Want a job at Clay? Start by building in Clay. [Inside Scoop 🍨: 🎧 Ep. #3]
Every once in a while, a support team actually becomes a talent engine. Clay is doing that—and betting big on new grads with their program: The Wheel. Here's how to get on their radar.
Welcome back to The Inside Scoop 🍨 — real talk with the hiring managers you actually want to work for.
This week, we sat down with George Dilthey, Head of Support at Clay — the fast-growing workspace tool that’s quietly become a favourite among operators and technical teams alike.
Since joining, George has scaled the support org from 3 to nearly 20 people, helped build an internal AI-powered support stack, and launched a rotational program that’s redefining how early-career folks break into tech.
We got the scoop on what makes someone stand out (hint: it's not your resume), how Clay thinks about hiring for potential, and why some of their best teammates didn’t apply the traditional way.
Read to the end for George’s tips on getting hired — and how to skip the front door entirely.
Listen on 🎧
⚡ Role Snapshot:
Role: Product Support Specialist
Where: New York or London (in-office preferred)
Team Size: ~20 and growing
Apply: get introduced to George (more on that below)
The real reason this job is different
For job seekers looking for a foot in the door at a great company, support might not be the first thing that comes to mind.
But at Clay, it should be. Because here, support is more than solving tickets — it's a crash course in the product, the customers, and how the company works.
George is building a team of what he calls "expert generalists" — people who get a deep understanding of the full business. They may start in support and then go on to shape product, growth, education, and more.
"Support gives you exposure to everything. You talk to every team, see how customers think, and build product context fast."
That exposure pays off. Clay has a strong track record of people joining support and then stepping into roles across product, engineering, education, and go-to-market.
"I really feel like support is the best way to learn as much as possible... You work with pretty much every department."
So if you're early in your career, trying to break into tech, or just love the idea of learning the ins and outs of a fast-growing product company, this might be your best bet. You won't be siloed. You won't be stuck. You will learn faster here than almost anywhere else.
What you'll actually be doing
This isn’t a job where you can hide behind macros. In fact, George explicitly argues against them.
"I exported all our macros and asked, 'Why are we saying these things a hundred times a week?' If a question keeps coming up, it means we need to fix something upstream."
That’s the mindset at Clay: don’t patch, improve. You’ll spend your days solving real customer issues, but just as often, you’ll be redesigning processes, spotting patterns, and working with engineers to fix the root cause.
Expect to:
Troubleshoot complex issues and edge cases that make you think
Collaborate directly with product and engineering
Identify ticket trends and turn them into feature or documentation improvements
Rebuild parts of the support system when they’re no longer working
And if something goes sideways? No panic.
George shared a recent case where a new routing workflow he launched accidentally reopened over 800 old tickets. Total mess. But the team jumped in immediately, cleaned up the queue, and rolled with it.
"It was a rough Monday, but I told the team: there are better changes on the other side of this."
Things break, experiments fail, and you're trusted to learn and keep building. That’s the job.
What makes someone stand out
Clay isn’t impressed by polished resumes or buzzwords. They want to see curiosity, initiative, and actual product interest. Here’s what George looks for:
→ You’ve used Clay
People who’ve built something in Clay or helped others in the community instantly stand out. Even a simple workflow shows you’re engaged.
→ You ask smart questions
Not just "how do I reset my password" — more like "why does this workflow behave this way?"
"We’ve hired people who built something cool in Clay and shared it. They didn’t even apply through the regular process."
→ You think like a product person
Spotting recurring issues, debugging workflows, escalating with context — it all shows that you understand how tech products work and evolve.
→ You use AI to level up, not check out
They don’t mind if ChatGPT helps you move faster, as long as you can explain the thinking behind your answer.
The Wheel: Clay’s hidden gem for new grads
Breaking into tech is rough right now. Most entry-level jobs require experience you don’t have yet. So Clay created “The Wheel”.
It’s a rotational program built on a simple idea: start in support, learn everything, then branch out. You’ll spend your first three months going deep on support and the product. Then 30% of your time shifts into other areas — marketing, product, GTM, education.
"We weren’t even targeting grads at first. But we realized this was the perfect entry point, and started hiring for it intentionally."
Their first Wheel cohort featured students from all over the country, including NYU, Stanford and Cornell.
They’re not just open to early-career folks. They’re investing in them.
Ready to apply?
George is looking for people who are proactive, thoughtful, and not afraid to dive into the messy stuff. You don’t need to have it all figured out — but if you’re curious, technically minded, and ready to get your hands dirty, they want to hear from you.
"We're not looking for perfect backgrounds — we're looking for people who want to learn fast and help us build better systems."
🎯 Bonus points if you show up in their support queue before you apply.
What they offer:
Competitive salary, equity, and a real chance to grow with the company (6x YoY growth)
A fast-moving, low-ego team
A supportive culture (customers apply to work at Clay!)
A beautiful office in NYC (with a growing London hub)
Resources to level up: tools, training, and opportunities to rotate into other teams
If you want to work somewhere that values curiosity over credentials, welcomes early-career folks, and lets you grow into the kind of operator startups dream of hiring, this is it.
Think you’d be a good fit? Send us a note and if you’re a fit we’ll introduce you to George.