Bram Van der Sype
Development Team Lead

What is - in your own words - your role at RetailSonar?
I provide technical leadership and mentorship for the application team. As I’m used to explain, I am the bridge between people and code.

What did you do before working at RetailSonar?
In the past, I worked at several start-ups and scale-ups. Before RetailSonar, I worked as a freelance software engineer for several different companies.

What is your first impression of our company?
A company with an incredibly cool product with very interesting tech behind it!

What do you see as the biggest challenge in your work?
Unifying a group of international people (5 countries in multiple time zones) into a coherent team.

Any fun facts we need to know about you?
I started coding when I was 12 but my parents somehow convinced me all computer jobs would be gone by the time I graduate, so I studied to become a high school teacher. In my last year of college a friend mentioned they needed a junior developer. And while I do have the degree, I never actually taught class.

What are your hobbies?
I build my own mechanical computer keyboards.  I started scuba diving in January '23 and am currently a 2 star CMAS diver, which allows me to go 30 meters deep. And me  and my wife love watching movies and TV shows. Earlier this year we renovated our garage and built a home cinema (laughs).

Nicolas Michels

Business Controller

What is - in your own words - your role at RetailSonar?
I am working for the finance/admin team as a Business Controller, meaning I am responsible for the financials at RetailSonar.

What did you do before working at RetailSonar?
I was also Business Controller, working for at Human8, a consultancy firm focused on brand marketing.

How did you end up at RetailSonar?
I studied Geography, so I quickly had interest in RetailSonar's business solution (which is truly brilliant, by the way!). I was also looking for a smaller company with a lot of ambition. During my interviews, I immediately felt it was a very warm company. Hence I felt this would be a great next step. Fortunately, they were also enthusiastic about me :-).

What is your first impression of our company?
The warmth that I felt during the interview is real! From day one, everybody was very kind and open. There are also many very bright people working at RetailSonar that really want to help the company get to the next level. This cocktail gives you a really great working environment!

What do you see as the biggest challenge in your work?
Correct financials will always be a top priority, but I also want to streamline some processes a bit more to boost our admin - & reporting efficiency.

Any fun facts we need to know about you?
With some good cake, you can always bribe me.

Which skills do you bring to the RetailSonar table?
Help you out with all financial queries you might have!

Daan Van Gorp

Database specialist

What is – in your own words – your role at RetailSonar?
As a database worker, a.k.a. data scraper, I ensure that the data we collect is as accurate as possible. When explaining my job to people who ask, I like to call it "professional GeoGuessing."

What did you do before working at RetailSonar?
Completely different things! For example, I worked for several years in Dublin as an LQA tester for video games, and I spent some time as a night receptionist at a hotel in Ghent.

How did you end up at RetailSonar?
By looking for something that somewhat aligned with my work in Dublin. I was mainly searching for a "young" company with an open work culture - a perfect blend of corporate structure and a comfortable atmosphere.

What is your first impression of our company?
That I’ve found exactly what I was looking for. An open work environment, a lot of freedom in planning and structuring my days, open communication, and above all, stimulating work thanks to its variety.

What do you see as the biggest challenge in your work?
Validating locations in France, where addresses can sometimes be as open to interpretation as the job description of a data scraper.

What is your favorite quote? 
"Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. There's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it." - Bubba from Forest Gump

Jonas Meertens

Data Scraping

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What is your biggest achievement so far?
A 150km bike ride.

What is your favorite quote? 
“You won't know if you don't try.”