To showcase different perspectives and give an inside look into Grubhub, we’re spotlighting leaders across the organization. This month, we caught up with Sanjay Uttam, Vice President of Engineering and Head of Marketplace Technology. 

A problem-solver with a deep background in platform transformation, Sanjay shares how he keeps his team adaptable, what’s exciting about the Wonder integration, and why being “stubborn” is a good thing.

A quick round to get to know Sanjay:

• Favorite Grubhub order: Chicken kebabs from High Mountain Mediterranean or Sushi 35 West near the NYC office.
  
• Favorite Podcast: I think it’s been at least five years since I listened to a podcast. I’m more of a quantum physics YouTube at midnight kind of person.
  
• Coffee or tea: Coffee. I drink a double espresso every morning. Nothing but water throughout the afternoon though.
  
• If not this career, what path would you have pursued: Probably cybersecurity. But if you asked 7-year-old me? Firefighter.
  
• Go-to productivity hack: My mornings are dedicated to deep thinking and problem solving. I’m at my sharpest in the mornings, so I like to work on things that require a lot of focus those first few hours. Afternoons are for meetings.
  
• Weekday routine: I wake up around the same time every day, drink coffee while watching CNBC, and then head into work or my home office.
  
• Weekend routine: Similar start—coffee minus CNBC—but then it’s either a race weekend with my track car or a day of housework and listening to music. I like balance.

You’ve had a deep and varied career in tech leadership across multiple industries—what initially drew you to Grubhub and made you come back?

When I first joined in 2014, the appeal was simple: I was already a loyal Seamless customer. Getting to work on something I was using every day—and that my friends were using constantly—was genuinely exciting.

Coming back years later, it wasn’t just about the work. It was about the people and the culture. I realized that what I was looking for already existed here: a place that values continuous improvement, introspection, and impact. I knew what Grubhub stood for, and I knew the kind of team I’d be joining again. That made the decision easy.

Can you walk us through your role and what your team is responsible for?

I lead Engineering across our consumer and merchant platforms, which includes everything that enables someone to place an order—and everything a merchant needs to fulfill it. That includes core product engineering, platform infrastructure, data science, site reliability, and operations.

It’s a broad scope, but we’re all united by the same goal: delivering a fast, reliable, and meaningful experience to our customers and partners.

You’ve led some major platform transformations and scaled high-impact initiatives—what’s been one of the most rewarding challenges here?

The Amazon Prime partnership stands out. It launched on Prime Day and required full alignment across Grubhub—specifically engineering, product, growth, care—and the same from Amazon’s side. It was one of those projects that had a clear “why,” and everyone showed up to make it happen. The coordination, complexity, and impact made it incredibly rewarding.

As we look to grow in 2025, what are some of the biggest focus areas for your team?

We’re focused on two tracks:

1. Customer and merchant experience: We’re constantly refining the ordering journey to help users find what they want faster while making sure our merchant partners have reliable, intuitive tools to operate effectively.
2. Developer experience: We’re creating a faster, more seamless way for engineers to build—introducing tools and workflows that improve delivery speed without compromising on quality.
   

As the Wonder integration takes shape, are there any efforts you’re particularly excited about that highlight what’s possible working together?

There’s a lot still evolving, but what excites me most is the shift in perspective. Wonder brings a different pace—a more experimental, startup-like energy. It’s challenging us to question how we work and explore how we can move faster while still keeping our standards high.

We’re also learning from each other’s strengths—whether it’s tools, processes, or ways of thinking. That kind of collaboration creates opportunities that are bigger than either company on its own.

From data science to infrastructure, your org is incredibly broad—how do you approach uniting such a wide-ranging team toward common goals?

It starts with alignment. We take the company’s high-level objectives and help each team map their own goals directly to them. I also make sure we’re getting the right people in the room early—especially when multiple teams are working on the same problem.

It might sound basic, but it works: when people understand how their work connects to something bigger, they stay focused, collaborative, and invested in the outcome.

What are you most proud of your team for?

I’m most proud of our ability to meet the moment. Time and time again, we’ve delivered under pressure—solving hard problems, moving quickly, and still hitting our bar for quality. That says a lot about the people here.

I’m also proud of the culture we’ve built. We talk about what didn’t go well. We share mistakes without blame. And we use those lessons to get better as a team.

With 20+ years leading in fast-paced tech environments, what’s a core leadership lesson that’s stuck with you?

Hire people who are curious and humble—people who want to learn from others and aren’t interested in being the smartest person in the room. When you build a team like that, everything else gets easier. The quality of your people drives the quality of your outcomes.

How do you help your teams stay adaptable and forward-thinking, especially with how fast the tech landscape changes?

If you hire the right people, you don’t have to make them adapt. What you do need to do is give them space—time to think, time to experiment, time to fail.

We try things. Not everything works. But some of our best ideas have come from experiments that would’ve seemed too risky if we were only aiming for a 100% success rate. I’d rather swing big and hit 10% of them—that’s how you get real innovation.

What’s something you’ve changed your mind about as a leader over the years?

I’m naturally introverted, and early in my career, I avoided building relationships outside of my core team. Now, I actively invest in those relationships ahead of time. It makes collaboration easier and more productive when something important comes up.

What advice would you give to someone looking to get into engineering?

Find something you’re genuinely passionate about. That passion will keep you stubborn—and you need to be stubborn in this field. You’ll stare at code for hours, chasing down a problem most people would walk away from. If you care about what you’re building, you’ll keep going. And that’s what separates good from great.

If you could jump into any other role at Grubhub for a day, what would it be—and why?

Business development. I love figuring out how to create value by connecting different systems—whether they’re technical or organizational. It feels like engineering at a strategic level. I’d just have to put on my extrovert hat for a meeting or two.