Guide to Working at Lyft

Lyft is one of the most popular ride-hailing services in the U.S., simultaneously helping riders get around and allowing drivers to earn extra cash. But there’s much more to working at Lyft than driving in your spare time. This guide will walk you through what you should know if you’re considering working at Lyft.

What Is Lyft?

Lyft seeks to reimagine the future of transportation. It currently offers ride-sharing, bikes, scooters, car rentals and more through its popular mobile app, generating over $2.2 billion in sales. The company also has its sights set on developing autonomous driving technology.

Founders Logan Green and John Zimmer started the company as Zimride in 2007. Initially, they focused on providing long-distance rideshares for college students but later launched Lyft, which offered short-distance rideshares in San Francisco.

Today, the company has over 45 offices—the biggest in San Francisco, Seattle, Nashville, and New York City. In total, Lyft employs more than 4,700 employees.

According to Lyft’s Director of Impact Lisa Boyd, the company was built on social and environmental goals. Its mission is “to improve people’s lives with the world’s best transportation.” One day, the company hopes its model will enable people to give up their cars altogether.

Lyft Jobs and Salaries

When you think of working for Lyft, your mind may jump to being a Lyft driver; however, the company employs people in other roles. The corporate portion of Lyft includes departments like finance, data analytics, marketing, IT, sales, and more.

Your compensation will vary greatly depending on your department and position. Here’s what the team’s breakdown looks like:

Lyft Engineering Team

Lyft’s engineering team makes its app run smoothly, ensuring riders and drivers have a good experience. According to Comparably, this is the estimated breakdown for the salaries of Lyft engineers:

• Developers average about $160,000 a year.
• Senior Developers average about $170,000 a year.
• Engineering Managers average about $182,500 a year.
• Lead Engineers average about $182,000 a year.
• Data Scientists average about $135,600 a year.

Lyft Marketing Team

Lyft’s marketing team develops strategies to promote new modes of transportation while keeping branding up to date. According to Comparably, here is the estimated salary breakdown for a marketing career path at Lyft:

• Marketing Associates average about $70,100 a year.
• Content Strategists average about $76,300 a year.
• Copywriters average about $115,000 a year.
• Marketing Managers average about $121,500 a year.

Lyft University Programs

Current college students and recent graduates can benefit from Lyft’s university programs. The company invests in young professionals in hopes they will continue their careers with Lyft post-graduation. Here are some of their university programs:

• Internships: Internships are available to students in almost every department at Lyft, where wages vary depending on the department. As part of these internships, the company offers career mentoring through lunch and learns.
• Post-Graduate Programs: A variety of positions are aimed at new graduates. For example, the associate product manager position was created for recent graduates without experience to help them break into the field.
• SWE Apprenticeship: For those from non-traditional education backgrounds, this program allows individuals to break into the software engineering field.

Other Lyft Teams

• IT positions: IT offers technical support to the internal teams and external users of the Lyft app and website. According to Comparably, IT support engineers make about $115,800 a year, desktop support makes about $80,000 a year, and project managers earn about $132,500 a year.
• Finance positions: The financial team keeps track of the budget and creates the financial game plan. As reported by Comparably, accountants make about $62,400 a year, financial analysts make about $108,500 a year, and accounting managers make about $99,200 a year.

Lyft Benefits

Working for Lyft can come with some unexpected benefits and perks. The specifics of your benefits package will depend on your position, experience, and full-time status. However, compensation packages could include:

• Lyft Pink Memberships: Employees get free Lyft Pink memberships, including 15% off rideshare, free Grubhub+ membership, discounted or free scooter and bike rides, and more.
• Community: Between off-site events and Community Week, Lyft emphasizes employee connection. Its Employee Resource Groups ensure employees feel included.
• Learning: Lyft encourages its employees to keep learning as employees gain access to tools and resources. For example, Lyft provides access to Udemy subscriptions, which offers online educational video courses.
• Parental Leave: Lyft offers 18-week paid parental leave for employees, which allows the parent to decide how to split up their time.

Lyft Culture

Employees have the best insight into a company’s culture. Culture 500 compiled employee reviews and found collaboration is the most commonly positively discussed quality at Lyft. On the other hand, the most commonly discussed negative quality at Lyft is integrity.

Lyft’s culture generally gets good reviews as on Comparably; employees rated the company culture a 4.1 out of 5 stars. Across 18 metrics, Lyft’s culture grade was ranked overall as a “B.” The aspects rated as an “A” include office culture and environment, while its lowest graded qualities of compensation and meetings received a “C.”

Initiatives

Lyft has initiatives focused on improving the corporate and driver-level work environment while also aiming to support its riders through discounted rides. Here are a few of the current initiatives:

• Inclusion and Diversity: Lyft aims to make its workplace one of inclusivity and diversity. Lyft is implementing practices in four strategic pillars: workplace, workforce, marketplace, and accountability.
• LyftUp: Partnering with Indeed, Goodwill, and United Way, the LyftUp initiative aims to support job access for those who can’t afford transportation. Lyft provides free rides for people attending job training, interviews, and the first few weeks of work to increase accessibility to job opportunities. The program has expanded to also provide discounted rides to grocery stores for those struggling to ensure individuals can access fresh groceries.
• Pinky Swear Initiative: Lyft’s Pinky Swear is to all their drivers as they plan to reinvest in them. The company has promised to make the driving experience smoother, deliver better bonuses, and improve rewards.

Lyft vs. Uber

Lyft and Uber are currently two of the largest rideshare companies. So, you may be wondering what sets them apart from each other. Here’s the culture breakdown, according to ratings from Glassdoor:

• Lyft and Uber have the same overall star ratings of 4 out of 5 stars.
• Lyft has a higher star rating than Uber in work/life balance and culture/values.
• Uber has a higher rating than Lyft regarding positive business outlook, senior management, CEO approval, and the percentage of employees who would recommend working there to a friend.

Learn more about working at other major U.S. companies.

How Does the Lyft Interview Process Work?

Interviewing for a job can be daunting; it helps to know what to expect when you’re going into it. Here’s the rundown of Lyft’s interview process:

In 2017, Lyft won a “Best Places to Interview” award on Glassdoor. Of all interviewees who left a review, 63% had a positive experience. The average rating for the difficulty of interviews was 2.8 out of 5 stars, which is slightly above average difficulty.

The majority of people who landed interviews (60%) applied through an online application. The next largest group came from employee referrals at 23%. Individuals who landed interviews through recruiters made up about 12%.

When you go for the interview, you want to be sure Lyft sees you as a culture fit. So, what type of employee are its hiring managers looking for? The company values grit, fearless innovation, and hospitality. Lyft provides more details on its values via this guide to “making it happen.”

Make sure you are ready to land your dream job by reviewing these common interview questions for all careers.

Takeaways

• Lyft is a rideshare service that emphasizes reinventing the world of transportation.
• Although many people think that working for Lyft involves becoming a driver, the company has plenty of corporate opportunities, from engineering to finance.
• Collaboration is the most commonly positively discussed attribute among Lyft employees, while integrity is the most negatively discussed attribute.
• The majority of interviewees landed interviews after submitting online applications.

Are you considering career options? Forage offers free virtual work experiences that help you experience a day-in-the-life in roles at top companies.

Image credit: Madhukar Kumar on Unsplash