Hadas Huri – Onwards and upwards!

If you ever get the chance to chat with Hadas Huri, a 28-year-old Tel Aviv native who is currently a Product Marketing Lead for Wolt in Israel, two things become apparent pretty quickly.   

First, she’s clearly found her happy place. Throughout a video call arranged to discuss her career to date, you can count on one hand the number of times she’s not smiling. 

And second, the fact that you’ve got Hadas to slow down at all is something of an achievement. Once you hear about her career at Wolt – or more accurately multiple careers – and what she’s accomplished in only 5 years, you realize it’s only a matter of time (i.e. minutes) before she needs to zoom to her next appointment. 

Like a lot of Wolt people, Hadas came to the company while studying – in this case psychology and business management in Tel Aviv. Wolt was only just getting off the ground in Israel, and Hadas’ timing couldn’t have been better.  

 “I saw there was this new delivery company starting up, so I applied for a role as a support associate. I thought it would be a cool student job in a new tech company that sounded interesting. When I started, there were only a few dozen people in the local team.  Five years later, the number has grown to over 1,000,” she said. 

As in a number of other countries, business really started to accelerate during Covid, and Hadas was thrown into the deep end. She was quickly promoted and eventually led a team of around 20 people. While she enjoyed the work, she was also starting to think about what to do next, but this time outside of the support team.  

 “I was close to finishing my degree and I wanted to stay at Wolt to really start my career, so I applied to be a marketing associate as I’m really interested in that part of the business. I didn’t have any background, but our general manager and marketing manager believed in me and took me on,” she said.  

 “After a year or so in the job, my marketing manager went on maternity leave, so it was me and one other person handling the whole marketing team in Israel for around 9 months. It was very interesting, and also very challenging work! It really accelerated my learning.”  

 “At the moment, I’m the product marketing lead for Wolt in Israel. I’m responsible for how our app looks and feels to our users, as well as improving our marketing tools,” she said.  

 It’s around this time in the conversation that Hadas says she has also found time to do an MBA. So for those of you keeping track at home, in 5 years she finished two university degrees and rose to become the product marketing lead for Wolt in Israel. Not bad at all for someone who joined straight out of university – and without a background in marketing. 

Doing, not talking  

One of the things that Hadas comes back to a few times during the conversation is Wolt’s culture, and especially the level of commitment and trust she sees throughout all levels of the company.  

 “The people who succeed here are very hands-on. You don’t see managers who say ‘sorry, I don’t do that kind of work’. Even the most important department leaders are involved with things like orders, focusing on tasks that might seem small but are not.” 

 “I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty and see what happens, to see what is going on and get a better understanding of the business. At Wolt there is this culture of doing, not only talking. I know there are people that I can work closely with, and we’ll turn every stone to find a solution. People care, and you don’t always find that in companies.”  

 “Friends of mine outside of Wolt can be in the same position for like 3-4 years, doing the same things. All the people who started with me have been promoted and have really developed themselves. It’s such a unique and amazing situation, because Wolt truly believes in people and invests in them. I’m growing each month and learning new things. I’m evolving as the company evolves.” 

 “No year looks like the other, and we know the next year will be different as well.”  

 This being the tech industry, it’s relevant to ask if there is a gender imbalance towards men in the Israel office. Hadas noted that the current country general manager is a woman and estimated that roughly half of the local top management are women.  

 “I don’t see any discrimination based on sex. On the contrary, many of the top decision-makers here are women and super-inspiring leaders,” she said. 

 That inspiration, she added, wasn’t just confined to one role model in particular – or gender.  

 “One thing that is really important to me is that I keep the ability to stay human and care about people, even in very hectic times of growth. I see managers here who do that, who always ask people how they’re doing. You can work hard, but also be friendly, nice and caring.”  

 Before you know it it’s time to wrap up the conversation and let Hadas whoosh to her next meeting. But to end the story let’s add one more nugget about her, just to show what a ride it’s been for her so far at Wolt.

 The item came up when she was asked about how she finds balance outside of the office. She ticked off a couple of things, one being cooking (she’s big on Thai, Indian and Italian food), the other pilates. But when asked if she hangs out with team members outside the office, her smile got even bigger. 

 “The people here are so great that I met my husband here, and two of my bridesmaids are also at Wolt! That really says everything,” she said.  

And yes, Hadas confirmed that her fellow Wolt teammate (and now husband) delivered the ring himself. On time, of course.