Meeting Title: Brainforge Analytics Engineer Interview Date: 2026-04-17 Meeting participants: Tanner Corbin, Kaela Gallagher
WEBVTT
1 00:00:53.080 ⇒ 00:00:55.000 Kaela Gallagher: Hey, Tanner, how’s it going?
2 00:00:55.530 ⇒ 00:00:57.139 Tanner Corbin: Hi, Kayla, good, how are you?
3 00:00:57.380 ⇒ 00:01:02.170 Kaela Gallagher: Doing well, thanks for taking some time to meet with me, appreciate it.
4 00:01:02.170 ⇒ 00:01:02.620 Tanner Corbin: Same to you.
5 00:01:03.110 ⇒ 00:01:05.220 Kaela Gallagher: Happy Friday!
6 00:01:05.580 ⇒ 00:01:23.509 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, excited to learn a little bit more about you. We work with Shivani, and I think she had sent over your information and said that you might be on the market. So, yeah, curious, like, how you know her, and maybe, like, what’s putting you on the market for something new.
7 00:01:24.150 ⇒ 00:01:30.439 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, I only know Shivani because I interviewed with them as they’re looking to hire someone.
8 00:01:30.440 ⇒ 00:01:31.250 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
9 00:01:31.250 ⇒ 00:01:38.660 Tanner Corbin: And that we kind of realized pretty early on that, like, it’s probably not the right fit. I think they’re needing a lot more, like, front-end BI development.
10 00:01:39.700 ⇒ 00:01:44.210 Tanner Corbin: Not just ex… not only experience, but, like, A desire to do that.
11 00:01:44.700 ⇒ 00:01:49.130 Tanner Corbin: But she mentioned you all, and sounded like that might be a good fit, but…
12 00:01:50.040 ⇒ 00:01:50.800 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
13 00:01:51.180 ⇒ 00:01:53.930 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, I don’t know, I don’t know her other than that.
14 00:01:54.840 ⇒ 00:01:57.649 Tanner Corbin: But, as far as what’s got me looking in general is…
15 00:01:59.600 ⇒ 00:02:07.990 Tanner Corbin: I am currently at HubSpot, and I didn’t realize just how big it is. It’s, I think, over 9,000 employees, and…
16 00:02:07.990 ⇒ 00:02:10.630 Kaela Gallagher: Wow, I didn’t realize that either. Okay.
17 00:02:10.870 ⇒ 00:02:18.340 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, and our data team, they’re… they’re awesome. They’re just really, Very talented group of people.
18 00:02:18.690 ⇒ 00:02:24.750 Tanner Corbin: There’s a… but there’s, like, 125 analytics engineers, and…
19 00:02:24.880 ⇒ 00:02:29.419 Tanner Corbin: It’s been cool to see things at that scale, but also,
20 00:02:29.640 ⇒ 00:02:32.770 Tanner Corbin: my scope is just pretty narrow, and so I…
21 00:02:33.280 ⇒ 00:02:37.700 Tanner Corbin: I feel like we’ve come a long way in the couple years that I’ve been here.
22 00:02:39.180 ⇒ 00:02:44.000 Tanner Corbin: I find myself just kind of doing rinse and repeat and kind of redundant work that…
23 00:02:44.200 ⇒ 00:02:47.049 Tanner Corbin: I’m looking, hopefully, for something where I can
24 00:02:47.380 ⇒ 00:02:50.220 Tanner Corbin: Have more impact, and move a little faster, and…
25 00:02:50.590 ⇒ 00:02:56.379 Tanner Corbin: Just bring a lot of the… what I think knowledge and skills I have are, to…
26 00:02:56.660 ⇒ 00:02:58.100 Tanner Corbin: Others who might need that.
27 00:02:58.450 ⇒ 00:03:08.370 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. And you mentioned that your scope has kind of narrowed a little bit, like, what would you consider, I guess, to be, like, your area of expertise?
28 00:03:08.940 ⇒ 00:03:15.250 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, here in this role, I work a lot on product analytics, so we…
29 00:03:16.050 ⇒ 00:03:26.669 Tanner Corbin: are analyzing clickstream data, or building dbt models for them, for clickstream data, but also, like, our internal events and objects, and so we…
30 00:03:27.120 ⇒ 00:03:32.710 Tanner Corbin: do a lot of outcomes reporting. Is a customer finding value,
31 00:03:33.230 ⇒ 00:03:35.939 Tanner Corbin: With their use of our product.
32 00:03:36.740 ⇒ 00:03:43.790 Tanner Corbin: And I’m using product… information, product data, to… Build those models.
33 00:03:44.220 ⇒ 00:04:02.830 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, cool. I guess, maybe not at HubSpot, but, maybe in one of your previous roles, have you been in a position where you are, like, kind of client-facing, like, meeting directly with the stakeholders that you’re kind of building solutions for?
34 00:04:04.140 ⇒ 00:04:10.400 Tanner Corbin: I can’t say that I have, especially not in, like, a consulting sense. I… I work with stakeholders all the time.
35 00:04:10.830 ⇒ 00:04:13.850 Tanner Corbin: But they’re internal, you know, and…
36 00:04:14.820 ⇒ 00:04:17.190 Tanner Corbin: I’ve had positions, though, where I’m like.
37 00:04:18.600 ⇒ 00:04:25.470 Tanner Corbin: I think, like, at OU Health, a health system here in Oklahoma City, where I’m based, like, there were lots of
38 00:04:25.800 ⇒ 00:04:29.280 Tanner Corbin: times where I’m meeting with, a…
39 00:04:29.640 ⇒ 00:04:34.870 Tanner Corbin: A leader, but who used to be a nurse, or a doctor on some…
40 00:04:35.010 ⇒ 00:04:43.429 Tanner Corbin: other side who’s trying to, like, understand what data we have available. So, like, I’ve had some experience with, like, just talking to really non-technical stakeholders, but…
41 00:04:43.770 ⇒ 00:04:48.170 Tanner Corbin: I can’t say that I’ve worked in a consultancy like this.
42 00:04:48.980 ⇒ 00:04:53.710 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, yeah, that’s fair. I wouldn’t say that we are, like,
43 00:04:54.020 ⇒ 00:04:59.549 Kaela Gallagher: Requiring, like, a consulting background by any means, but just somebody that
44 00:04:59.550 ⇒ 00:05:19.329 Kaela Gallagher: you know, has really strong communication skills that we can have on calls with clients, that can explain, like you mentioned, like, really technical concepts to maybe non-technical people. Like, we found that that has been really important in the success of our engineering team, so…
45 00:05:19.330 ⇒ 00:05:24.840 Kaela Gallagher: Definitely something we’re looking for as we’re moving forward.
46 00:05:25.110 ⇒ 00:05:38.389 Kaela Gallagher: just to tell you, like, a little bit more about Brainforge, I’m sure Shivani mentioned us a little bit, but we do data and AI consulting, and so we work with a lot of, like, small, mid-sized organizations.
47 00:05:38.390 ⇒ 00:05:56.309 Kaela Gallagher: And we offer 3 service lines to them. One is data, which includes our analytics engineers as well. One is AI, and then one is strategy and analytics, and sometimes we kind of have a combination of the three, or maybe we are brought into
48 00:05:56.670 ⇒ 00:06:10.920 Kaela Gallagher: you know, clean up a data stack, or clean up a set of data, and then we’re able to kind of move from there into, you know, building AI on top of it, and kind of go through phases that involve all of our teams. So,
49 00:06:11.190 ⇒ 00:06:23.819 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, I mean, Element is one of our clients, I’m sure you know, as you chatted with Shivani. So, yeah, small to mid-sized companies, but also companies that you find on the shelf at Target and Walmart. So, cool.
50 00:06:23.820 ⇒ 00:06:40.270 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah. As an analytics engineer, you would probably be working with 2-3 clients at a time, so we do look for engineers that are able to kind of context switch and, you know, move at a very fast pace, bounce a few different projects at a time.
51 00:06:40.450 ⇒ 00:06:57.270 Kaela Gallagher: And then, yeah, I like that you mentioned dbt. That is, definitely, like, a requirement for us. And then in terms of, like, other tooling we work with a lot, Snowflake is, like, the main warehouse that we’re using with most of our clients.
52 00:06:57.440 ⇒ 00:07:13.639 Kaela Gallagher: And we use, like, a platform called Omni pretty frequently with a lot of our clients. So yeah, that’s kind of an overview there. Right now, our entire team is on a 1099 basis, so independent contracting.
53 00:07:13.950 ⇒ 00:07:21.610 Kaela Gallagher: So that is something to consider, is that the pay would be at, like, an hourly rate, basically.
54 00:07:22.040 ⇒ 00:07:27.839 Kaela Gallagher: We do have opportunity for additional bonus. That could be through.
55 00:07:28.060 ⇒ 00:07:37.900 Kaela Gallagher: referrals through, earning certifications. We have, like, a buddy program when we’re onboarding new people, and we compensate for being a buddy.
56 00:07:37.900 ⇒ 00:07:49.499 Kaela Gallagher: We also compensate for, bringing in any additional business, or maybe expanding the scope of work with a current client, so there is opportunities to earn more beyond
57 00:07:49.500 ⇒ 00:07:51.590 Kaela Gallagher: You know, an hourly rate, but…
58 00:07:51.890 ⇒ 00:07:56.109 Kaela Gallagher: Did just want to be transparent about that as well.
59 00:07:56.230 ⇒ 00:07:56.910 Tanner Corbin: Yeah.
60 00:07:57.610 ⇒ 00:08:02.120 Kaela Gallagher: And you said… you said you’re in Oklahoma City, right?
61 00:08:02.410 ⇒ 00:08:03.070 Tanner Corbin: Yes.
62 00:08:03.070 ⇒ 00:08:03.780 Kaela Gallagher: Okay.
63 00:08:03.890 ⇒ 00:08:22.030 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, right now we’re fully remote. We have a team across the globe. We have had these kind of natural hubs starting to pop up in LA and Austin. There’s 5 of us, including myself in LA, and then our CEO and a couple other team members in Austin, so,
64 00:08:22.030 ⇒ 00:08:32.389 Kaela Gallagher: it is a bonus to us if people are willing to relocate maybe down the line to one of those locations. Do you see yourself in Oklahoma City long-term?
65 00:08:32.929 ⇒ 00:08:41.279 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, I can’t imagine relocating, unfortunately, yeah. Okay. Actually, I wish I could move, but it’s just… it’s not in our plans.
66 00:08:41.280 ⇒ 00:08:47.169 Kaela Gallagher: No, totally, totally fine. Yeah, we have a… we actually have quite a few team members in…
67 00:08:47.400 ⇒ 00:09:00.860 Kaela Gallagher: the Midwest. I don’t think we have anyone in Oklahoma, but, yeah, again, like, very remote, kind of async team. I think most people are working, like, either Central or Eastern hours, so… Okay, okay. Yeah.
68 00:09:01.450 ⇒ 00:09:08.769 Kaela Gallagher: In terms of, like, compensation, I’m curious what is the range that you’re targeting?
69 00:09:09.930 ⇒ 00:09:20.129 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, so, I… I have really only been looking into, like, full-time roles, not 1099.
70 00:09:20.550 ⇒ 00:09:26.730 Tanner Corbin: And in that world, I’ve been targeting, like, 150, bless you.
71 00:09:27.070 ⇒ 00:09:28.600 Kaela Gallagher: Sorry, thank you.
72 00:09:28.600 ⇒ 00:09:39.110 Tanner Corbin: I’ve been targeting, like, 170,000, depending on benefits, and so I’ll be honest, I don’t know what the equivalent might be, thinking in 1099.
73 00:09:40.330 ⇒ 00:09:53.910 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, that makes sense. Yeah, we do have plans to start converting our team to W2, that’s a big reason of why I was brought in as well.
74 00:09:54.020 ⇒ 00:09:55.500 Kaela Gallagher: But I, I…
75 00:09:56.160 ⇒ 00:10:03.540 Kaela Gallagher: can’t give a timeline on that right now, so that’s why I just like to be very transparent about it would definitely be 1099 to start.
76 00:10:04.570 ⇒ 00:10:05.470 Kaela Gallagher: Cool.
77 00:10:06.100 ⇒ 00:10:13.339 Kaela Gallagher: Any other questions that I could help answer about Brainforge? Like, any questions about the role?
78 00:10:14.620 ⇒ 00:10:18.379 Tanner Corbin: I’m just curious as far as…
79 00:10:19.540 ⇒ 00:10:21.989 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, you mentioned, I think,
80 00:10:22.710 ⇒ 00:10:25.790 Tanner Corbin: on average, maybe 3 clients at a time. Is that what you said? I’m sorry.
81 00:10:26.380 ⇒ 00:10:28.020 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, like, maybe, like, 2 to 3.
82 00:10:28.020 ⇒ 00:10:36.889 Tanner Corbin: 2 or 3. What are expectations on… like… billing for…
83 00:10:37.000 ⇒ 00:10:39.380 Tanner Corbin: Being able to bill through the client, like.
84 00:10:39.630 ⇒ 00:10:45.689 Tanner Corbin: 40 hours a week versus, like, is there space in there for administrative work? Like, for…
85 00:10:45.990 ⇒ 00:10:50.580 Tanner Corbin: Asked to bill less than 40 hours a week, or anything that you might…
86 00:10:51.220 ⇒ 00:10:52.950 Tanner Corbin: Think would be helpful there to know.
87 00:10:53.830 ⇒ 00:11:06.660 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so we do have some clients that are kind of on, like, that traditional consulting, billable hours, payment. However, I think with…
88 00:11:07.110 ⇒ 00:11:13.939 Kaela Gallagher: the influence of AI, a lot of consulting engagements are transitioning to be more so focused on, like.
89 00:11:14.410 ⇒ 00:11:24.260 Kaela Gallagher: outcomes-based, and the payments are based on outcome. So I wouldn’t say that we’re, like, tracking down to the hour for every single client.
90 00:11:24.260 ⇒ 00:11:41.629 Kaela Gallagher: But, like, if you are on a client where you’re billing hours, there is time built in for administrative and for… for meetings and daily syncs, and we have, like, a bi-weekly Friday company meeting, like, that’s all, built in for you to take… take that time.
91 00:11:43.370 ⇒ 00:11:47.490 Tanner Corbin: Cool. And, do you know, maybe on average, how off… how long…
92 00:11:47.740 ⇒ 00:11:58.370 Tanner Corbin: you typically stay with… like, as an analytics engineer, if I have 3 clients, like, am I staying with them for a few months, or a year or so? Any timelines that are…
93 00:11:59.070 ⇒ 00:12:07.010 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, so our average, contract length, I think we’re in, like, the 3-6 month range.
94 00:12:07.010 ⇒ 00:12:26.549 Kaela Gallagher: That being said, we have a few clients we’ve worked with for, like, over a year. So, you might have a client that’s, like, very long-term, and we’re just almost serving as, like, an in-house data team to them, and then you might have another client where we’re doing, like, a 6-week discovery, and
95 00:12:26.600 ⇒ 00:12:36.280 Kaela Gallagher: you know, then there’s potential for, like, renewal after that, 6 weeks to continue working with them. So, it kind of varies a little bit on how they’re structured.
96 00:12:36.600 ⇒ 00:12:37.180 Tanner Corbin: Okay.
97 00:12:38.570 ⇒ 00:12:39.190 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
98 00:12:39.720 ⇒ 00:12:44.749 Kaela Gallagher: Any other questions that I can maybe help answer?
99 00:12:45.490 ⇒ 00:12:52.209 Tanner Corbin: I guess just wanted to be upfront about one thing. I have a daughter with special needs.
100 00:12:52.520 ⇒ 00:13:03.370 Tanner Corbin: And… Thinking about, like, 1099, that complicates stuff, I’ve got really good benefits now, and can…
101 00:13:03.470 ⇒ 00:13:13.230 Tanner Corbin: help her with medical expenses a lot. But, I… I’m just uncertain about, my interest in something that’s 1099 right now.
102 00:13:14.540 ⇒ 00:13:19.300 Tanner Corbin: And I’m uncertain about just… consultancy in general, I’m… not…
103 00:13:19.560 ⇒ 00:13:21.539 Tanner Corbin: I’ve not done it, so I just wanna…
104 00:13:21.540 ⇒ 00:13:21.980 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah.
105 00:13:21.980 ⇒ 00:13:23.740 Tanner Corbin: I’m not sure, you know, if it’s…
106 00:13:23.870 ⇒ 00:13:28.499 Tanner Corbin: a good fit. So… I’m just trying to be upfront about that.
107 00:13:29.280 ⇒ 00:13:30.050 Kaela Gallagher: I appreciate that.
108 00:13:30.050 ⇒ 00:13:34.609 Tanner Corbin: yeah, if… you know, I’d be open to exploring more, but I also, like, have those
109 00:13:34.840 ⇒ 00:13:36.390 Tanner Corbin: That are just concerns right now.
110 00:13:36.800 ⇒ 00:13:44.410 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, yeah, that’s fair. Have you… have I sent you our, job description yet?
111 00:13:44.620 ⇒ 00:13:46.810 Tanner Corbin: I saw it on the website, if that’s the same one.
112 00:13:46.810 ⇒ 00:14:00.139 Kaela Gallagher: Okay, okay, yeah. Yeah, if you want to just, like, kind of take the weekend to think about it, and think about if it’s the right move for your family, that, that totally makes sense.
113 00:14:00.150 ⇒ 00:14:08.019 Kaela Gallagher: I know, personally, I utilized COBRA to kind of just continue my medical coverage, so in terms of, like.
114 00:14:08.050 ⇒ 00:14:20.939 Kaela Gallagher: you know, the doctors that I’m seeing and things like that, like, there haven’t really been any changes on my end. So, it’s nice to have that option to continue, benefits, but,
115 00:14:21.250 ⇒ 00:14:29.450 Kaela Gallagher: Obviously, like, you pay what the… what your company used to pay as well, so it becomes a little bit more expensive, so…
116 00:14:30.030 ⇒ 00:14:32.630 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, something to consider, but…
117 00:14:32.630 ⇒ 00:14:33.790 Tanner Corbin: Yeah, for sure.
118 00:14:33.960 ⇒ 00:14:36.020 Tanner Corbin: I hadn’t thought of that, but yeah. Thanks for sharing.
119 00:14:36.740 ⇒ 00:14:49.900 Kaela Gallagher: Yeah, of course, of course. Yeah, I can… I can just send over, like, a follow-up email with the job description again, and yeah, if you want to take some time to think about it, let me know if you’re interested in kind of moving forward.
120 00:14:50.150 ⇒ 00:14:50.730 Tanner Corbin: Okay.
121 00:14:51.120 ⇒ 00:14:51.880 Kaela Gallagher: Alrighty.
122 00:14:51.880 ⇒ 00:14:52.370 Tanner Corbin: Sounds good.
123 00:14:52.680 ⇒ 00:14:57.579 Kaela Gallagher: Well, thanks so much for your time today, I appreciate it. Yeah, I hope you have a great weekend.
124 00:14:57.580 ⇒ 00:14:58.420 Tanner Corbin: Thanks, you too.
125 00:14:58.420 ⇒ 00:15:00.070 Kaela Gallagher: Alright, thanks, Tanner. Bye.
126 00:15:00.070 ⇒ 00:15:00.970 Tanner Corbin: Thanks, bye.