My Journey at Coupa

Hi all! My name is Ralph Barsi, and I’m a Sr. Talent Acquisition Coordinator here at Coupa. I began my journey as an intern with the Talent Acquisition team in the summer of 2021, an experience that remains one of the most rewarding I’ve had thus far in my career.

Misconceptions Before Starting

When I applied for the Coupa internship program, I did so with confidence because I was already familiar with the company name, and it was local to my home in East Bay. As a college student, I was initially concerned about working in the corporate world since it seemed so different from school and appeared cold, intimidating, uncompromising, and unwelcoming from the outside. However, I knew I had the required skills and capability to work for a prominent company like Coupa, and I was eager to prove myself and gain valuable experience.

My Experience in the Village

My experience at Coupa exceeded my expectations. From the first day, I felt comfortable and valued as a team member. My supporting manager guided me through the onboarding process and continued to check in regularly throughout the summer. I worked on meaningful projects and could see the impact of my actions, which gave me the confidence that I could contribute significantly to a large company like this. My well-rounded projects exposed me to several facets of Talent Acquisition, setting me up for success during and after my internship. The highlight of my summer was analyzing our job descriptions for implicit gender biases using a bias decoder program and presenting my findings to leadership. I owned the project myself from beginning to end and was trusted to articulate my findings to senior leadership.

After Graduation

After finishing school in January 2022, I was ecstatic to have the opportunity to return to Coupa as a full-time employee! I’m still here over two years later, and I can confidently say that my internship built a strong foundation for my career. I highly recommend the Coupa internship program to anyone considering it! You’ll meet many amazing, hardworking people and get opportunities to contribute immediately to the Village!

It was a fantastic experience to see the impact of my work, and I felt proud to have contributed to the company's success. Overall, my internship experience at Coupa was invaluable and gave me the confidence to succeed in the corporate world.

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2024 Global Impact Week Wrap Up!

By Audree Hall • December 20, 2024

What an incredible week we had! Thanks to the passion and dedication of our amazing Coupa family, we celebrated Global Impact Week like never before! With 13 countries participating and 38 local-led events, we exceeded last year’s participation with over 500 employees stepping up to make a positive change. We truly could not have done this without each and every one of you—thank you! Here are some of the highlights that made this week so special:

Best Practices for Social Selling

November 14, 2024

Q & A from our Sales Team

How Leadership Competencies Make Culture Thrive

November 1, 2024

Most people at Coupa say they love this company because of the great culture and joy of working with “The Village,” a term referring to our global workforce. This year, we are double-clicking on what behaviors make that culture thrive by creating nine “Leadership Competencies,” or ways we want to interact with each other regardless of your title, background, team, or length of time at Coupa.

From Growth to Impact: My Journey of Personal and Professional Transformation at Coupa

September 19, 2024

I am Maggie Mae Joy, Senior Director of Product Management, supporting our Source-to-Contract and Spend Analysis product teams. I’ve been at Coupa since August 2013, based in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. I started my career out of college as a consultant supporting the SAP implementation of a global automotive warranty system for one of the big three. Leveraging that consulting experience, I joined Coupa as a Solution Architect, supporting our customers and partners in implementing the Coupa platform before transitioning into a Product Management role. What I enjoy most about working at Coupa is the opportunity to use my time here as a professional and personal growth platform. Coming to Coupa with a background in systems implementation allowed me to hit the ground running in my first position as a Solution Architect. Those skills and a deep passion for improving the user experience helped me take my career in a different direction and join the product team. Through Coupa’s incredibly supportive culture, I found mentors & leadership training that enabled my development in product management. As I’ve transitioned between supporting different product areas over the past eight years, I’ve continued to be challenged to expand my knowledge, learn new skills, and connect with more of the Coupa community.

Growing at Coupa as an AI Trainer

August 27, 2024

Hello everyone, My name is Alex Moon, AI Trainer, at AI Center of Excellence in Foster City. I’ve been at Coupa since September 2022. I started my career as a Korean Knowledge Graph Curator, curating Korean language data to train Siri model, then went onto Tesla’s Autopilot team, organizing and annotating 3D image data to train Autopilot Neural Net. As an AI Trainer, the team and I analyze and organize Coupa’s $6T anonymized data to provide spending and saving insight, supplier recommendation, supplier diversity and track emission to meet the ESG goal, and fraudulent charge detection (Spend Guard). We are also working on output testing for LLM implementation to build Coupa’s Chatbot, Coupa Navi and Contract Intelligence platform. What I love the most about Coupa is working with extremely smart PM, Data Scientists, and Engineers to develop Coupa’s AI and GenAI product. I also really enjoy Coupa’s flexibility in working schedule and location as a remote-first company, and Coupa’s diverse team makes me feel at home while having ownership and responsibility of training our AI models.

My Coupa Experience

August 9, 2024

In 2021, I joined Coupa as a dual student pursuing my International Business Bachelor’s degree. In my application process, Coupa stood out as the best option for many reasons: its international presence, with offices spread across different countries; its workforce, which is composed of people from all over the world, creating an amazingly diverse and open work environment; and finally, I recognized in Coupa many opportunities for both professional and personal growth and learning. Upon joining the company, I discovered that my impressions were accurate, and the welcoming and friendly environment I had anticipated were in fact real. As part of the dual study program, I rotated through various departments within the organization, including sales, digital marketing, and HR. Each of them showed me a different perspective into Coupa’s operations; I learnt their processes and took on responsibilities myself, which allowed me to develop several skills. This valuable growth was made possible through the guidance and support of many talented colleagues, who trained me during my time in each department.

Connecting and learning at Coupa Camp Bogota

June 25, 2024

In February, many of my colleagues in Bogotá and I had the chance to participate in the 1.5-day in-person experience program Coupa Camp. This program, led by Matt Dack, is designed for employees who have been in the company for a few months or less, making it a valuable step in the onboarding process and, for some of us, the last one. Why Coupa Camp At Coupa Camp, we didn't just learn about our company and its values; we also had the opportunity to forge deeper connections with our colleagues. Whether working in the office, hybrid, or remote like myself, the camp provided a perfect setting for us to interact and bond as Coupanians, fostering a sense of belonging and camaraderie. Coupa Camp was about learning about our company and each other and embarking on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth. Such activities can be daunting for introverted types like me, but Matt Dack created a safe and comfortable environment encouraging everyone to participate and share their unique perspectives. This emphasis on individual strengths and the value of diverse backgrounds was genuinely inspiring. First-Day Activities On the first day, we learned about our core values, culture, and company vision and the impact each of us makes on its success and that of our customers. The sessions were dynamic and exciting, with presentations, activities, and tasks that taught us the importance of listening and learning from everyone we work with, from colleagues to clients. We also gained a solid understanding of tools and resources to help us in our daily routines. We collaborated with people from different areas, hearing and learning from their voices about the aspects of their roles and departments. This experience was insightful, as we recognized how each of our roles is meaningful and how each of us contributes to Coupa’s success.

Beyond Doubt: My Coupa Internship Journey

June 20, 2024

Embarking on an internship can be a transformative journey filled with learning and growth, but also presents unique challenges. In this blog post, I will share my experiences as a Talent Operations Intern at Coupa, focusing on my challenges and how I overcame them. This narrative will be particularly relevant to interns navigating similar paths. These experiences are not only about personal growth but also about making substantial contributions to your team and advancing in your career Embracing the internship challenge When I started interviewing for Coupa, I was excited and nervous because I didn't know what to expect. I was enrolled in a Master's in HRM at the time and wasn't sure if I could manage both work and studies simultaneously. However, I kept going, and landing the internship was huge. Coming from Pakistan and being the first one amongst my classmates to land an internship seemed enormous to me. I knew my passion for HR and was ready to invest my time and effort into learning about the Talent Operations Intern role and its ins and outs. Back home, my parents were overjoyed seeing me managing work and studies in a foreign country alone; they couldn’t have been more proud. Without second thoughts, I accepted the opportunity and had the chance to work with amazing, talented people who were so supportive and kind. I couldn’t have felt luckier.

Interviewing at Coupa - What to Expect and How to Prepare

January 4, 2024

Coupa's Head of Talent in EMEA discusses how to be successful in interviews with Coupa's Leaders.

Transformations of Coupa Women through MEvolution’s Energy Booster

January 4, 2024

Learn how Coupa Empower's MEvolution program has positively impacted the women of Coupa.