other interns build projects that have driven millions in revenue. It’s a place where people at every level can truly move the needle.

2. Innovation: Even at Instawork’s current scale, I'm continually amazed at how quickly the company embraces new technologies—from piloting projects with YC startups to building cutting-edge AI tools in-house. The speed and adaptability constantly push me to keep learning and stay ahead of the curve.

3. Driven Team: I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen a midnight Slack message get an immediate reply, or a product bug swiftly resolved and shipped after just a quick ping to an engineer... None of these would be possible without such a talented, dedicated, and genuinely fun team. I feel incredibly lucky and grateful to be part of this inspiring group.

What is one piece of “work from home” equipment you couldn’t live without?

I'm usually an in-office kind-of-person, but if I'm working from home, my ergonomic office chair is non-negotiable—good posture support matters!

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What's the most important thing you've learned since starting at Instawork?

Act like an owner—leaving things better than you found them. 

Rather than accepting product features that aren't quite there yet, I've learned the value of proactively stepping up to help find solutions. This has allowed me to quickly understand many aspects of our product ecosystem, from go-to-market strategies to engineering challenges. It encouraged me not to worry too much about whether an issue 'belongs' to my team, and instead focus on contributing wherever I can. By doing this, I've had the chance to learn and grow in ways I didn't initially expect.

In 10 words or less, how would you describe the culture at Instawork?

Fast, fun, driven, innovative, transparent—and stocked with great snacks

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Visit our Careers page to see current job opportunities at Instawork.