The Employee Spotlight is our blog series where we profile Parsable team members from around the world, with a focus on the work they are doing to improve the lives of frontline workers.

In this edition, we get to know Josh Santo, our senior product marketing manager.

How long have you been at Parsable and what does your role here entail?

I’ve been at Parsable for almost five years, and I’ve done a few different things during my time here.

I worked on our solutions consulting team and was able to go behind the scenes of the products while meeting the people who make it all possible. How cool, right? It was like an episode of “How It’s Made” every day. 

From there I had the chance to try a role in marketing. As a product marketing manager, I focus on learning more about the people we at Parsable seek to serve, their day-to-day struggles, and the obstacles in place that prevent those struggles and annoyances from improving. I work with the other team members here at Parsable to take those learnings and help them bring forth the content, product and services that help make work a little bit easier for frontline workers.

Also, I host a podcast and I think it’s pretty good. So do others! In fact, I’d love to know what you think, so subscribe here and leave a review.

What were you doing before joining Parsable?

I was working at Apple with content providers like Apple Books publishers, App Store developers, iTunes & Apple Music labels, Apple Podcasts publishers and more. This was part of the AppleCare organization, which is the group responsible for patiently answering any and every question you might have about your iPhone. 

Ever called support and yelled at someone? That may have been me. I’m sure you can make it up to me, though.

What’s your favorite part about working at Parsable?

There are so many, it’s hard to pick just one. But, ultimately we are all consumers that rely on the goods, products and comforts that manufacturers produce for us. I enjoy being a part of a company that seeks to serve the people behind the goods, products and comforts that we as consumers rely on everyday. 

What do you think is a key challenge affecting manufacturers today?

Manufacturing is struggling to attract the next generation of frontline workers. There are many reasons why this is happening and it’s a complicated topic that will require change. One of the changes that needs to take place is the widespread adoption of digital tools to create a more consumer-like, digitally connected way of working for frontline workers.

In fact, a survey showed that 52% of frontline workers would consider leaving their current job to work in a more modern, digital manufacturing environment. There’s a risk of not being able to recruit or retain frontline manufacturing workers. You can’t produce without people and you can’t automate everything. 

This is where Parsable comes in. Manufacturers can use Parsable to build a modern-day digital experience for workers, enabling them to access and interact with critical information needed in the moment. By doing so, manufacturers are able to build the foundation needed for their digital manufacturing environment while seeing real tangible improvements to throughput, OEE, first pass yield, and more.

It’s like this idea that one of our customers and a good friend of the show shared – get the right people, the right information, at the right time to make the right decisions. Because, like another customer shared, people want to work like how they live – connected. So help make your place of work a place that people want to work. 

One of Parsable’s values is being customer-obsessed. What does that mean to you?

Customer obsessed is the discipline of keeping your primary stakeholders at the forefront of your mind. What we do or what we don’t do impacts people. We challenge ourselves to set aside our egos and personal opinions to come together to make the day-to-day activities of a specific group of people a little bit easier than before. 

What do you like to do for fun outside work?

I enjoy spending time with family, taking trips to the dog park with our Australian Shepherd, finding great Tex-Mex spots/eating in general, and more. I listen to podcasts, read books, and try to find new things to learn or new ways to challenge myself to continuously improve. 

And on really rare occasions – I take a nap. Oh man, how often do you really get to take a nap as an adult? 

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I have no idea how to blow a bubble with bubble gum. I’ve tried. I just can’t seem to get it to work. And at this point in my life, I don’t really care to. In fact, I’m not really a big fan of gum. It’s good for two minutes and then I gotta deal with a chewy piece of candy for much longer than I want to because all of a sudden – there’s no trash cans to be found! Maybe that’s why people learn to blow bubbles with chewing gum – to justify the continued chewing of it despite the complete lack of flavor.

I’ll stick with tiktaks, mints or listerine strips. Still no bubbles, though.

Interested in being part of the action? We’re recruiting! Here are our career openings around the world.