Engineering culture

Infobip culture principles in practice

Engineering at Infobip is about more than writing code. It's about solving real business challenges alongside Product, Design, and teams across 70+ offices worldwide. We develop and maintain software services that power communications for some of the world's largest brands — and we do it with minimal hierarchy, high autonomy, and a shared belief that how we work matters as much as what we ship.

Our CTO, Izabel Jelenic, puts it simply:

"Our organizational structure is flat because hierarchy is just an illusion of growth — growth is in learning. Taking on real challenges and learning from your actions is what truly takes you to the next level."

At Infobip, we are all engineers — not in title, but in mindset. Regardless of your role, you're expected to build, shape, take initiative, and make full use of everything at your disposal. That mindset is the backbone of our culture, and it's guided by 10 actionable principles that shape how our engineering teams operate every day.

Learn by doing

We believe practice beats theory. The best way to grow as an engineer here is to build things, ship them, and learn from what happens next.

What this looks like in engineering: You won't spend weeks in planning limbo. When a new technology or approach shows promise, we prototype it. When an incident happens, we run blameless post-mortems — not to point fingers, but to understand what we can do better. Engineers are encouraged to pick up tasks outside their comfort zone, explore unfamiliar parts of the codebase, and treat every production issue as a learning opportunity. We'd rather you try something, learn fast, and adapt than wait for the perfect plan.

Get your hands on

We're resourceful. We roll up our sleeves and find a way to get the job done.

What this looks like in engineering: Engineers here take personal ownership of their work from problem to production. If something's broken at 2am, we don't wait for someone else to notice — we jump in. If a build pipeline is slow, we don't just complain about it — we look for a fix. This isn't about heroics; it's about initiative. Whether it's debugging a tricky race condition, setting up monitoring for a new service, or helping a teammate unblock their pull request… getting your hands on the work is how things actually move forward.

Keep it simple

We don't complicate or over-engineer. We keep it simple and effective.

What this looks like in engineering: Simplicity is a design principle, not a shortcut. We favor straightforward architectures over clever abstractions. We write code that's easy to read, review, and maintain — not code that shows off. When designing a new service, we ask: "What's the simplest thing that solves this problem well?" We avoid premature optimization, unnecessary dependencies, and solutions that require a PhD to understand. Clear communication matters too. Whether it's a technical RFC, a Jira ticket, or a Slack message, say what you mean in as few words as possible.

Challenge with respect

We're feedback-driven. We don't judge — we challenge ideas, always with a solution up our sleeve.

What this looks like in engineering: Code reviews are one of our most important cultural rituals. We give honest, constructive feedback, and we receive it with openness. A junior engineer can (and should) question a senior's design decision if something doesn't add up. A fresh pair of eyes on legacy code often surfaces improvements nobody else noticed. The key is how you challenge: listen first, understand the context, then offer your perspective. There's usually a good reason something was built the way it was — and there's usually a way to make it better.

Customer centric

We put our customers at the center of everything we build, every single day.

What this looks like in engineering: It's easy to get lost in technical elegance and forget who we're building for. Every feature, API endpoint, and infrastructure decision should connect back to customer value. Before you start a task, ask yourself: "If I were a customer, would I pay for this?" Engineers work closely with Product to understand user needs, monitor how features perform in the real world, and use data, not assumptions, to prioritize what matters. Sometimes the most impactful engineering work isn't the most technically exciting, and that's fine.

Break down silos & win as a team

We're honest and transparent co-creators. We team up to build up.

What this looks like in engineering: Our platform is massive, and no single team owns the full picture. That's why cross-team collaboration isn't optional — it's how we operate. Engineers share knowledge through internal tech talks, contribute to shared libraries, and document their services so others can build on top of them. When your work impacts another team's service, you reach out early, not after the PR is merged. Almost everything we do is visible: code in Bitbucket, tasks in Jira, docs in Confluence, dashboards open to all. Transparency is not a policy here, it's a habit.

Empower people

We know our worth and want to empower others to discover theirs.

What this looks like in engineering: Senior engineers don't just write great code — they make everyone around them better. We coach, we pair-program, we invest time in onboarding new teammates properly. Team leads provide context and direction but trust their teams to own the execution. Decisions are pushed to the people closest to the problem, not escalated up a chain. We actively recognize each other's contributions, in retros, in Slack, in 1:1s. Whether you're a student joining your first engineering team or a veteran architect, you'll find people here who want to help you grow. That's how we build an environment where you can get great at what you do best.

"It is my job" attitude

We don't hide behind processes, titles, or other people — we seek to help instead.

What this looks like in engineering: Ownership doesn't stop at the boundary of your Jira board. If you spot a flaky test in a service you don't own, flag it — or better yet, fix it. If a teammate is struggling with a deadline, offer a hand. If something falls between the cracks of two teams, pick it up rather than debating whose responsibility it is. This principle is the opposite of "not my problem." It means caring about the outcome, not just your individual output. Team goals come before personal metrics.

Innovate with passion

We get fired up to explore, strategize, design, and build. We dare to go where no one has gone before.

What this looks like in engineering: Curiosity is a core trait of engineers at Infobip. We don't just rely on how things were built yesterday. We actively look for what could be built differently tomorrow. Engineers contribute to brainstorming sessions, propose ideas in retros, and experiment with new tools and frameworks. We talk in terms of possibilities, not problems.

Infobip is an AI-first company, and that's not just a slide deck statement, it's how we operate. AI is embedded in the way we build products, serve customers, and evolve our platform. Our engineers have filed dozens of patents, contribute to research projects, and regularly participate in AI-focused hackathons that push the boundaries of what's possible in communications technology. We collaborate with leading AI partners like Anthropic and OpenAI, giving our teams direct access to cutting-edge models and tools.

You'll have the freedom to experiment with emerging technologies, work alongside people who move fast and think boldly, and put your fingerprint on products that shape the future of global communication.

Seek progress, not perfection

We're quick to adapt. We don't go for perfect — we do something better every day.

What this looks like in engineering: We ship iteratively. An MVP that delivers value today beats a perfect solution delivered next quarter. We release early, gather feedback, and improve. This doesn't mean we cut corners on quality or security — it means we're pragmatic about scope. If you can solve 80% of the problem with 20% of the effort, ship it and iterate. We favor small, frequent deployments over big-bang releases. We adjust course based on real data, not assumptions. Progress is visible, measurable, and constant.

How these principles connect to your career

These principles aren't just words on a wall — they're woven into how we hire, how we give feedback, and how we grow careers at Infobip.

From your very first interview to your daily work, career progression, and performance conversations, these principles guide every part of your journey with us. Because for us, success isn't just about what you deliver, it's about how you get there.

Video: 10-principles_1920x1080_20250610_finalV2.mp4 — embed link available in the source Word document (SharePoint hosted); add manually if needed.

How we measure and improve our culture

Wait, you measure culture?

Isn't culture something fluffy, especially for an engineer who cannot precisely explain what it is? And yet, you can feel it. As engineers, we often think of culture as something hard to define, but very easy to notice. We appreciate it when it works, and we notice it immediately when it doesn't.

So yes — culture can be measured. Not perfectly, but well enough to show us patterns, spot what is changing, and decide where to improve. And as engineers, we like numbers, trends, and feedback we can actually act on.

Gathering data about infobip's culture

Infobip People Survey is a company-wide survey to understand how people experience Infobip, what drives engagement, and where we should focus our efforts.

The purpose of the People Survey is not just to collect opinions. It is to gauge employee engagement, understand the key factors behind it, and give us a clear signal about what is working and what needs attention. Between annual surveys, we use Pulse Checks as shorter check-ins to see how people are doing and whether our actions are making a difference.

How the survey works

We run the survey on the Culture Amp platform. At the center of the survey is employee engagement, which is measured through five core statements:

• I would recommend Infobip as a great place to work
• Infobip motivates me to go beyond what I would in a similar role elsewhere
• I am proud to work for Infobip
• I'm not interested in looking for a job at another company
• I see myself still working at Infobip in two years' time

These five questions give us the main engagement score. But engagement is influenced by more than one thing, so the survey also includes other factors that shape the employee experience, such as Leadership, Management, Collaboration & Communication, Learning & Development, Teamwork & Ownership, Enablement, Feedback & Recognition, Wellbeing, Total Rewards, Innovation, Company Confidence, Social Responsibility, Action, and AI.

That broader view matters. It helps us see not only how engaged people are, but also what is helping or hurting that engagement.

How we protect confidentiality

The People Survey is confidential. Every employee receives a unique survey link, and that link connects responses to HRIS data so we can analyze the results by groups such as department, location, and tenure.

At the same time, the backend is built to protect anonymity. For example, results are only shown when a group has at least 5 responses, which means individual answers cannot be traced back to a specific person. That balance — useful analysis without losing confidentiality — is what makes the survey valuable.

How we read the results

Survey scores are shown as percentages of favorable, neutral, and unfavorable responses. When we talk about a factor score, we usually mean the favorable score — the share of people who selected strongly agree or agree.

We look at the results in context: year over year, across teams and regions, and where relevant, against external benchmarks. That helps us understand whether we are making progress, where we are stable, and where we need to push harder.

How we improve based on the results

The survey is only useful if we do something with it.

After each People Survey, managers review their team's results and create employee engagement action plans. These are usually focused on 2–3 areas that can have the biggest impact. The idea is not to fix everything at once, but to choose the few improvements that matter most and actually follow through on them.

At company level, Leadership remains one of the top drivers of engagement, so it is one of the most important areas we focus on. But every team has its own strengths and opportunities, which means every action plan should be grounded in real local data, not copied from somewhere else.

Our cycle is simple: we run the annual survey, check in with Pulse Checks during the year, turn the results into action plans, implement those actions, and then look again to see what changed. That loop is what makes the survey valuable. It turns feedback into work, and work into progress.

Why this matters

People Surveys help us understand what is working, what is not, and where we should focus next. The goal is not just to measure culture — it is to improve it.

Culture is not fluffy when we measure it consistently, talk about it openly, and improve it together.