New Team Member Onboarding 🚀

Welcome to Ultralytics! This guide will help you navigate your first 90 days and set you up for success.

Before Your First Day 📋

Pre-Start Timeline

Expect to receive your onboarding materials 5-7 business days before your start date. Contact HR immediately if you haven't received everything by this time.

High-Resolution Hybrid Reminder

We work where the speed is. If you're within commutable distance of a hub, plan to be onsite every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Anchor Days) starting Week 1; badge data is reviewed and presence is part of performance. Coordinate travel for Week 1 as needed.

Pre-Start Checklist

Access Setup Sequence

• Expect to first receive an invite at your personal email to sign into Rippling and complete all onboarding steps there (ID verification, profile, benefits, etc.).
• After Rippling is ready, sign into Slack with your new Ultralytics email so teammates can find you.
• Finally, sign up to the Ultralytics Portal—your essential gateway for internal orientation, critical onboarding tasks, and immediate access to core company resources.

What to Prepare

First Day 🎉

Morning Session (9:00 AM - 12:00 PM)

Afternoon Session (1:00 PM - 5:00 PM)

First Week 📚

Key Objectives

• Understand the company: Mission, values, products, and market position
• Meet the team: Schedule 30-min coffee chats with key collaborators
• Learn the tech stack: Read documentation, explore codebase
• Embrace AI-First: Integrate approved AI assistants and automations into your daily toolkit—driving efficiency and accelerating impact
• Complete required training: All compliance modules in Vanta
• Ship your first contribution: Submit a small PR (documentation fix, test addition, or bug fix)

Daily Schedule

High-Resolution Hybrid cadence:

• Tue/Wed/Thu (Anchor Days): Onsite, synchronous collaboration; attend standups, whiteboard sessions, and pair/debug in person. Default to in-office working hours aligned to your hub’s local time.
• Mon/Fri: Flex for deep work and async coordination unless launch weeks require additional onsite collaboration.
• Daily rituals: Morning standup (15 min) for progress/blockers; 4-6 hours of focus time; team lunch on Wednesdays (Ultralytics-paid for in-office employees); 1:1 with manager (Friday, 30 min) to review the week and plan next steps.

Week 1 Checklist

• Complete all compliance training in Vanta
• Read handbook: Introduction, Mission & Values, Hardware/Software policies, Development workflow
• Set up development environment and run tests successfully
• Meet your immediate team (5-10 people)
• Join key Slack channels: #general, #it-support, #your-team
• Submit first PR (even if just fixing a typo in docs)
• Schedule coffee chats with 3-5 people from other teams
• Complete your Ultralytics Portal onboarding tasks (e.g., bio/social verification, AI agent enablement if applicable) and bookmark the dashboard

First Month 🎯

Key Objectives

• Contribute meaningfully: Ship features or fixes that provide real value
• Build relationships: Know most people on your direct team and key collaborators
• Understand workflows: Git, CI/CD, PR reviews, deployment process
• Take ownership: Own a small project or feature area
• Provide feedback: Share onboarding improvement ideas

Month 1 Milestones

Week 2:

• Ship your first significant PR (feature, optimization, or meaningful fix)
• Present in engineering standup or demo session
• Attend company all-hands meeting
• Complete coffee chats with 5+ team members across different functions

Week 3:

• Take on project ownership with defined scope and timeline
• Participate in code reviews for teammates
• Attend product planning or sprint planning session
• Read Product Development guide

Week 4:

• Ship project or major milestone
• Present work in team demo or all-hands
• Provide onboarding feedback to manager
• Set 90-day goals with manager

Learning Resources

Technical:

• YOLO Documentation - Complete technical guide
• Development Workflow - PR process and standards
• CI/Testing - Quality and testing practices
• Internal tech talks (recordings in shared drive)

Company & Culture:

• Company Goals - Strategic priorities
• OKRs Guide - Goal-setting framework
• Previous all-hands presentations
• Blog - Company updates and tutorials

First 90 Days 🚀

Key Objectives

90-Day Goals Framework

Work with your manager to define specific, measurable goals:

End of 90 Days

• Quarterly performance review in Rippling with manager (60 min)
  • Review accomplishments against 90-day goals
  • Discuss what's working well and areas for growth
  • Set next quarter goals and development plan
  • Review career progression framework and level expectations
  • Address any concerns or questions
• Celebrate: You're now a full-fledged Ultralytics team member! 🎉

Role-Specific Onboarding

Engineering Roles

• Week 1-2: Ship first PR, understand CI/CD pipeline, complete test suite
• Week 3-4: Own small feature, participate in design reviews
• Month 2: Lead feature development, mentor on code reviews
• Month 3: Drive architecture decisions, contribute to technical roadmap

Product/Design Roles

• Week 1-2: Shadow customer calls, review product analytics, understand user personas
• Week 3-4: Contribute to roadmap planning, create first design/spec
• Month 2: Own feature from concept to launch
• Month 3: Lead product initiative, influence quarterly planning

Operations/Business Roles

• Week 1-2: Shadow processes, understand workflows, meet key stakeholders
• Week 3-4: Take ownership of specific processes or accounts
• Month 2: Drive process improvements, automate workflows
• Month 3: Lead cross-functional initiative, influence strategy

Onboarding Resources

Tools & Access

• Rippling: HR, PTO, equipment, compliance training
• Google Workspace: Email, calendar, drive, docs
• Slack: Team communication and collaboration
• GitHub: Code repositories and issues
• Notion or Linear: Project management and documentation
• Vanta: Security and compliance training

Key Slack Channels

• #general: Company-wide announcements and updates
• #it-support: Technical issues and hardware requests
• #compliance: Security and legal questions
• #hr: Benefits, payroll, and people questions
• #finance: Expenses, reimbursements, and budgets
• #community / #yolo: Product and community chatter
• #engineering or #your-team: Your team's channel
• #random: Casual conversation and team building

Who to Contact

• Manager: Day-to-day questions, project guidance, career development
• HR Team: Benefits, PTO, policies, personal matters (#hr on Slack)
• IT Support: #it-support on Slack
• Legal: legal@ultralytics.com for contracts and compliance
• Security: security@ultralytics.com for incidents

Tips for Success 💡

First 30 Days

Ask QuestionsTake NotesBe ProactiveShip Early, Ship OftenBuild RelationshipsSeek Feedback

No question is too small - everyone was new once. Use Slack, schedule 1:1s, and ask during meetings.

Long-Term Success

Principle	Practice
Own Outcomes	Focus on impact, not just activity
Communicate Clearly	Over-communicate early, especially async
Embrace Feedback	View critiques as growth opportunities
Stay Curious	Always be learning and experimenting
Help Others	Best way to learn is teaching
Have Fun	We're building the future of AI - enjoy the journey!

Feedback & Questions

Have onboarding feedback or questions?

• Slack DM your manager: For immediate questions or concerns
• Submit PR to handbook: Help us improve onboarding for future team members
• Email HR: For sensitive or personal matters

We're constantly improving onboarding based on new team member feedback. Your input makes the next person's experience better!