Uber operates as a technology platform for people and things mobility related with the following segments: Rides, Eats, and Freight. The Rides segment refers to products that connect consumers with Rides Drivers who provide rides in a variety of vehicles, such as cars, auto rickshaws, motorbikes, minibuses, or taxis. The Eats segment allows consumers to search for and discover local restaurants, order a meal, and either pick-up at the restaurant or have the meal delivered. The Freight segment leverages proprietary technology, brand awareness, and experience revolutionizing industries to connect carriers with shippers on its platform, and gives carriers upfront, transparent pricing and the ability to book a shipment.
Salesforce Stack
Leadership
Developers
Administrator
Business Analyst/Product Owner
Architects
The Business Applications org structure at Uber is flat but well organized.
At the top, you have a Head of Global Enterprise Applications overseeing the portfolio. She has a layer of Directors of Enterprise Applications for each product area (Sales Systems, CX Applications, Financial Technology etc) - this layer includes multiple leaders with a core focus on Salesforce, given the scale and complexity of how it's used to support Sales, Driver Support, and Customer Support/Experience.
This Director layer is in charge of setting the overall direction of Salesforce, supported by several Product Owners, dedicated Business Analysts / Program Managers, 2 Architects, and a total of 22 Salesforce Administrators & Developers.
How to Layer the Salesforce Org
Similar to what you see across other high-performing Salesforce teams, a benefit to this structure is that stakeholders are supported and primarily 'managed' by Product Owners - working with them to identify problems and opportunities within Salesforce, while also supporting their respective end user base and allocating Administrator resources properly. These Product Owners can be the 'eyes & ears' at the stakeholder level, while Administrators identify opportunities on a more tactical, end user level. In collaboration with Salesforce Architects, this intel can be seamlessly organized back into the overall Salesforce product strategy, which is then moved forward by the 2 Salesforce Architects, Product Owners, and Directors of Salesforce.
This is a complex, highly specialized group that supports distinct use cases for Salesforce across core Uber business (ride sharing), Uber Eats (delivery), and Uber Freight (logistics). Uber absorbed Postmates, who was also a Salesforce Customer, in early 2020 and the current Salesforce team manages a multi-org environment that includes Sales, Service, Marketing, and Experience Clouds as well as utilization of Mulesoft and Tableau. (Based on a recent hire, we suspect CPQ may be on the horizon.)
Roughly 30% of the Salesforce team sits outside the United States. There's nothing new about a hybrid onshore/offshore model, particularly when it comes to Development but as we user in the new era of distributed work, there is an unbelievable opportunity for companies to tap into new talent markets.
Uber has done an excellent job scaling their Salesforce team with this hybrid model and has a total of 5 Developers and 2 Administrators that sit in India; however, they are managed by Engineering Managers and Product Owners that sit in the US.
Specialization within Salesforce is Key
Another noteworthy aspect is the degree to which some Product Owners are specialized within the context of Salesforce - for example, a Salesforce Systems Manager had previously been a dedicated Sr. Knowledge Manager, focusing solely on the Knowledge base portion of their Service Cloud instance. The ability for a company to identify high leverage areas of their application strategy and allocate resources toward targeted initiatives, even if temporarily, helps immensely in developing organizational competency in the areas that matter.
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